7 Servant Leadership Traits

Servant leadership is a management style in which the leader puts their team’s needs first. This management philosophy can help create a positive work culture with high employee morale.

A servant leader puts others before themselves and believes everyone has a role in moving the company forward. This includes taking time to listen receptively and consider the perspective of team members.

Empathy

Developing empathy is one of the most important skills for leaders to have. It helps them establish healthy relationships with team members and foster helping behaviors contribute to workplace productivity.

Empathy involves experiencing the thoughts and feelings of others. It can be cognitive (thinking about what another person is feeling) or emotional (being able to feel a person’s emotions).

It’s important to understand that empathy is different from sympathy. Sympathy is about caring for someone, while empathy is about feeling with them and understanding their pain.

Empowerment

Empowerment allows people to fully access their personal or collective power, authority, and influence. This can be facilitated through education, training and skill development, advocacy, and self-efficacy building.

It enables individuals/groups to develop themselves and their institutions for better social, economic, or political outcomes.

Managers who embrace empowerment tend to have to give up some of their decision-making authority and let employees take on more responsibility for a variety of tasks. This can be challenging at first, but it can ultimately be rewarding.

Commitment

Commitment is a key part of being a successful servant leader, and it can make you more productive in the workplace, and you’ll build trust with your team if you demonstrate that you’re committed to their success.

Committing to something gives you the motivation and drive to see it through, even when it gets tough. It also helps you stay focused on what’s important to you, which can reduce self-doubt when things don’t go your way.

It’s also a great way to build your reputation as a leader and gain the respect of your peers. It shows that you’re willing to work hard and can be trusted with a big job.

Awareness

Awareness is knowing your emotions and behaviors and how they affect others. This helps you be a better leader by understanding how to communicate and respond effectively to others.

Self-awareness is crucial when leading a team because it allows you to recognize your strengths and weaknesses and take steps to grow as a leader. It also helps you avoid pitfalls and know when you are crossing a line with your behavior.

Servant leaders are always aware of their team members’ needs and want so that they can meet them. They also understand that when team members feel fulfilled on a personal level, it benefits their professional lives.

Listening

Listening is one of the most important communication skills. With it, messages can be understood, and people may become frustrated or irritated.

Servant leadership is known for their ability to listen carefully to followers and to help them develop their skills. They can do this because they prioritize others over themselves and their needs.

Listening is a complex skill that requires attention, comprehension of the message, and recollection of what has been said. It also involves nonverbal communication cues like facial expressions and body language.

Foresight

Foresight is a process that seeks to identify and analyze future trends or developments. These may include science and technology advancements or changes in society and business.

It is a practice that helps organizations understand the potential impact of future developments and ensures they are ready for change.

This includes identifying potential risks and opportunities and crafting plausible scenarios. These scenarios are used as inputs to strategic planning and for making informed decisions about future development.

Trust

When you lead, you must trust that your team will follow you. This includes ensuring that your staff feels like they are being treated fairly and that you take their feedback seriously.

Servant leadership often achieve this because they put their employees first and make them feel they are on an equal playing field with everyone else in the organization.

They also show their commitment to others by giving them the time and attention they need. This can include taking time to listen carefully to the concerns of their team members and encouraging them to provide constructive feedback.