Learning, Leadership and Servant Leader

Learning, Leadership and Servant Leader

Learning and leadership go hand in hand for true servant leaders. Some might say the two are intrinsically linked. Consider the learning model of apprentice, journeyman, master and teacher. Each stage requires a cycle of learning and mentorship from a more experienced teacher or master coach.
One of the places that you learn how to lead is by having been mentored at some point in your life by a good teacher or master coach. They move you from being a novice to an apprentice to a journeyman to a master teacher over a period of time. One key to creating a great team, movement or organization is to empower your people. To do that, you can’t just go, ‘You’re empowered — go out and do this.’ You have to mentor them. You have to teach them how to make decisions within the boundaries that you’ve set up. Boundaries might include vision, purpose, values and goals.

Another skill I have used over the years, ask, ask all new people in a leadership role to think back to one of the most powerful learning experiences they have had, consider who taught the lesson, where they were in their career and then evaluate why was it such a powerful experience. Great leaders should always be trying to influence people to be their best, to be as magnificent as they can be and to accomplish agreed-upon goals. One of my favorite authors, Jim Collins ‘Good to Great’ found two characteristics of great leaders: Will, which is determination to be the best, to follow vision, and accomplish a goal. But the thing he never anticipated is that they’re humble you cannot be a good learner unless you humble yourself. If you think to yourself, ‘Who’s this person?’ ‘I don’t need this,’ etc., you’re caught by your EGO. You’ve closed off your learning valve, and now you’re into yourself. Learning from good mentors has helped me more than anything to be a good mentor and leader for others. In addition to great leaders being learners and humble, I believe they also possess a heightened level of self-awareness. This enables them to answer this important question: Are you there to serve or be served?

People with humility don’t think less of themselves — they just think about themselves less, every leader, whether new or seasoned, has to look into their heart because leadership starts on the inside and moves out. It starts with the question: ‘Why are you leading?’ Are you there to serve or be served? Naturally, most people don’t want to admit they’re self-serving. A clue to determine whether this is true is to ask leaders about their behavior. For instance, ‘How do you respond when you get feedback? Feedback is an opportunity to learn. If you give feedback to someone who thinks they own their position, what do they do? They have to defend what they own. If you tell them anything, particularly something negative, they have to deny you.
You can always tell a person with a servant heart because when you give them feedback, you know what they say? ‘Thank you.’ ‘Is there anyone else I should talk to?’ I never thought about that.’ ‘That wasn’t my intention.’ Learning to be a Servant Leader is a life long journey, sound like a journey your ready for?

Ready for the next step? Email me at Brian@basearchgroup.com with dates and times that work for you, and we’ll set a meeting.
Regards,

Brian Anderson
Brian Anderson
President, BA Search Group


P.S. - Visit www.basearchgroup.com for a complete overview of my services, or visit my blog for leadership tips at http://basearchgroup.blogspot.com/.