Servant leadership is an act of love
“Servant leadership is an act of love. Its natural outcome is a state of enriching and fulfilling leader-follower co-existence, a state of leader-follower resonance.” With these words describes Professor Mihai C. Bocarnea from Romania, who teaches at the Regent University in the US, the core of serveant leadership. He continues:
In his “I And Though” book, Martin Buber (1878-1965) argues that “there is no true communication without the I-You encounter.” Servant leadership enables an authentic I-Thou leader-follower communication. Gabriel Marcel (1889 - 1973), in “Homo Viator: Introduction to a Metaphysic Hope,” encourages mankind to move from subject-object relationship to subject-subject participation: “Fraternity with other men makes the man a participant in the universal; to exist is to coexist.” True relationships, therefore, are about participation, availability, and engagement: “It is the invisible “go-between God” that makes us aware and sensitive and open to others.” Organizational relationships can be true relationships. Love, humility, altruism, vision, trust, empowerment, hope, and service are key ingredients of servant leadership as a true leader-follower relationship.
In the last five years, I have studied servant leadership in various organizations and cultures. I have presented my research at scholarly conferences around the world and published my findings in academic journals. The research I have done, confirmed by my personal practice as servant leader in several organizations, affirms servant leadership as a positive experience for leaders, followers, and organizations. As a believer in servant leadership, I highly appreciate the effort of my dear colleague Thorsten Grahn of introducing and promoting servant leadership to the German speaking world. Fundamentally, we ask leaders to dare to love their followers and followers to dare to love their leaders. The results of this proposed experience will be a pleasant surprise to those still in doubt about it.
Is that also your understanding and experiece of servant leadership? “Servant leadership is an act of love” - sounds almost too good to be true:-) Does that really work in secular organizations?
Author: admin