Servant leadership: the relationships of a leader

The first task of a leader is not to keep the machinery moving, but to help those in his charge to live and serve. Although 1 Timothy was an authoritative statement to be obeyed implicitly, it was characterized by graceful power and loving freedom that would be expected in a letter to a friend or colleague. Paul greets Timothy as his “own son in faith” 1. He wanted Timothy to fulfill God’s will for his life. (1 Timothy 1:18). We can see Paul’s concern for Timothy’s spiritual health (1 Timothy 4: 12-16, 6: 11-16), as well as his physical health (1 Timothy 5:23). “Leaders do not fear the strengths of their associates, that is, leaders appreciate talent and facilitate synergies in relationships” 2.

Leadership is an ongoing relationship between the leader and superiors, colleagues, consumers, and followers. “Because the personal relationship defines the existing quality of interpersonal interaction between the leader and potential followers, followers will not join the leader without the necessary relationship. Leadership is the relationship.” 3. Leaders require many skills to manage relationships with all important stakeholders, including superiors, peers, and outside constituencies. “Relationship behavior is the extent to which the leader engages in two-way or multidirectional communication. It includes listening, encouraging, facilitating, providing clarification, and providing socio-emotional support.” 4. The purpose of the relationship is to give each person the opportunity to grow and contribute to their full potential and develop strengths in the midst of differences.

Do leaders shape culture or are they shaped by it? Both of them! The cultural subconscious of the organization sees strengths in differences. Therefore, the differences that people bring within the organization affect not only the organizational culture, but also the way leaders react to differences. The apostle Paul was a cross-cultural missionary, a Jew who sought to be “everything to everyone” to bring them the gospel (1 Corinthians 9: 19-23). Paul conveys his urgency to lead various classes to Timothy. The first classes of people mentioned are the generational differences of men and women. Paul instructed Timothy: “Do not rebuke the old man, but treat him as a father; and the younger as brothers; the elderly as mothers; the younger sisters, with purity.” (1 Timothy 5: 1-2). Paul orders Timothy’s actions toward the four classes of free people within the community. From an organizational context, a leader’s approach must have an influential charm. “Influence at work requires you to know what you are doing, have reasonable plans, be proficient at the task at hand, but that’s often not enough. It’s just the price of admission.” 5.

Over time, each organization develops distinctive beliefs and patterns. Many of them are unconscious or taken for granted, reflected in myths, fairy tales, stories, rituals, ceremonies, and other symbolic forms. Managers who understand the power of organizational culture are far better equipped to understand and influence their organizations. “The greatest potential of your organization is directly linked to aligning what your people do best with what your organization needs most.” 6.

Leaders must also be able to recognize different value systems from a global context. North American culture, for example, is clearly different from the approach to personal relationships that is so important in Asia and South America. The individualistic attitudes so common in Canada and the US are in stark contrast to the common goals approach found in Japan. “Leaders of companies that span different cultures must develop a strong sense of such systems and the many other differences that can so easily lead to misunderstandings that they can block effective organizations from functioning.” 7.

Paul reminds us to consider this change in understanding of the differences in 1 Timothy 5: 3 … “Honor widows who really are.” Paul was instructing Timothy to take care of widows who were really left alone and helpless. Widows were particularly vulnerable in ancient societies because pensions, government assistance, or life insurance were not available. In the eschatological sense, Paul is instructing the contemporary leader to care for his followers. Many Western organizations are setting up factories in third world countries to capitalize on cheap labor. Similarly, many in Western society are taking advantage of immigrants and foreign nationals who are unfamiliar with labor laws like minimum wage and worker’s compensation. Leaders will need to find ways to lead the multiple stakeholders and complexities they represent globally. This difficult act of juggling requires clear values ​​and ingrained ethical standards. In Redefining Diversity, Roosevelt Thomas considered that diversity shifts from being a vehicle for “understanding differences” to minimize tension to a “strategic force that contributes to globalization.” 8. Paul’s concept of “honor” is the key to effective leadership of diverse people in a global workplace. It establishes and maintains quality relationships, creates conditions that foster self-realization, and fosters a climate in which people can be genuine and valued for who they are.

