Servant leadership has become a popular term in modern business. Many managers claim to understand what that means, preaching open-door policies and the “I’m just here to help you out” philosophy. But when the rubber meets the road, they simply lack the skill set to carry through on the concept.
Perhaps it’s generational. I was describing my job to my seventy-two-year-old father, who had been an ERP implementation manager for twenty years, and we talked about the concept of servant leadership. His gut response was a grunting, “I don’t like that term, servant.”
My gut response was, “You ornery old … ! Perhaps you should keep up with modern approaches to leadership.” But then I thought more about where he was coming from. He is the product of a generation that was taught that with higher education and hard work came the luxuries of having others report to you. The more people you had “underneath” you, the more important you must be. Direct reports were a status symbol, and you, in turn, were someone to be respected and feared.
OK. I get it. But this also helped me see why some senior level staff in various organizations struggle to embrace certain modern concepts of leadership and facilitation.
Case in point: Susan is a business graduate from Harvard who has a passion for project management. She is PMP-certified and an active member of her local PMI chapter. She is a senior project manager for a Fortune 100 organization that is looking into adopting agile methodologies, and she has become very good at “managing and driving projects to successful completion.” (Just read her LinkedIn profile … it will tell you). So, her company asks her to become a certified ScrumMaster, believing this will prep her for a new role in the new framework. Not long after the company begins its agile transformation, Susan quickly learns that her role has changed drastically.
As opposed to driving projects, she’s assisting business partners in mining value. As opposed to managing people and time, she is expected to remove impediments, resolve conflict, and help her team achieve results in an ever-changing environment. The expensive education and numerous certifications she received did not adequately prepare her for this position!
For the concept of servant leadership and modern facilitation to take root within an individual, that person has to be able to display a new set of skills not previously required or recognized by some from past generations. Things like emotional intelligence, observation, and skilled listening all play into what modern servant leadership looks like.
Knowing people, knowing yourself, and understanding what it takes to be viewed as a skilled facilitator and leader in a modern environment takes a modern skill set.
Robert Woods is presenting the session The Art of People Facilitation: Servant Leadership and Team Dynamics at STARWEST 2016, October 2–7 in Anaheim, California.
