What does it mean to be a Servant Leader ?

Good leaders always serve the people they lead.

Stepping away from the textbook definition of Servant Leadership is very important in understanding just what it really means to  be a Servant Leader. Most of the general public and many executives cannot give you an explanation as to what it is, nor have they ever heard of the term. So, as an individual with experience in Servant Leadership, it is - to me - the process of being the teacher and the student. Knowing when to step away from the role of a transformational leader is vital to the mechanisms of an organization. Managers often forget what it feels like to be a part of the line, a part of the company that everyone else depends on to get the work done, the part that most refer to as Line Workers. Once you become a manager, you still have to maintain humility and known when it's your turn to learn something from someone else. That is a Servant Leader.

Servant Leaders are great at applying the law of learning from everyone regardless of status within an organization. Just because I may be the director of a department, that does not mean that I cannot learn from one of the interns, or one of the executives. It just means that I have had a longer time frame in which I was able to gain experience. That also does not mean that I have all of the knowledge, because knowledge is acquired through interaction and learning...which means that I have to be able to step off of my podium - so to speak - every now and again and humble myself enough to understand that maybe someone who works on my team may know a little more about something than I do.

Servant Leaders lead by example; do as I do, so the responsibility of being ethical, upholding morals, and maintaining a high level of workmanship is crucial to the process of leadership in this regard. Servant Leaders aren't afraid to get their hands dirty and show the individuals that they work with that hard work is not just for the line workers, it is for everyone. Servant Leaders are aware that saying "he/she works for me" is unacceptable, and prefer to use the terms "team", "work with me", and "we". They refrain from terms that pinpoint a certain corporate class. Teams are important to a Servant Leader, and they feel that their presence within one is what makes them a stronger leader.