Table of Contents
Introduction
Leadership is diverse; this is concerning the way we all perceive it. It is because of this reason that we tend to categorized different leadership types with respect to how they influence what they lead, how their objectives are achieved and also the way they deliver services. In this case study-based paper, I seek to evaluate the different roles in which servant leadership has played and continues to play in modifying my service delivery and particularly how it has influenced my potential as a school/teacher leader. Furthermore, I reflect on the way servant leadership has influenced me as an educator in building my will to lead, as well as the leadership skills learned.
Personally, it is very important to understand the synthesis, as well as the mode of application with which this form of leadership will influence a teacher who takes the task of bettering his or her leadership skills. Servant leadership is both an authority theory and set of initiative practices. Customary authority, largely, includes the gathering and exercise of energy by one at the “highest point of the pyramid.” By correlation, it has helped me as a worker to practice control, put the necessities of others first, and carry out my duties as exceptionally as could reasonably be expected.
We can do it today.
A leader can be said to be a servant because of particular attributes that characterize a leader. A leader who is committed to serving is a good and an active listener, this enhances good communication with the people being led. Thomas (2004) reiterates that a leader in service should have that ability to evaluate and detect emotions amongst people, and by so doing this leader can know the various ways he or she can use to lead. As a servant leader, I have come to know the necessity of persuasive leadership where I have had to persuade people with my opinions and what I need to accomplished over my tenure.
Conceptualization is another attribute of a servant leader. A servant leader is said to be a conceptualist if he or she can be able to conceptualize goals and foresight into strategies. Stewardship, commitment to growth and communal building are some of the other key attributes of a servant leader. Stewardship is the view by a leader that his or her position is being at the task and responsible over a particular organization to which this leader leads. A leader’s commitment to growth, and being emancipative means that a leader is personally committed to ensuring that there is development in whatever is being led. The community as another attribute of servant leadership is the aspect of a leader being committed to creating a self-assertive sense by members in a community to object for growth. This has instilled mutuality of benefit for my drive to be a leader in service.
Servant Leadership and its Influence on Teaching Skills
A teacher is a very important individual in the society. He or she is a medium who enables transfer of knowledge and skills from one source to a recipient who in the near future will optimize on what has been thought in bettering his or her life, and the community as a whole. Michael (2016) emphasizes that every individual who wants to be a teacher is seen to take an option of nurturing responsible leadership, thus a teacher is a responsible leader. Servant leadership has influenced me as a school leader in what is required of a servant leader and altered the way I perceive ascension to leadership positions.
According to “Case for Servant Leadership” by Kent M. Keith, “Servant leadership is ethical, practical, and meaningful, and compare the power model of leadership with the service model, describes some key practices of servant-leaders, explores the meaningful lives of servant-leaders, and offers questions for reflection and discussion” (Keith, 2015). Key practices by a leader dictate his approach of leadership, it also describes the objectives at hand and what are likely going to be achieved by a leader in the near future. As a potential teacher, there are key aspects I may need to consider in order to influence my professional growth and the eventual character I am expected to portray as a teacher.
Servant leadership has influenced my general perception of learning. Teaching is a process, as a teacher, I am required to create strategies that will enable me to achieve the objectives to which I share with the students I teach. Idea conceptualization and subject optimization are key attributes that I need to incorporate effectively into my teacher strategies, this has enabled me not to be goal blinded by the diverse nature of academics, but to focus on students’ educational growth and conceptual learning (Margaret, 2006).
- Keith, K. M. (2015). The Case for Servant Leadership. Greenleaf Center Publishers.
- Margaret, W. J. (2006). Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World (UK Professional Business Management / Business). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
- Michael, F. (2016). The New Meaning of Educational Change. Routledge.
- Thomas, S. J. (2004). The Lifeworld of Leadership: Creating Culture, Community, and Personal Meaning in Our Schools. Jossey-Bass.