"Growing Your People Monthly" Newsletter

January 2009

From time to time, I have clients that I'm working with on a hiring and selection project that bring up the topic of servant leadership. The question is a good one! What does it mean to be a servant leader? And recently, a client gave me the book The Servant, by James C. Hunter, to read. In this month's newsletter, learn more about the true intent behind the catch-phrase and how the concept can have a strong positive impact, both professionally and personally, for YOU!

Be Well,
Yvonne Kinney-Hockert
National Speaker, Business Consultant & Coach
Consulting Solutions, LLC.

---

Are You Truly Willing to Serve?

The topic of servant leadership is very popular right now, deserving attention both from a leadership perspective and a business perspective. As with many concepts, the true value of servant leadership is found in putting the concept into practice.

Leaders have a unique opportunity to foster relationships across the organization and one way successful leaders accomplish this is through their own sense of service to others. They recognize that being a leader is not about the title. Indeed, being a leader is not about being known as a leader but actually leading, and leading through service inspires the best in customers, employees, and colleagues.

When someone achieves a level of having others around for support, the new leader sometimes loses sight of serving others. But it is crucial for leaders to maintain focus on what they are doing for others because leadership success is found in having successful followers. As James C. Hunter notes in his book, The Servant, "...leadership requires a great deal of effort. Leaders must make the choice about whether or not they are willing to extend themselves for those they lead....The leader has a vested interest in the success of those being led. Indeed, one of our roles as leader is to assist them in becoming successful." Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Yes, but as I said in the beginning, the real test is in putting the concept into practice!

There are many ways to easily instill the concept of service into the business environment. I like to start meetings by asking "How Can I Serve You?" to refocus the participants. Also, in many of my speaking engagements on growing your people/growing your business, I talk about serving others and refer to JFK's famous quote about the importance of being willing to ask what one can do for others rather than asking what others can do for oneself. Servant Leadership is a valuable concept for any professional to put into practice, and it is also an excellent approach to build into personal relationships. As the new year kicks off, I encourage you to consider developing a service mindset in all aspects of your life.

Your Call To Action. . .