What Is Servant Leadership?

In the twenty-four years I've worked here, I've learned a considerable amount from Howard Butt, Jr. One of the clearest examples is my understanding of servant leadership. At its core, the concept is Trinitarian. That means, you can’t fully understand servant leadership without considering the nature of the Trinity.

Servant leadership is a combination of three things:

• leading
• following
• being open to change

Over the years, I've read, heard, and seen people claim servant leadership as their method of operation. Most often, this means that people choose to be servants. They don't want that position to be seen as one of submission. So they choose to exercise their leadership by serving others. Up to a point. Then they exercise their leadership by not serving any longer. Howard Butt illustrates this well in his audio message "A Servant's Thanks." Often, we need  control in order to feel powerful. "I'll serve you on my terms."

Other times, servant leadership becomes an opportunity to abdicate responsibility. People don’t know when to claim their leadership. The internal conversation sounds like this, "I know I'm the best suited to lead in this instance, but if nobody asks me I'll just serve everybody by practicing servant leadership." That's one of my favorite internal conversations. When individual leaders refuse to lead, the group suffers. We don’t serve anyone by denying our leadership responsibilities.

The heart of servant leadership is the struggle between two apparently opposite terms. Being a servant means submitting to the authority of another. Being a leader means claiming authority over others or a situation. When we breakdown the terms, servant leadership doesn't look as warm and fuzzy. Some people submit way too much. Others try to control too much. In either extreme, it isn’t servant leadership. If there is no tension between serving and leading, it isn’t servant leadership.

Tension doesn't mean agony or anxiety. It does mean a pulling, twisting, or bending. Servant leadership is constantly aware of the shift between leading—and following another's lead. It's a healthy tension that takes seriously the other people involved in our work.

If there is tension, invariably there is someone saying, "Relax."

That's not bad advice. But a better prescription for tension is flexiblity. It should be clear by now that tension doesn't have to mean rigidity. There needs to be a give and take. The relationship between our service and our leadership should be flexible. When we look at the language of the Trinity, we see a Father and a Son. The Father represents authority. The Son represents submission to the Father's authority. There is some tension in the father-son relationship. How is it resolved? The Holy Spirit introduces flexibility and restores unity.

• Ramblin' Dan
• 
• 
• 
• 

Other Work Articles

Don't Mistake Doing What You...
by Bradley J. Moore

117

Creating a High Calling Culture
by Sam Van Eman

56

Most Popular Posts

Start-Up Lessons: Raising the Bar
by Claire Burge

42

What to Expect When You're...
by Jennifer Dukes Lee

80

Reader Comments