by Rand O’Leary

Many high performing companies have discovered the value of servant leadership, which simply defined is serving others first.  When leaders make this simple, but fundamental mind shift, the culture and the organization will follow as will bottom line results.  Employees working under leaders who put their needs first, build self-confidence, make decisions more autonomously, have greater job satisfaction and engagement, and are more likely to practice this same style with their direct reports.

How does servant leadership build organizational and team performance?

Trust

Teams that trust each other are more likely to take risk, and taking calculated risks is what drives organizational growth.  Leaders in risk adverse cultures will only push strategies or ideas that minimize their risk.  This is not the way to achieve sustained growth. Servant leaders push their teams to have complete and transparent conversations without fear of reprisal, the blame and shame culture, if present, must be fully eradicated for trust to be built. Read Full Article.