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“And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” John 13:14-15 (NLT)

Building a servant leadership culture is very challenging. Everyone has their own “style,” which is likely marginal. While most of what you have studied thus far in this series seems to make common sense, when it comes to actually changing the way people lead, it is difficult to say the least. People that depend on positional authority will struggle with or rebel against the concept of servant leadership. Some will not be able to make the change. Others will look skeptically at the process, thinking, “What are they trying to do?” This is all part of the journey of building a servant leadership culture.

Creating change that lasts is not easy. Changing culture, especially the leadership culture, takes time and patience. The larger the organization, the greater the challenge. Also, the current culture within the institution effects the process. Even the term “servant leader” can seem weak to many people, which is far from the truth. Servant leaders understand that the best way to make lasting change is to make it a collaborative effort, but make no mistake, this will not be easy. There will be naysayers that will say that this is a bad idea. A question to ponder: What are tangible ways that you can patiently create engagement with staff to let this be their idea?

It is worth the energy to build a servant leadership culture. Servant leadership leads to higher staff engagement that creates improved morale, higher retention rates and increased productivity that generates higher profits. According to Gallup,(1) employee engagement is at an all-time low, especially in people under 35 years old. They do not know what is expected from them and they do not feel that someone at work even cares about them. Both have a significant influence on employee retention and productivity.

Where to start? There are no cookie-cutter formulas on implementing a servant leadership culture, but here are a few principles to guide the process.

·       Involve a person from outside the organization who has done this before. Internal staff will be seen as having too much legacy baggage to be effective as change agents.

·       Senior leaders must have buy-in from the beginning. The CEO and other leaders must be willing to receive feedback on their current leadership skills to identify needed changes. They must embrace the truth: “You are not the leader you think you are, you are the leader other people know you to be.”

·       Initiate change through a pilot group that is a broad cross-section of the company. The group should be those who have influence and credibility because of their personal moral authority.

·       The criteria for hiring and promoting should change almost immediately. The importance of character and moral authority needs to be embraced in all HR practices, as the organization makes decisions on who they want to attract, retain and promote. This should be non-negotiable.

Shared Experiences:

·       Can someone share if their organization has adopted a servant leadership culture? How was it accomplished?

·       How do you believe a servant leadership culture in your organization would be received? Who would be the cheerleaders? Who would be the naysayers?

·       Can someone share open-ended questions they use or that leaders have asked them that would be helpful to others?

Bottom line: Jesus, the teacher, gave a clear example of what the disciples were expected to do but also took them three years of training to understand. With God’s help, these folks were Jesus’ humble leaders to change the world. This is our task as well. It has been passed from believer to believer.

Dig Deeper

Want to learn more?

·       Video: An Interview with Bill Pollard hosted by Seattle Pacific University. Bill was CEO of Service Master Corporation for 25 years. This is excellent. Anything you see about Bill Pollard is excellent.

·       Book: The Leadership Challenge – How to Keep Getting Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations by James and Barry Posner. This is an excellent book which never mentions servant leadership, but it is fully servant leadership.

·       Video Podcast: Why Leadership is Hard and How to Win at It with Jim Kouzes speaking on the Preston Poore podcast. Quote: “Challenge is the opportunity for greatness.”

·       Research Article: Global Leadership Forecast 2025 by Development Dimension International. This research, while not specific to servant leadership, reinforces everything we have discussed about servant leadership.

·       (1)Article: U.S. Employee Engagement Sinks to 10-Year Low by Jim Harter writing for Gallup and published on Gallup.com. This is an excellent article.

The principles listed on page one should guide you in building a servant leadership culture. This is not the plan. You must develop an implementation plan based on the culture of your company and the staff that you have. We would recommend you read the following references to help you process the path forward.

·       Book: The World’s Most Powerful Leadership Principle by James Hunter. This is an excellent how-to book. It also has a process for 360-degree reviews, which are imperative if you want to have a servant leadership culture. This will be the most difficult hurdle for senior leadership to get over.

·       Book: Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership – Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving by James Sipe and Don Frick. These two gentlemen worked at the Greenleaf Center founded by Robert Greenleaf, the creator of modern-day thinking on servant leadership.

Typical open-ended servant leadership type questions that you can use every day at work:

·       What frustrates you most about your job?

·       What would help you be successful right now?

·       How specifically can I be a better leader for you?

·       If you could change one thing about this organization or your department, what would it be?

·       Which aspects of your job performance do you believe you need to improve?

·       Tell me about your life and family?

·       What do you enjoy most/least in life?