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The Servant-Leader (SL) is a servant first idea which begins with a natural feeling of a person who wants to serve his community or other people. Besides, the approach starts with a detailed example of vision in employment, public service, or education and being able to be optimistic with compassion for the situations affecting people.
The Concept of Servant-Leader
Greenleaf Robert K was the first person to mainstream the term servant-leadership, servant as an entitled Leader. As an ultimate student of doing things, Greenleaf made it a habit of observing a series of books and essays that presented “Servant as Leader” as a person with an action for seeking a caring and a better society as well as to stimulate the thought of good governance. The concept is described using different traits.
Listening is one trait that also involves an understanding of how a person`s body, mind, and spirit get in touch and communicate with the individual`s inner voice. In addition, empathy, which is the ability to recognize and accept people for the special and unique capabilities, is also instrumental. Besides, the leader needs to be able to heal is a powerful force that facilitates integration and transformation. Awareness is another trait as the individual needs to have knowledge and understanding of issues that involve ethics and values or principles. Also, persuasion rather than coerce compliance, the servant leader needs to successfully convince people through presenting a platform for a useful consensus. Conceptualization is another key aspect since when looking at a current problem one must think beyond obvious realities. Lastly, the Servant-Leader should have a right foresight that will make him/her foresee the progress of a situation and predict the most probable outcome as he/she serves other people`s needs. The concept can be described in the model below.
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Figure 1. Leadership Trait Model. This figure describes effective traits in the leadership trait approach.
One of the major strengths of Servant-Leadership is that it makes an individual a developer. Also, it promotes learning skills and helps in serving the community. Besides, it initiates responsibility skills as well as being a maximizing effort. However, SL is sometimes regarded as highly false. Besides, apart from being paternalistic, it is considered to be trivial. Critics also say it involves selflessness and discourages leadership and employee engagement in the workplace. However, the concept has numerous applications.
Servant Leadership can serve as a as a model of an institution by advocating for a decision-making approach that includes consensus and not the traditional top-down leadership. Besides, it can be highly useful for a community since people are only safe if there is a creation of a well-managed institution in the public sector. Lastly, it presents a way for people to grow emotionally, spiritually, professionally, and intellectually.
Conclusion:
As observed through the traits and strengths, and despite many criticisms, it is evident that Servant Leadership is a modern philosophy that encompasses practices that enhance people`s lives as well as create productive and ethically balanced organizations and in time lead to a more caring society.
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Traits are ongoing thoughts and stable behavior patterns. The trait approach can be viewed as a mechanism of studying people`s personality that highlights their traits as markers of their identity and personality.
Aspects of Leadership Traits
It has been previously confirmed that an individual who has leadership traits and was once a leader in one particular situation might lack the capabilities to be a leader in another. Besides, personality traits have been associated with individuals’ leadership perceptions. In 1991, Locke and Kirk Patrick claimed effective leaders are types of distinct people in several key respects. A second survey presented more balanced traits and leadership roles. Whereas it has been historically implied that leadership is principally not determined by personality aspects but by situational aspects, there has been a more moderate argument that both situational and personality factors were determinants of leadership as observed in different traits.
Sociability is a major leadership trait which can be achieved by embracing cooperation, and thus making a leader have an inclination to seek out pleasant social relationships. Determination is also a decisive trait that is being determined by the desire to get the job done. Self-Confidence, which is a person`s ability to be confident about his/her skills and competencies is another vital character that defines leader. Lastly, intelligence and integrity go hand in hand as they enhance trustworthiness and honesty as well as understanding among leaders and subordinates.
The trait approach does not necessarily display principles that define the actions of a good leader in a particular situation or under certain circumstances. Instead, it illustrates that having a leader with a particular set of traits is fundamental to having a leader that is both efficient and productive. Thus, it is the personality of a leader that is vital to the process of leadership. The approach is similarly used for development and personal awareness through analysis where managers have a real insight of the strengths and weaknesses surrounding their capabilities. Over the years, the approach has embraced a share of praises and criticisms.
The trait approach is viewed as being instinctively engaging and enacted by leaders who confidently lead the way. It also builds the idea that every single leader is different and unique as illustrated by their particular traits. The approach is also backed by various research that provides it the longevity and strength that give the approach the credibility lacking in other methods. Besides, the trait approach provides people with a compound and deeper understanding of how the leader's personality and the leader are related to the process of leadership. Lastly, it also identifies what people should have and whether the traits are the best leadership traits. Nonetheless, the approach has a fair share of criticisms.
The most criticized aspect of the trait approach is the failure to define a final list that highlights and characterizes all leadership traits. Furthermore, critics argue that it fails to take many situations into account and thus to make not possible to isolate leaders` characteristics without placing emphasize on situational effects. The approach has also resulted in an extremely biased determination of the dominant leadership traits which has led to less comparison between the traits of a leader and other outcomes. Lastly, it is also not a recommended approach for leadership development and training since many features are not easily changed. Nevertheless, the concept is applied to many aspects of leadership.
Regardless of the above-described shortcomings, it is evident that the trait approach contains valuable leadership information applied by a variety of individuals at all management levels and organizations. The trait approach provides direction regarding the kind of one should have to be a good leader.
Conclusion:
The trait approach provides people with a detailed understanding of leaders and how they can best fit into the organizational hierarchy, it can then help leaders make or influence changes in what their working environment to increase the potential of the society. Thus, the trait approach provides adequate information regarding the right roles and traits of leadership.
