What every leader ought to know about becoming a servant leader

Purpose – Employees want to be supported to do their best work, but not every leader is comfortable or motivated to serve an employee’s “soft, emotional” needs. One key to help leaders become servant leaders is connecting serving others to their own values (even if “serving others” is not a value). Two assessments provided the framework for understanding this link between servant leadership attributes and the leader’s values. A case study demonstrates this link within a healthcare system where these tools helped develop servant leadership skills to support employee performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a servant leadership competency assessment and values assessment with leaders in a healthcare organization. By citing several leadership experts, and explaining how values relate to servant leadership behaviors, the authors offer a way to help leaders understand that anyone can improve their success with servant leadership. Findings – By offering two case studies of anonymous yet actual participants in the study the authors show how leaders gained insights they needed to change their habits in working with others. Research limitations/implications – The research results are from two distinct assessments. Researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further with other similar assessments. Practical implications – The paper includes implications for the development of a leader’s servant leadership behaviors, which in turn supports employee engagement and organizational success. Social implications – In today’s age of mass technology, it has become a unique proposition to relate to others on the basis of serving their needs by relating to their values one-on-one. This paper inherently promotes in-person conversation with “soft” skills such as, listening, empathy, appreciation, and kindness. Originality/value – This paper fulfills an identified need to study how servant leadership behaviors can be improved by using a second tool focused on values.