Globalization brings with it problems of intercultural understanding, such as international relations, the diversity of the workforce, ethics and multicultural communications. It is critical that leaders help other stakeholders change their context from local and / or regional to global. Leaders who know how to get the most out of their protégés lead the context shift to envision worthy goals and move toward their achievement. “When a leader sees a circumstance in a larger and more meaningful context and is willing to explain it, that leader is actually creating the context, drawing everyone’s attention to the idea that the context is greater than it appears.” 9. When followers understand what the organizational context is and can put it into perspective, change is inevitable. When others have not considered the context that leadership has considered, they must be properly informed so that they can understand it. Helping followers understand the expanding context is the first step in aligning conflicting values.

It would be difficult for a church to survive with an evangelical ministry and a pastor who only values ​​praise and worship. Paul declares the importance of spreading conflicting values ​​by warning Timothy of an erroneous doctrine: “So that you accuse some of not teaching another doctrine.” (1 Timothy 1: 3). Paul warns Timothy of heretical teachers, but he also warns contemporary leaders of conflicting values. Flat hierarchies, globalization, and cross-functional teams present new challenges for leaders who must influence people who have different styles or points of view.

Conflicts arise when people cannot understand the values ​​of the organization: an employee who values ​​honesty over profit and an organization that values ​​high profit over honesty. When does employee honesty replace organizational profitability? Organizations have been deeply hurt by these conflicts of values, mainly because employees did not feel they had a forum to discuss these conflicts. An open exchange of values ​​is essential to clarify the limits of behavior and personal responsibility. “Value commitments, value judgments, value standards, value relationships, and valuation experiences are the everyday expression of symbolic human meanings that bring order and meaning to human transactions.” eleven.

Leaders project values ​​into the organization through their perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. A leader’s preferences are also revealed in the attitudes he adopts towards the organization’s stakeholders. While there will always be differences between leaders and the organizational community regarding levels of importance, building consensus on key values ​​is an important task. “One of the most important keys to greater effectiveness is a close link between personal and organizational values. A survey by the American Management Association of 1,460 managers and CEOs suggests that understanding this relationship will provide a new lever for leadership. corporate vitality “12.. Any organization, religious and secular, that wishes to attract the best of tomorrow’s leaders must clarify the link between personal and organizational values.

1. 1 Timothy 1: 2: This sentence was intended to explicitly state that Timothy was one of Paul’s own converts; the relationship between them was so strong that Paul writes as a father would his own son, a spiritual father.

2. Don Clayton, Leadershift: The Work-life Balance Program, (Camberwell: Australian Council for Education Research, 2004), 11.

3. Warren Blank, The 9 Natural Laws of Leadership, (New York: AMACOM Books, 1995). The second natural law of leadership thus explains that the power we call leadership refers to the interaction between leader and follower. Followers are allies who bond with the leader and together create the energy that drives organizations. 10-12.

4. Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal, Organizational Restructuring: Art, Choice, and Leadership, (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997), 300.

5. Allan R. Cohen, Influence Without Authority 2nd Ed, (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2005, Influence is about exchanges, exchanging something the other values ​​in exchange for what you want, 7.

6. John Hoover, Unleashing Leadership, (Franklin Lakes: The Career Press, 2005), 9.

7. Tony Kippenberger, Leadership Express, (Oxford: Capstone Publishing Ltd., 2002), 37.

8. Robert Roosevelt Thomas, Redefining Diversity, (New York: AMACOM Books, 1996), Global diversity enables leaders to “serve the best customers in the world” and would be a lever for competitive advantage. 188.

9. Terry Pearce, Leading Out Loud: Inspiring Change Through Authentic Communication, (San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2003), 94.

10. Allan R. Cohen, Influence Without Authority 2nd Ed, (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2005), 9-10

11. William C. Frederick, Values, Nature, and Culture at the American Corporation, (Cary: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1995), 111.

12. Dennis T. Jaffe, Vision, Values, and Mission of the Organization, (Menlo Park: Course Technology Crisp, 1993), 22.

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