How To Be A Servant Leader

Yesterday, I published a post about the new book, Burnout Immunity, by Dr. Kandi Wiens.

In the book, she explains that employees who work at organizations led by servant leaders tend to have higher job satisfaction, higher engagement, and higher psychological well-being. Those employees also tend to have lower levels of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, boredom, and intent to quit. Less burnout.

As background, servant leadership places primary emphasis on the growth, freedom, health, autonomy, and overall well-being of those it serves, rather than on the leader.

Wiens lists in her book these 12 practices for how to be a servant leader:

Listen intently to others and try to identify the will of the group.
Strive to understand and empathize with others.
Display social and self-awareness.
Rely on persuasion rather than authority to make decisions.
Engage in broad, long-term strategic thinking.
Actively seek to build community among members of your organization.
Practice giving focused attention to others.
Recognize others’ efforts and celebrate wins.
Avoid micromanaging.
Eliminate hindrance stressors from the work environment.
Create a work environment that exhibits psychological safety.
Invest time and energy in others’ growth and development.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

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