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Workplace culture became a critical business topic a decade ago, with more executives and HR leaders recognizing that shared values and behaviors drive engagement, innovation, and performance.
Building a strong culture, however, requires visionary leadership. One framework I’ve been using to develop leaders in my coaching and training practice is based on the seminal research of organizational leadership scholar Dr. Jim Laub.
Laub identified six key leadership behaviors essential to fostering a thriving culture. These behaviors are rooted in the principles of Servant Leadership, a people-centric approach where leaders prioritize serving others, creating environments of trust, engagement, and productivity.
How to Be a Servant Leader
Servant Leadership has been embraced by Fortune 100 companies such as Southwest Airlines and startup founders alike. They realize the importance of putting people ahead of profits for long-term success. To move your company toward a vibrant servant leadership culture, here are the six behaviors found in the research and best practices:
1. They demonstrate raw authenticity
The simple truth is that leadership (and life, really) is about people and relationships. And you can start with the proven fact that great leaders are real people. Or, if you prefer — they are authentic.
But the term “authenticity” doesn’t jive well in a cold, transactional business world. What does it mean? Sometimes, when the rubber meets the road, people in management roles tend to hide, withdraw, stonewall, or put on a mask.
And that mask hides who they truly are, maybe through how they order people around or how they forcefully command attention with a false charisma.
Ever been around boisterous and loud leaders who are three decibels above everyone else? There’s a perception that because they speak loudly, they will command respect. But false charisma is driven by hubris, which we all know is not sustainable.
Authenticity is showing up with your best self. It’s leading from your mind and your heart. Servant leaders show up by:
· Maintaining integrity and trust
· Being accountable to others
· Speaking their truth
· Being open to receiving feedback
2. They grow themselves and others
Servant leaders are a different breed, indeed. They gladly accept the role of learners because they know it will make them better. They know that each person has something important to teach them.
They ask questions and are sincerely interested in the answers. They never assume they know more than the very people they lead. This is even more important for new managers with long-tenured employees or knowledge workers with expertise in a specific area.
In turn, servant leaders will leverage these people’s skills and education and enable them to contribute great ideas that lead to great customer experiences.
Servant leaders know that the strength of their organizations comes from growing the skills and strengths of their employees. They do so by:
· Identifying their employees’ gifts, talents, strengths, and personality types to find the best job fit so that they can reach their potential.
· Championing a “learning spirit” within the organization, sending a clear message that “growing our people is one of our highest priorities.”
· Giving meaning and purpose to the employees’ work, which adds further motivation.
· Providing continuous training, coaching, and mentoring opportunities that align with job purpose, performance measures, and the organizational mission.
3. They value their people
Servant leaders succeed because they truly value others. It starts with believing in and trusting people. For example, imagine a team working on a challenging project. A servant leader who believes in their team’s abilities gives them the freedom to make decisions and take ownership of their work. When the leader maintains a high regard for each team member, showing respect and dignity and believing in their abilities, it creates a sense of safety. People feel valued and are more likely to contribute their best ideas.
Take a leader who consistently puts their team’s needs before their own. If a deadline is approaching, they check in with each person, offering support, asking what they need to succeed, or even stepping in to help with tasks. This kind of servant leadership builds loyalty and trust.
Listening is another crucial aspect. Say a team member comes to the leader with concerns. A strong leader listens carefully, without judgment, and shows they truly understand the issue. This kind of receptive, open communication encourages honesty and collaboration, which are key for problem-solving and innovation. When people feel heard, they’re more likely to stay engaged and committed. These actions, rooted in valuing others, create an environment where both the leader and the team can thrive.
4. They build community
Servant leaders easily separate themselves from the pack by building community and promoting a sense of belonging and connection for their team members. Various studies on human emotions have linked a person’s engagement at work to positive emotions, especially emotions fueled by caring behaviors–behaviors that fall on the manager’s side of the fence.
Collaboration also defines a strong community of work. It is in the servant leader’s DNA to cast a company vision but also enroll their followers to express their voice as co-creators and co-contributors to the vision.
Collaboration in servant-led cultures is palpable, as fear is pumped out of the room and people become liberated to innovate, create, communicate, and engage.
5. They provide direction and a way forward
Servant leaders envision the future and use intuition and foresight to guide the organization. This requires taking initiative, moving ahead of challenges, and setting the pace, which can motivate and energize.
Clarifying goals and expectations is key to this process, as it involves understanding the steps needed to achieve the vision and ensuring everyone is aligned on the path forward.
6. They share their power and grow other leaders
If you want to foster high trust, risk-taking, creativity, and open communication but are still riding on your autocratic high horse and instilling fear, consider getting off for the higher road of sharing power and releasing control.
This means allowing the freedom for others to experiment, lead themselves, stretch, and make mistakes. This will unleash discretionary effort, and your team will produce great results.
Instead of leveraging their positional power for personal gain, self-promotion, or demands for special privileges, servant leaders put their people in positions of leadership to expose them to new things and develop new strengths and roles.
In highly effective organizations, leaders are at every level, not just at the top. The solution is always to push authority down to create a leader-leader culture.
In his book Turn the Ship Around, retired U.S. Navy Captain David Marquet documents how he transformed a ship under his command by challenging the U.S. Navy’s traditional leader-follower approach and pushing for leadership at every level.
As a result, his submarine skyrocketed from worst to first in the whole fleet because of his choice to give up control. The crew became fully engaged, contributing their intellectual capacity every day.
Servant Leadership creates service culture
Typically servant leadership creates an atmosphere of pride among employees. That pride generates a desire to grow the customer service culture and in turn improves the bottom line.
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MARCEL SCHWANTES AND CARL PHILLIPS
