The Greenleaf Seminar The Key Practices of Servant-Leaders Presented by Dr. Kent M. Keith 2009 Mid-America Community Action Association Conference © Copyright Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership 2009

Key Practices of Servant-Leaders Self-Awareness Listening Changing the pyramid Developing your colleagues Coaching, not controlling Unleashing the energy and intelligence of others Foresight

Self-Awareness One’s own strengths and weaknesses Emotional intelligence Primal Leadership (Goleman) The impact of one’s words and deeds Reflection

Exercise for Two: Self Awareness Answer this question: How do your strengths, weaknesses, and emotional reactions affect others? Think of a few specific examples. Pick a person near you and share your answer or the specific examples that you are comfortable sharing.

Listening Key to understanding how to meet the needs of others Servant-leaders don’t begin with the answer but with questions Starbucks and Howard Behar PieperPower – Suzuki - Yunus

Changing the Pyramid In the traditional pyramid, the workforce is focused on the boss, not the customer Blanchard: Servant-leader articulates a vision, then inverts the pyramid Dr. Sample: work for those who work for you! A pyramid is lonely at the top: need a team

Developing Your Colleagues Greenleaf’s business ethic: the work exists for the person as much as the person exists for the work TDIndustries Mission Statement Schneider Corporation Vision Statement Peter Drucker’s story about the president who developed managers

Coaching, not Controlling The traditional focus on “control” Servant leaders coach and mentor Chester Barnard: authority rests in the hands of the receiver of the signal Meg Wheatley: Organizations are not machines but dynamic living systems in which relationships count

Unleashing the energy and intelligence of others Empowerment = allowing people to use their energy and intelligence Ken Melrose at Toro People need experience being “unleashed” so they can take leadership when needed Everyone is there—why not engage everyone to the fullest?

Foresight Greenleaf said foresight is the central ethic of leadership, the “lead” that the leader has Not predicting specific events, but the underlying trends, issues, opportunities Arie de Geus: example of forecasting when the rivers will swell and flood the valleys Good to Great: A& P vs. Kroger Max DePree: momentum

One result: Trust Trust is essential to leading any organization You can build trust when you make it clear in word and deed that you care about your colleagues and customers The key practices build trust because you are paying attention to your customers and colleagues and are getting them what they need

What does your organization look like?

Exercise: Implementing the Key Practices Draw your organization Mark yourself and three colleagues Given your organizational structure, how could you best implement the key practices of servant-leaders?

Discussion What do you find most interesting about the key practices of servant-leaders? What do you think are the benefits of servant leadership? What do you think are the barriers to being a servant-leader?

Thank you!