Ken Blanchard makes a crucial point that people who do not understand the concept of Servant Leadership, do not understand leadership. The aim is to lead people, to assist them in reaching their full potential as human beings and, yes, in that process as employees too. It means that the leader does not build his/her own empire but assists his/her team in reaching their goals. The Servant Leader has the uncanny ability to function on a higher level, a meta-cognitive ability, where they truly believe that they can only be successful if their teams are successful. My favourite proverb regarding leadership was given by the ancient Greek civilization:
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.”
Servant Leaders derive their greatest joy in what they give and not in what they get. You are indeed more blessed when you give than when you receive. All leadership practices of the Servant Leader will be to add value, rather than take value. Nowhere is this more visible than with the engagement with their teams. Businesses are made up of human beings, and therefore the Servant Leader engages with high levels of empathy. The reason for the practice of empathy is to rehumanise the workplace, which has become very tough, cold, and technological over the past 40 years.
In 2005 I met a man by the name of Alex McManus in Los Angeles. Alex is a futurist and a mystic. He is also astute and knowledgeable when it comes to leadership and human capital. I invited Alex to come and conduct a leadership workshop at one of our local universities. Alex started the session by asking the 50 people in attendance what their favourite animal is. After we voted as a group, the Giraffe won the contest of favourite animal. Then Alex asked us to think of things that make a Giraffe a Giraffe? It was a strange question. We worked in our groups and came up with some aspects which we listed.
After that, Alex asked us to think of what a Giraffe needs to do, to not act like a Giraffe? Once again, a strange question, but more complicated. Out of all 50 delegates, we came up with maybe three answers, but they were very vague. A Giraffe acts like a Giraffe because it is a Giraffe. Then Alex asked us if we have ever heard a Giraffe being called an inGiraffe? None of us heard that before, obviously. Alex then explained that we, as humans, are the only species, that has a term to describe us, if we do not act like our species. If a human being does not act like a human, he/she gets called: INHUMANE. How many times have we heard it said: “That is just inhumane.” Unfortunately, we as a species can act unlike our humanity. This also translates into the working environment.
How many times have you seen leaders be ruthless with no regard for the consequences of their actions? Recently a high-profile leader of a non-profit told me that he does not have the ability to develop people. He can only work with excellence, and therefore if people do not cut it, he just gets rid of them. To get away with the labour law implications, he makes up performance issues and gets a strong right-hand man to back him in hearings. Staff turnover in this non-profit is way above the average, but the leader continues to serve his own needs, whatever he feels make him look good to his board. This is clearly inhumane, and this is a non-profit organisation!
Another example is an executive who ruthlessly wants to increase profits to appease his/her shareholders. Even though the headcount is on par, she decides to cut more jobs. This puts tremendous pressure on the people that are left, but they know that they will now have to work 60 to 70 hours per week, just to keep their jobs. Over the long term, staff turnover increases, which leads to many additional costs and lower profitability.
These two examples are relatively common and have become standard practice. Leaders sacrifice everything at the altar of the shareholder. Servant Leaders cannot fathom this way of working with people. They kick against any form of inhumane behaviour and assist people in the workplace to function as human beings. Most importantly, Servant Leaders understand that if you work with humans, they need to be treated as such to build a sustainable organisation that delivers extraordinary results over a prolonged period. Brene Brown explains this:
“To reignite creativity, innovation and learning, leaders must dare to rehumanise work. This means understanding how scarcity is affecting the way we lead and work. Leaders should recognise and combat shame.”
Servant Leaders enter with empathy and acknowledge their people’s humanity. They do not bully them and shame them for not performing. They do not pile guilt on their people. Empathy brings fairness into the picture. Servant Leaders put themselves in the shoes of their people and listen objectively to their suggestions and concerns.
Empathy helps people to feel safe as well as cared for. Neuroscientists tell us that if people feel safe with their leader and believe they are a part of a group of people being cared for, the brain functions optimally. We cannot function as humans if we are not given an environment that is safe and caring. Therefore people will function as animals at work, constantly looking to fight or flight. The prefrontal cortex only functions in safety and care. The Servant Leader rehumanises the workplace through empathy, that produces a safe and caring culture.
Robert Greenleaf provided a definition that shows the true intentions of the Servant Leader:
“The Servant Leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. The best test and difficult to administer is: do those served grow as persons: do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or at least, not be further deprived?”
With all the futurists talking about future skills and the impact of AI on work and the employee, they all agree on one point, that the future will belong to those who can act with empathy, care, and compassion. This will give a competitive advantage as people will do business and work for those who still treat them as human beings. If the futurists are right, it seems that the future will belong to the Servant Leaders!
BUT HOW DO WE DEVELOP EMPATHY?
The first thing we need to do is to pay attention. Empathy pays attention. The Latin word “attendere” means to reach towards. Empathy reaches out to others, paying attention to others, regardless of social rank or status in the organisation. Daniel Goleman talks about the empathy triad:
“We talk about empathy most commonly as a single attribute. But a close look at where leaders are focusing when they exhibit it reveals three distinct kinds of empathy, each important for leadership effectiveness:
- Cognitive empathy: the ability to understand another person’s perspective.
- Emotional empathy: the ability to feel what someone else feels.
- Empathic concern: the ability to sense what another person needs from you”.
Paying attention is how we develop empathy, and by that we mean paying attention to others, being interested!
The second thing we need to do is become curious again. Servant Leaders never believe that they figure people out. They choose to listen again, to understand, to get clarity of understanding. At the age of three, your curiosity levels are at 100%. By 23, your curiosity levels have dropped to 5%. You lose 95% of your curiosity between the ages of 3 and 23. By 23 you believe you have the world figured out. It is a shame really, but a great challenge as well, to hold on to our curiosity as we grow up. We do the same in our relationships: “This is who my wife is”, “this is who my child is”, and “this is who my colleague or team member is”, and we put people in a box. We label them and lose curiosity. Empathy helps the leader to stay curious and keeps paying attention. There is always something new to learn from others in our relationships
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF EMPATHY ON THE WORK ENVIRONMENT?
Researchers constantly find that Servant Leaders have a follower affect. What does that mean? It means that people start acting in the same way as their leaders if their leaders are Servant Leaders. If leaders lead with empathy, their followers do the same. This behaviour gets reciprocated throughout the team and organisation. This has a massive impact on the culture because it leads to people building a true community with each other and staying loyal to each other over many years. People do not remain loyal to your company, but they stay loyal to their leaders and teams and, in the process, stay loyal to your company.
IN CONCLUSION
It is important to note that Servant Leaders do function with healthy boundaries. Servant Leaders do not aspire to become councillors and therapists to their teams, which will lead to them losing focus of the business objectives. Servant Leaders will pay attention to what their teams need and assist their team members in getting help in an appropriate manner. This leads to an environment of safety and care, which unleashed the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which invariably brings about a creative and productive team member. This is how we can rehumanise our workplaces, with empathy, that gets reciprocated by teams who see their leaders lead in this way. The result is a loyal community, delivering extraordinary results for clients and shareholders
Author and Contributor: Hermann Du Plessis – Founder & Director @ TTLI (LinkedIn Bio https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermann-du-plessis-01b17618/)