Committing and following the journey of servant leadership is not always the easiest path. Many times as a leader you may find yourself reverting back to your prior comfort zone of command and control – this is autocratic leadership.
Reverting Back
This can be a natural response to stress, conflict or crisis. After all, it feels quicker, easier and more efficient when “things need to get done” to just step in, give orders and expect compliance. Recognizing that this can happen is an important first step.
Previous Training
It is very likely that this form of leadership is how you originally learned what it meant to be the “boss”. You have seen this modeled and even rewarded in the past, so it may feel natural to revert to this style of leadership.
However, your organization and team will see more success and be greater impacted by your actions when you come from a place of servant leadership. Studies have proven this. There’s data that clearly shows that organizations with a culture of servant leadership will far outperform those that don’t.
The Boss Mentality
So how do you know if you’re stuck in a “boss” rut? Here are a few common signs that indicate you might be suffering from a boss mentality:
- Commanding as opposed to asking and listening
- Driving others, as opposed to coaching them towards their best performance
- Taking all the credit, as opposed to giving credit to others
- Placing blame as opposed to taking responsibility and accountability for poor performance
- Instilling fear, instead of inspiring energy, passion, and enthusiasm
- Thinking about your self, as opposed to what is best for the team
- Using people as a means to an end, instead of developing people and their gifts
- Doing tasks, as opposed to teaching and allowing others to perform tasks
The Recovery Plan
If you do find yourself in this spot, I recommend the following action plan for recovery:
- Be transparent and vulnerable with your team and repent. Let them know you have recognized your behavior is not in line with goal to be a servant leader and you would appreciate their forgiveness for your actions.
- Listen to your team to determine the depth of the destruction that your behaviors may have caused. Based on their input, build a game plan for recovery.
- Share your recovery plan with your team so they understand your intentions about how you will lead moving forward.
- Find an accountability partner to help you in this process. Becoming the servant leader God created you to be will not happen without help. (More on this next week!)
Actively look for warning signs of things that push you back on your desired leadership journey. Becoming aware of these tendencies will help you step into recovery as quick as possible.
Remember, this is not just a quick fix. You will need to go through the recovery process more than once and that’s not a bad thing. What matters is that you are recognizing how to improve. Everyone falls short and by being vulnerable and upfront about your shortcomings with your team, you will gain their respect and they will embrace you all the more as their leader!
I’m curious, what have you found helpful to keep you on your journey towards “Becoming the Servant Leader That God Created You To Be”? Share it with us in the comments below.
Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. Luke 22:25-26
Your lists here are enlightening. Thinking back to my career with many different managers and leadership styles, I can see these symptoms so clearly in many cases, the boss mentality and the converse, as well, in limited frequency. I will excuse them though, because I don’t think they had a clue about servant leadership. In fact, I was told a few times in performance reviews that I was a servant leader – but I was not in any form of title a leader. 25 years later, I discovered there’s a whole movement and discipline known as servant leadership. Who knew?
Yep, Jane you have been modeling the way on servant leadership your whole life! That is awesome. Thanks for all you do everyday in advancing these servant leadership principles!
Yeah, the list really does appear to be very appropriate.
Thanks for sharing this Jane, because your story sounds like mine in the making! Hopefully ! But, my performance reviewers didn’t really knew that this is some sort of a legitimate leadership style – so were just puzzled about my attitudes!
Thanks Mark, for creating that discipline…. may the movement grow !
I just wrestled with this today. Customer needed some “above and beyond” support and we needed to respond promptly. When it didn’t happen, my first reaction was to make it happen. I can only say the Holy Spirit said don’t hit that send button with that message. Change the message and ask how the team can provide excellent customer support. Stay Tuned!
Mark – keep Serving and being a Blessing to many!
Good for you Mark!! Outstanding job! I’m confident that your team will help you solve this issue to provide that “above and beyond” support for your customer. Thanks so much for sharing your experience, as we can all relate to these situations. You just helped many others to build in those check points before we charge off in a direction that we would prefer not to in the long run.