Ever wondered learning about effective leaders that have given you more priority and value than to themselves? These leaders are doing a great job while helping others and thinking about their prosperity as well. In their eyes, serving other people adds glory and value to them, and they find their happiness in the work.
After encountering toxic negative leadership, so many people are attracted to leaders who serve them wholeheartedly. These leaders are often called servant leaders, and we have heard about them mostly in the bible, and in other books as well. Given globalization and the vast changes that our modern society and work environment have undergone, we are living in an era that is without a doubt very different than the biblical times. And the question arises, is this kind of biblical servant leadership still relevant today?
What Is Servant Leadership In The Bible?
Servant leadership in the bible is all about prioritizing others and not claiming worldly glory. Servant leaders avoid bragging about their own achievements. This kind of leadership teaches people to give credit and glory to God before anyone else. After God, they focus on other people and their prosperity and value themselves at the end. In their eyes, the value of God and all the creations are much higher than themselves, and thier job is to provide the people around them with the optimal conditions for succeeding and feeling comfortable.
A great example of servant leadership in the bible is the story of Joshua, that had led the Israelites across the river of Jordan and into the Promised Land. He had a very challenging and decisive role, and along with successfully leading the Israelites, he had set a great example of servant leadership and how one can get success through it as well. It can be hard for some people to follow, as some people are having a hard time identifying with the challenges of people that have lived thousands of years ago, but it can be very inspiring for people who find the bible to be a source of wisdom and guidance. Servant leadership is not about skills or professionalism but is about the attitude and how one can add value to other people’s life by serving them, and effectively lead them to success while doing so.
Characteristic Of Servant Leadership
Have you ever thought about the characteristics of servant leadership we can learn from the bible? Here are some of the characteristics of servant leaders.
Listening
The first characteristic of the servant leader is that they listen to what others say without interrupting them. When they are listening to the problems, needs, and opinions of others, they give their full attention so a solution can be thought of. They can understand problems and feel the pain of others by listening to them. This characteristic is helpful when they are training or counseling someone.
In this way, they can make others feel cared for and valued. All leaders must have the quality of listening as it can also help them in decision-making. Listening is not only a positive growth catalyst for the leaders themselves but for the entire team. When people feel comfortable enough of sharing their true necessities then everyone’s awareness of what is really going on, and therefore have the ability to solve problems and leverage strengths in the most effective way for the greater good.
Healing
This characteristic is an important part of every servant leader as they know how to deal with others and how to manage their emotional and mental states. In the bible, such leaders have told other people how to work and cooperate according to the teachings of the bible and how to heal themselves from the problems they are facing, in the light of God. Servant leadership in the bible also teaches us how to help others when they are in the phase of healing. They can promote the growth of their team workers and the people around them. Some people may have faced toxic pasts and may need some healing.
Though it may sound pretentious for some, to offer to heal others in the work environment or in society in general, know that once people have enough trust and faith in each other they can achieve any goal and come across any obstacle together. And this process of harmoniously working together, is obsulotely a healing process. Living and operating in an environment that is based on mutual trust, faith, and acceptance, can defenitely heal people that have been hurt in similar environments.
Awareness
Many people in today’s world are not aware of their faults and weaknesses but focus on other people’s faults. Servant leaders are very efficient at observing their own work and learn about their weaknesses and work to fix them. Self-awareness helps servant leaders in making efficient decisions regarding different aspects of their life. They know how to deal with their feelings, emotions, work-life, and personal life. This enables them to tackle a difficult situation as they will know their strengths as well. If leaders will embrace servant leadership and begin focusing on themselves as well they will be able to manage their relationships with others more effectively.
Stewardship
A servant leader is the one who keeps their workers or employees together by managing their team and groups properly. They can act as a steward who is managing his work with all the responsibilities and managing it well. Focusing on the needs of others like a true leader, they are responsible for all the actions and growth of their teams. A trait like this can be beneficial in today’s world to improve the efficiency of a working team in an organization. Servant leaders try to finish their work themselves to get the best results while managing and organizing others for the growth of the company. They believe that it is their duty to satisfy the needs of others and work for their betterment.
Empathy
Servant leaders try to solve problems and give advice to others with an open mind. They are not conservative thinkers and value the perspective of others. After all, other people and workers also need to be heard and valued for their unique skills and point of view. Servant leaders do not put their thinking and believe in others, but they value their perspectives. This characteristic helps them in understanding the feelings of other employees. The experience allows them to take care of others and help anyone in need.
Persuasion
Rather than commanding people what to do, they try to persuade other people to achieve different things through their persuasive skills. Instead of giving orders strictly for tasks, they smoothly convince others and motivate them to work harder to accomplish a goal. The motivation can make the team members or employees do their work by giving their best.
Foresight
Servant leaders need to plan for the future. This is done by analyzing the past and present events to predict what could happen. Foresight is an important quality that enables the servant leader to realize the mistakes done in past and learning from it to make better decisions for the future. They know how to trust their intuition and making strong decisions like any leader and stand by them.
Growth Of People
As the example and definition of servant leadership in the bible clearly state that the servant leader works for the betterment of the people first and then for themselves. They help people by assigning them tasks that will enable them to develop and enrich themselves, helping them achieve their goals while growing as individuals. They provide the proper information and guidance to help workers progress and develop their career. Servant leaders believe that all people have values beyond what they offer during work and those qualities can be tapped into.
Conceptualizing
Servant leaders conceptualize and dream about future possibilities and what steps should be taken to reach those possibilities. These steps are important for their bright future as preparing helps them to accomplish all their goals. By conceptualizing, it is easier to distribute and assign the work between the workers. A servant leader can think beyond the expectations to fulfill the needs of other people. This is of course also good for society and helps the community as a whole.
Building Community
Servant leaders are able to create a sense of community in an organization or society. This creates a friendly environment within a group of people and can help others flourish as well. It builds the feeling of a friendly work environment and workers start caring more and more for each other, creating a sense of team spirit within them. It is an important quality of a servant leader to bring the community together, and it is a quality that can even help them improve their teams’ performance in tough times.
Is It Relevant Today?
After going through all the aspects of servant leadership above, the obvious answer is yes, definitely yes. Servant leadership can play an important role in any organization’s success, and some would say that it is the most effective leadership style. In today’s world, it is crucial to value others and see yourself, not as the boss but also as the mentor of the workers under you. All the qualities of a servant leader make them the ideal leaders of modern workplaces and help their team accomplish their aims.
The needs and well-being of employees are put first which makes the employees work wholeheartedly and give their best. They don’t just tell people what to do but also motivate them to complete a task successfully, and helping them to stay determined when it’s getting hard. The importance of the work is explained to the employees to help them understand the importance of the work so that they can perform it efficiently.
The value of employees and other people around you is as important as yours, if not more. If the workers and employees are not getting valued or if they are not satisfied with their job, it can lead to the downfall of the organization. Servant leadership is important to make an organization work properly and maintain the efficiency and productivity of the work. They are able to make the right decisions for their team. They just want to pass the experience and qualities they have to benefit others and help them to grow. Their efforts can improve the environment and the effectiveness of the work, creating a massive momentum.
Servant leadership in the bible is a unique approach to find solutions faced during modern times. It teaches us many things and helps us achieve all our goals by caring for the people around us. It is still relevant in today’s busy world and certainly will be for many years to come.
