Sanjay Raghunath, chairman and managing director of the Centena Group.
Leadership today is not the same as what we had 30 years ago. Back then, leadership had walls and boundaries. Its core was power and control to drive performance. It was considered more a rank to manage people than an opportunity to serve people. Around these three decades, circumstances changed, and a new leadership style evolved.
So, what changed?
In today’s world, leadership does not mean dominance or supremacy of any sort. We want leaders who inspire people, mentor and support them. Traditional leadership doesn’t fit into this world. It has lost its charm, giving way to servant leadership in business. Cooperation, partnership, and inclusivity is the preliminary plan in this form of leadership.
According to servant leadership, a leader does not walk in front, but amongst the crowd. The leader listens to teammates and shares experiences, helping them make informed decisions and own and learn from them while assisting organisations in building future leaders.
Team players
Today’s leaders reduce anxiety and infuse enthusiasm. They create an environment where team members can stretch their limits, experiment, make mistakes, learn, and grow.
Servant leadership requires us to cultivate a habit of self-discipline and self-control. When things go wrong, instead of immediately reacting, a servant leader observes issues from a bird’s eye view, with a calm mind to suggest solutions from shared knowledge and experiences.
Servant leadership can only be experienced; it cannot be taught!
Life experiences are the driving force of servant leaders. And life’s experiences are gained through the mistakes we make in our lives. A leader treats every failure as an opportunity to keep trying to succeed more intelligently each time. So, there is no formula for being a servant leader. Only with experience and a learning mindset can one discover servant leadership qualities.
Self-awareness
Servant leadership requires us to be self-aware and to listen. When we listen and seek to understand others’ perspectives, colleagues start to respect and follow us.
Empathy helps make leadership a two-way street. It’s an excellent factor in creating relationships with team members and building unity. At the same time, a servant leader is also a good follower, trying to learn from teammates, thereby transcending hierarchy.
Growth happens when success can be replicated and improved without you. We need to replace ourselves and support our team to scale up a business. To do what we do and let them do it even better. Servant leadership is about making others better because of your presence and making it last in your absence.