Servant Leadership and the Community

¶ … Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) was an eye-opener as it highlighted some very specific areas in which servant leadership can be expressed and shown -- ways that I had never thought of before. I was forced to consider how I stack up in these areas as a servant leader. Before, I was simply bringing "my own traits and ideas about leading" (Northouse, 2016, p. 232) to the situation -- but after this questionnaire, I realized that others have expectations and needs that I was unaware of.

This really opened my eyes to what being a servant leader is all about. My questionnaire responses indicate that my personal leadership philosophy is partly in line in with servant leadership and partly has room to grow in this area, but as Keith (2009) points out, there is still some growing on my part that must be done in terms of identifying all the various sectors that need serving. My score for emotional healing, for instance, was very high as I am generally very sensitive to other people's feelings.

My score for creating value in the community, on the other hand, was very low, as I do not generally "emphasize the need to give back to the community" (Northouse, 2016). This is not out of any unconcern for the community on my part but rather that "community" is a vague term that feels generic to me and I am more interested in focusing on actual, individual people one at a time rather than on "groups" or the "community." This is an area where I could grow.

My conceptual skills score was high as was my score for empowering. My score for helping subordinates grow and succeed was also high but more in the moderate range than in the top percentile high range. I do, however, generally put other people first and in this my score was a 28 and my score for behaving ethically was also a 28. So essentially what I learned from this questionnaire was that I need to get out of my shell since I have a genuine desire to serve.

Instead of waiting for people to come to me, I should get out of myself and go to them first, show myself in the community as someone who can help. This is one result that surprised me, as I did not previously think that I was in a shell, but seeing my score I can tell that it is true.

The impact that this characteristic of Servant Leadership might have on my personal leadership style (which is to quietly lead from the front by way of example) is that I can see how my leadership style can stand to change from an inverted to a more extroverted position. I can still maintain my quiet style but there is clearly some need to get outside my comfort zone. I think that getting outside my comfort zone can actually help me to become a more effective leader.

There is a certain amount of laziness that exists in always staying inside one's comfort zone. If we don't move outside of it and challenge ourselves and try to get to know those around us, then our capacity to lead is limited by that which we are willing to face. From this.