The problem with the idea of servant leadership as usually defined is that it assumes there are other types of leadership, that “servant leadership” is just one type among many. This is critically false. All true leadership is service, full stop.
That may seem like a strange statement, but it’s true: to lead is to serve, and it can’t be any other way. Why? Because leadership is not the work. Leadership serves the work and those who do the work. Take, let’s say, a manufacturing plant which produces medical implements and surgical hardware. What is the work? Designing, creating, and shipping medical implements and surgical hardware which will be of sufficient quality and efficacy to improve people’s lives. The engineers who design and test the parts, the machinists who build them, the finishers who polish and laser-etch them, the people in quality control who inspect them, the packagers who prepare them for shipping, and the staff in shipping and receiving who send them out and bring in the raw materials for the next batch—these are the people who do the work. The shift supervisors, department heads, and so on, up to the plant manager? They exist to create the conditions under which those who do the work can do it well, with the most support and the fewest difficulties possible. In other words, they exist to serve the workers.
The problem, of course, is that it’s easy and tempting for people in leadership positions to believe otherwise. Human sinfulness makes that inevitable. Whether they believe it or not, however, the fundamental dynamic remains true, and organizations in which it is disregarded inevitably suffer for that disregard.
Photo: public domain.