What Is Servant Leadership
Servant leadership is the belief that to be a better leader one must serve those s/he leads. This practice cultivates environments that put others first and creates a more just and loving world. For big businesses, it takes the focus off of the bottom line and places it on the people the company provides services or products for. It is the opposite of what a dictatorship or “because the boss said so” environment looks like. In the family, it reminds everyone that you are in this together, that every individual is important, and that loving and caring for one another with humility of one’s own wants is beneficial to the whole.
While the practice is somewhat new in the business world, coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in an essay first published in 1970, the concept is timeless. The Servant Leader model was well-displayed 2000 years ago in the life and words of Christ.
How Christ Taught and Modeled Servant Leadership
Christ had a great deal to say about servant leadership. Through words and deeds, he showed his disciples and us what leadership should look like.
Luke 12:35-38
Christ often taught in parables. In Luke 12:35-38 we, along with the disciples, are given a picture of what it looks like when the Master serves the servants.
Having been at a wedding feast the Master thinks of those who serve him. He stops, looks around at the banquet and says wait a minute there are some people missing who should be partaking in this joy. The servants are waiting in the back, anticipating a need for this banquet, but what happens instead? The Master brings the festivities to them!
He knocks. They open the door expecting to be called on to serve further. Instead, he tells them to sit, relax, eat. He ties up his own cloak and to their surprise goes about the work of serving them.
The servants have been waiting patiently, anticipating his needs, ready to serve him at a moments notice. But he flips order on its head and serves them instead!
These servants were loyal and eager to serve before. How much more will they be to serve a Master who would leave a banquet, remember them, and insist they celebrate as well?! He could have sent someone else. He does not merely think of them and send another to care for them, HE GOES. He physically gives of himself and his time and serves them.
(I highly suggest reading Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels by Kenneth E. Bailey to dig deeper into this parable.)
But Christ doesn’t stop with just a story. Christ shows his disciples what this feels like.
John 13:1-18
This passage starts out as a declaration of love right to the end of Christ’s earthly ministry. It then parallels the story Christ told his disciples previously. He stops the festivities of the meal before them, wrapped a towel around his own waist, and began to serve his followers by washing their feet.
But that’s not enough. He has shown them in story and then through action, but to drive home the point he flat out asks – “Do you get it? Do you see what I’m doing here?”
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place, “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
John 13: 12-15
See up until this point in Christ’s ministry he has been showing his disciples what it looks like to serve others. He’s been giving them tangible examples to fall back on. He’s healed the sick, spent time caring for those in need, hung out with those society deemed less than. But now he’s asking the question – “Do you get it? Do you see what I’m doing here?” He’s asking because it’s time to pass the torch, it’s time for the disciples and for us to continue on what Christ had been living all those years.
How We Can Model Servant Leadership in the Workplace and Home
It begins with ownership. You have to own your influence on those you lead whether it is employees or your own children. Failure and success ultimately lie in the ability of the leader to take on the weight of responsibility and to do so with humility. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin does a great job of laying out what this looks like. (I’ve written about Extreme Ownership in more detail here, be sure to check it out.)Jesus did not back away from who he was or why he was here. He made sure those he lead understood what he was doing and why. He told them through stories, through the explanation of scripture, through example, and then asked just to clarify
Do you get it? Do you see what I’m doing here?
Those you lead will follow your lead when you serve. It took awhile for Jesus’ lessons to really sink in. It’s why they were on repeat, it’s why they were communicated in multiple ways. Many of the lessons Jesus taught did not sink in fully until long after he was gone. But they sank in and over 2000 years later we are still talking about them, dissecting them, and learning how to live them out in our everyday life. When an employer models servant leadership over time an office culture of service will begin to build. When a parent models servant leadership over time the family dynamic will be transformed. According to David K. Williams, Forbes author, creating a culture of servant leadership is the best investment a business can make. Before you can begin to expect your employees or family to be servant leaders you have to model what that looks like. Just as the Master left the festivities to serve his servants, just as Christ stepped away from the last supper to wash his disciples feet, we must model what serving and loving on others physically looks like.
Seek out opportunities to serve. The Master was at a wedding banquet, looked around and was reminded of those waiting in the background to serve him. He wasn’t told, “hey there’s this great opportunity.” No, instead he created a great opportunity to showcase to his servants how much they were valued. Jesus was sitting at his last meal with his disciples. Knowing what was coming he could have stepped away for a pep talk or simply allowed them to serve him. Instead, he seized the opportunity to serve those in the room and to charge them to do the same for others. He stopped everything and paused the meal to serve those around him.
By investing in your people, you are showing them that you value and care for them. If they were loyal to your company or your family before, imagine how much more so they will be knowing how valuable they are to you as human beings? If bad moods are passed down from management to employee, from employee to support staff, to ultimately the poor dog that gets kicked at home… imagine the trickle-down effect of top leadership displaying true servant leadership as Christ did.
Christ has a following today, 2000 years later it is still strong. Let that sink in. Maybe, just maybe it’s time to wash some feet.
Featured Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
