Author: Rosette Wamambe. PHOTO/COURTESY
What we know is that everything rises and falls on leadership. In effect this means that organisations only grow to the extent to which those who lead them grow. Whereas there are several styles of leadership, the one that I believe most leaders aspire to is that of servant leadership.
This is “a management style in which the leader focuses on the team’s growth and wellbeing in order for them to get the results they desire”.
In his book Developing the Leaders Around You, my mentor John C Maxwell observed that, “The strength of any organisation/team is a direct result of its leaders.” Further that “an organisation cannot grow without, until its leaders grow within”.
There is need for the leader to make shifts from low road leadership to high road leadership where, among other things, they lead by their values, character, and well set out principles. It is some of these principles that we want to divulge into today.
In his book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, Maxwell introduces us to the law of the niche which states that “all players have a place where they add the most value”.
Maxwell begins by advising us that if we want everyone to win, then we need to make use of this law. In the past, I have written about the importance of personality assessments to ensure that people are placed in the correct roles that match their strengths. Maxwell reminds us that when people are not placed in the correct roles a few things happen and these are:
i) Loss of morale because the team is not playing to its best capability,
ii) Resentfulness as team members who are not put in areas of their strengths begin to feel resentful that their best competences are not being tapped into,
iii) loss of confidence which in the long run affects productivity of the team.
Simply put, when people are not put where they do things well, things do not turn out well. It follows, therefore, that to be an effective servant leader, one must lead with a transformative approach that places the needs of the team and the organisation above their ego. Doing this requires that the leader engages in leadership skills like active listening so that they hear beyond what is being said.
Servant leaders are also known for sharing recognition with the team and when there is something wrong with the ship they are steering, they take the blame instead of throwing their team under the bus.
Maxwell shares with us three simple rules that servant leaders use to put in effect the law of the niche. The first rule is that the leader knows the team. This begins with clearly articulating the vision and purpose of the team. In most cases, to do this, the leader needs to tap into the overall culture of the organisation as well as the history of the team.
The second rule is the leader needs to know the situation. Keep in mind that leadership is fluid and effective leaders know that today’s tools may not necessarily solve tomorrow’s challenges.
The final rule is that servant leaders aim at knowing who their players are. It is very important that leaders take time to understand people for who they are not what they wish they were.
Keep in mind that team building is not working on an assembly line, instead, it is being certain of what strengths each person brings to the team and allowing them to bring those strengths to bear.
It is for these reasons that I believe servanthood is the heart for leadership. This is because servant leaders know that they have that position not just for themselves but to create conditions that enable teams to thrive and scale new hearts. If indeed servant hood is the heartbeat for leadership how strong is your heartbeat?
Ms Rosette Wamambe is a transformational leadership coach with the Maxwell Certified Leadership Team [email protected]
