Leading as Servants

By Doug Franklin July 20, 2011

Leading as servants means you can’t use fear to control people. Fear is one of the most popular tools used by so-called leaders. If you are a level 1 or 2 leader you will use fear and maybe some intimidation but if you really want to lead people to a better place, then you will abandon fear and turn to service. The level 5 leaders always use service to motivate and inspire followers. To be fair I should mention that level 5 leaders also don’t seek glory, abuse people and have tons of pride. Service is best done when you really know someone, so you will need lots of time to get to know your followers. Know what they care about and what their strengths are. You will also need to give them your position and your responsibility. This is why you can’t seek glory. When you give them your position it will have to be without strings attached. Giving your position means giving up your authority. They may make a mess and you will serve them through it by encouraging them and debriefing. This servant leadership stuff is hard and too often we put servant leadership up as “God’s” way of doing leadership, and it is but what we don’t say is how tough it is to do it.