Columnists
‘THE WAY I SEE IT’ Servant Leadership
Gerald Archibald, PhD, Edmonton
Volume 34 Issue 4, 5 & 6 | Posted: July 5, 2020
My last column (ICN March 2020) was difficult to write as it dealt totally with clericalism and the destructive effects it had and still has on the Catholic Church. This column will be much different as it attempts to delve into the concept of Servant Leadership.
Servant leadership has been around for thousands of years, yet only since 1970 was it coined by Robert Greenleaf in a famous essay he wrote entitled “The Servant as Leader”. This being said, the whole spirit of Vatican II in the 1960s was strongly influenced by St. Pope John XXIII – and that spirit was most definitely based on the principle and practice of Servant Leadership.
My last column (ICN March 2020) was difficult to write as it dealt totally with clericalism and the destructive effects it had and still has on the Catholic Church. This column will be much different as it attempts to delve into the concept of Servant Leadership.
Servant leadership has been around for thousands of years, yet only since 1970 was it coined by Robert Greenleaf in a famous essay he wrote entitled “The Servant as Leader”. This being said, the whole spirit of Vatican II in the 1960s was strongly influenced by St. Pope John XXIII – and that spirit was most definitely based on the principle and practice of Servant Leadership.
Since the time of Vatican II and the Greenleaf essay, mountains of material have been written, foundations created, and thousands of seminars held devoted to this important subject. It particularly was grasped onto by the private business sector but has gradually been moving into the non-profit voluntary centre.
Yet a friend of mine who reviews my material before it is published pointed out to me that he could not find reference to the term in the latest Catechism of the Catholic Church (J. Madigan, email, Dec 30, 2019). This is not to say the Church does not practice Servant Leadership here and there – it certainly does.
But it seems it hasn’t made its way into the actual advocated behaviour and writings of the Church, except through the spirit underlying Vatican II documents (Tran, Spears; The Common Good and Servant-Leadership: Rocks upon which Good Societies are Built, 2018).
What is Servant Leadership? Just the words themselves imply the actual meaning. The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first (my emphasis).
When this spirit and principle is adopted and integrated into one’s deepest being, a conscious choice can be made to allow and encourage a person to lead in a certain way. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive, assume control, or to acquire material possession.
The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature. Servant Leadership turns the traditional paradigm of leadership on its head.
Imagine a triangle organization chart for a typical organization. On top is the CEO, administrator, or leader followed by his/her next level of senior managers, and so on down to the people doing the hands-on work (servants).
Imagine now, a reverse triangle with the servants (people doing the actual work) on top, their supervisors next, and eventually to the bottom ‘layer’ with that being the Servant Leader. We recognize that such a dramatically different organization is never cut and dried as illustrated on paper, but full of nuances and grey areas.
Counter Cultural
Of course, there are times when the Servant Leader must do 100% leading or managing, but even during these occasions, the spirit of Servant shines through. Thus “Servant Leadership is counter-cultural. It brings vision into practice. It asks the question “How do we manifest Jesus in our everyday operations? Or do we do everything like General Motors?” (Zimmer, The Essential Understandings of Servant Leadership, December 2019).
Servant Leadership is primarily a gospel value and principle. “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve… (Mathew 5).
Even those in established hierarchical positions with inherited authority can adopt and practice these values inherent in Servant Leadership.
In fact, an essential concept behind highly successful leaders is that they have these values: respect for others, strong and sincere active listening skills, openness, peacefulness, emphasis on influencing rather than control, building people up rather than down, integrity, hospitality, compassion, empathy, inclusiveness, real engagement of others in the organization in decision making, holding a strong belief in equality, empowering others to develop and use their gifts, recognizing and rewarding others in the organization, and most important of all, a fundamental belief and practice of unconditional love. (my emphasis) (Ibid).
When a leader possesses and practices these fundamental values, he or she develops an approach of service.
Bishop Long in Australia recently said “In Australia, the priesthood no longer enjoys the prestige and the power it once had. For a lot of young people, it is no longer surrounded with the aura of mystique and fascination. However, this loss of prestige does not always mean that we are seen as icons of Jesus, the Humble Servant.
To truly reclaim this essential quality of the priesthood, we must go to the heart of what it means to be a servant leader….the church can only be faithful to its mission when it embraces fully and unequivocally the journey into the divine vulnerability.
It can only be the conduit of compassion and speak the language of hope to a broken humanity when it truly personifies powerlessness and stands where Christ once stood, that is, firmly on the side of the outcast and most vulnerable (emphasis those of Bishop Long) (The Priesthood in Australia: Reflections on its future in light of the Royal Commission, 2017).
Movements
Also, of interest, there are now movements, foundations, and books devoted to an outgrowth of Servant Leadership with the emphasis on the institution, e.g. The Institution as a Servant Leader. This would certainly be relevant to the Catholic Church, but at this point the focus should be on the basic concepts of Servant Leaders.
Imagine then our church boldly encompassing the total essence of Servant Leadership! Each parish could be radically structured so that the entire parish community would receive relevant education in Servant Leadership. This would include all the committees, the staff, the pastor and other parish priests, and the whole parish community.
Imagine what could come out of a meaningful and open dialogue of what Servant Leadership means for the parish!
Imagine whole archdioceses and dioceses (staff, bishops, and charities they sponsor) could be like if synods devoted to this topic were held and listened to!
Imagine as well what would happen if catholic education and health care went through the same process with the same vision of Servant Leadership!
Imagine the outreach services that would undoubtedly spring up if Servant Leadership was embraced locally. Imagine if the Canadian Conference of Bishops set Servant Leadership as a goal, a mission, a vision.
Imagine religious orders and congregations going through the same process. And even imagine each country embarking on such a highly lofted quest! Imagine Rome undergoing the same transformation! (this would undoubtedly affect the structure and mission of the curia).
This is a tall order, a dream for the ages. But it is vital to remember, that “all things are possible with God.”
All these possibilities boggle the mind. But one thing for sure, as Father Richard Rohr emphasizes in so many of his daily meditations, change starts within each one of us – beginning by meditating on what Servant Leadership means and how we each can embrace it fully and completely in our own lives.
IF SERVING IS BELOW YOU,
LEADERSHIP IS BEYOND YOU.
(Bishop Bronner,
capchurches.org, 2018)
Gerald Archibald, PhD, Edmonton