Start by referring back to rule number one, performance is personal before it is organizational, and check my earlier blog entry, \u201cWhy Should Your Organization be People Centered?\u201d<\/p>\n
So why should your organization be servant\u00a0led? \u00a0Because servant leaders clear away barriers to personal performance; they enable, in positive ways, good behaviors and sustained superior performance.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 By observing and interacting with their people, learning what is affecting negatively their job performance, and finding ways to remove the performance obstacles they identify.<\/p>\n
There are two excellent books, one by James Hunter, The Servant<\/span>, and the other by Ken Blanchard (the author of The One Minute Manager), The Servant Leader<\/span>, which describe what servant leaders do to help their people perform at their peak.\u00a0 Be aware that Ken Blanchard\u2019s book carries with it a strong message about Christianity and Leadership, but it is also a great tool to understanding yourself as a servant leader.\u00a0 Another excellent book, Hidden Value<\/span>, by O\u2019Reilly and Pfeffer, tells many stories about successful organizations.\u00a0 At the heart of most of those stories is an often hidden message about being a people centered, servant led organization.<\/p>\n The message in each of these books is: if you as a leader do nothing other than demand high performance, without regard for the ability and willingness of your people to produce it, and without setting the stage for them, you set up your people, yourself, and your organization for poor performance.\u00a0 It may not be immediate, but it will almost certainly come.<\/p>\n You need to create the environment within which people are motivated\u00a0to do their very best.\u00a0 You establish\u00a0the working conditions, the compensation, and the expectations.\u00a0 You establish\u00a0the communications and help define the culture within your area of responsibility.\u00a0 You build the team and inspire each person.\u00a0 You break down the barriers in and outside the organization.\u00a0 You lead by getting out of the way and turning your people loose on the challenge.<\/p>\n And by the way, you had better do some serious soul-searching yourself.\u00a0 You need to be\u00a0very self-aware, because every decision you make and action you take will be a lesson for your people.\u00a0 You had better eat your own dog food, drink your own Koolaid, and walk your own talk!<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have this gift of self-awareness, if you do not have the leadership skills, you had better find someone who does.\u00a0 Not everyone is gifted\u00a0to be\u00a0a great leader.\u00a0 You may be a great entrepreneur, an effective consultant, a knowledgeable teacher, or an astute business strategist; but if you do not have the people skills and leadership gifts, find someone you trust who does!\u00a0 It\u2019s even more important than being a servant leader, to know if you are the right person for the job.<\/p>\n If you are not the right person for the servant leader role you cannot perform\u00a0up to your own full potential, nor can your organization perform\u00a0up to its potential.\u00a0 And if you are the head of your organization it\u2019s not just you, it\u2019s your entire leadership team.\u00a0 Servant leadership is not just a way for a supervisor or manager to lead, it\u2019s a matter of culture for the entire organization.\u00a0 If you establish that model, but your management team doesn\u2019t get it or can\u2019t or won\u2019t do it, then you will not get the results you expect or need.<\/p>\n Why should your organization be servant led?\u00a0 It should be\u00a0servant led because servant leaders free their people to achieve\u00a0superior personal performance, enabling your organization to perform up to its full potential.<\/p>\n Just by being an effective servant leader you are beginning to establish\u00a0a very supportive, strong and positive culture, consider it a firm foundation, within your organization.\u00a0 You are defining certain core competencies essential to your organization\u2019s success.\u00a0 And you are defining, by your own expectations, certain behaviors all of your people should exhibit\u00a0that lead to feeling part of a team, being \u201con the same page\u201d, being respected and appreciated, developing the character and integrity of your organization.\u00a0 In short, you are becoming values focused, the next critical success factor for your organization\u2019s peak performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Start by referring back to rule number one, performance is personal before it is organizational, and check my earlier blog entry, \u201cWhy Should Your Organization be People Centered?\u201d So why should your organization be servant\u00a0led? \u00a0Because servant leaders clear away barriers to personal performance; they enable, in positive ways, good behaviors and sustained superior performance.\u00a0 … Continue reading Why Should Your Organization Be Servant Led?<\/span>