We’ve probably all heard it before: patients’ needs should be at the heart of healthcare. The same is true elsewhere: education should be about students and (local) public administration should be about residents of each (local) community. However, we should not forget the following: the essence of a leader in a healthcare system should be doctors, the essence of a leader of an educational institution should be teachers and the essence of a leader in a public administration unit should be public administration employees (and these are only representative cases, which should refer to all employees in health, education and public administration). Such an idea of organisational role and collaboration is the essence of what is called servant leadership.
Origins
A thought of servant leadership started in 1970, and the person making first claims about it was Robert Greenleaf. In that year he wrote an essay called The Servant as Leader, which launched a movement of sorts that would later result in a leadership model known as servant leadership.
For first few years and also decades, word of this form of leadership interchangingly progressed and died down. But in recent years, we have seen a new upsurge and the word is one of the most frequently mentioned in the research sphere of leadership. Model has been given its own scientific definition (clarity regarding what is it that defines this model of leadership) and contextualisation (explanation regarding circumstances in which this model can flourish and deliver desired results), and continues to evolve as one of the key contemporary approaches to leadership.
About the model
In the Servant Leadership model, role of a leader belongs to a person who is willing and ready to help others. This is the one central mission and responsibility of the role. It requires a person who is willing to discard the traditional image of leaders that relish taking their place in the spotlight; a servant leader acts by creating opportunities for others and by genuinely caring for their well-being and development. At the same time, this role still implies the role of a leader, i.e. someone who articulates (brings ideas into words, messages and disseminates them within the community) a shared mission and vision.
In science, the definition of this leadership raises three key distinctive points. A servant leader is 1) oriented to others (i.e. a characteristic called the motive), 2) actualises his role in one-to-one relationships with focus on follower’s needs (i.e. a characteristic of action) and 3) is reorienting the care to be shown outwards (i.e. a mindset in action). Not to confuse points one and three: the first point primarily addresses the relationship with the followers, while the third point addresses the care for the survival of the organisation and the responsibility towards broader community.
Context of relevance
Servant leadership is caring oriented. It has been found to work best in fields of work that are inherently caring in nature. Education, health and public administration are highlighted. In practice, it turns out that care of a leader for the followers results in followers enhancing their care for customers and the company. This increases the quality of service provided, and is also recognised as an increase in the care for organisation’s equipment, a reduction in consumption of materials and so on (and thus a reduction in all related costs).
Those of you who have read the previous entries in this category will probably also have noticed other factors of the organisational environment that fit in well. From the shift in decision-making style and personal determination of a leader to delegation of decisions to following trends towards empowerment (both providing authority and training, and sharing all the information needed for empowerment), to pursuing greater organisational agility (i.e. the ability to respond to many and varied challenges), to increasing the pool from which we draw ideas and solutions for development, and so on.
Conclusion
Public services mentioned in this paper, and in particular the health service, have been the subject of much criticism, especially with regard to a center of their functioning and existence: the essence of health care should be the patients. But having said that, one can never forget that, to enable a system to work this way, you need appropriate model of leadership; i. e. servant leadership.
We are in a difficult and, from a leadership perspective, irrational situation. We expect our personell in health care sector to put patients in the forefront of their concerns, but at the same time do not have people involved in the system that would put that personell in the center of their mind. Knowing the situation from the inside as well, I know many people make abnormal efforts and make abnormal sacrifices to do and to contitue doing what they do. But such efforts are not a solution for the long run. Jobs (or shall we call them callings?) that are servant in nature need servant leaders!
+ Short addition.
One more point is worth mentioning. Servant leaders are in general required to be oriented outward or to look towards others. It is what their job or their function in an organisation required them to do. To do this in a lasting or sustainable manner, one (that performs in leadership role this way) must make sure to establish a balance with taking time for personal or self-care. And, of course, do not forget the other part as well: if we give leaders the responsibility for well-being of others, then others must take responsibility for final results.
Paradim 