servant leadership is an organizational leadership philosophy wherein the primary objective of the leader is to help his people grow and flourish. This is opposed to conventional leadership wherein the main focus of the leader is the survival of his organization or company. Under this concept, the leader should not only focus on the growth of his organization but should also strive to increase the value of the organization for its employees and clients. This will then make the employees and clients happy and productive so that they can contribute to the growth of both the organizations. In addition, as the value of an organization is improved, more people will be satisfied with their work and they will be able to bring value to the company.
Kurt Uhlir talks through the advantages of servant leadership
One way to look at this approach in organizational leadership is through the concept of shared governance. Shared governance is a set of values and principles that guide and regulate the relationship between leaders and their subordinates. According to the academic pharmacist, the primary benefit of servant leadership is that it gives leaders the opportunity to develop a stronger bond between them that will make them better decision makers because they are compelled to take decisions that are grounded on their core beliefs, values and principles.
The academic pharmacist further explains that the process of creating this type of leader must start with the willingness of the leaders. They must believe that they can still lead effectively even if other people are against them. He further states that the servant leadership concept can only be effective if leaders are willing to step aside temporarily and allow their subordinates to assume that role. If the leaders do not have the strength of character to allow others to assume that role then the concept cannot work. It must therefore be emphasized that all leaders, whether they are part of an organization or not, need to put their personal pride aside and put aside their views on their subordinates and the way they should carry out their duties in order for the concept to be effective.