Servant Leadership

A friend asked that I post this anonymously. They felt it was too long and would get lost under comments.


Servant Leadership

As the events of the Nutcracker weekend unfolded, I found myself reflecting on leadership styles. It was particularly enlightening to recall the fact that our organization is associated with CSU, and that one of CSU's primary emphases is the concept of servant leadership. (Yes, the element of irony is ever-present....)

"A cornerstone of our values at Columbus State University is servant leadership; effective, ethical leadership through empowerment and service," said CSU President Tim Mescon. (2/11/2009, CSU website.)

I thought to myself, ok, if servant leadership is the emphasis here, let's try to find out what it is, where it came from, and apply it to this last weekend.

The basic definition of SL points to a philosophy of leadership that seeks first to meet the needs of those being led, in order to facilitate their growth as persons. Ok, sounds good. But where did this idea come from? Hmm....well, since our current leadership chooses to start performances with PRAYER, maybe we should look to scripture. In Matthew 20, Jesus states, "...whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

But how is this different from the standard way of doing things? "Unlike leadership approaches with a top-down hierarchical style, servant leadership instead emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ETHICAL USE OF POWER. At heart, the individual is a servant first, making the conscious decision to lead in order to better serve others, NOT TO INCREASE THEIR OWN POWER." Hmmm....

So, it seems that doing things this way would reflect how CSU would like to see things done. Let's see how this played out with one particular case study from this weekend.

We all know how tirelessly Becky White has served us all for the last several years in her organization of the cast party. We have been fed lavishly abundantly every year, and this year's spread was particularly sumptuous and beautifully presented. Becky has served us all with a sweet and loving spirit.

How wonderful it was, therefore, that Becky had the joy of seeing her baby as Clara this year! Imagine the excitement for child and parents; the pride and happiness; the hard work and demanding schedules which were endured simply for the joy of it all. This was the biggest thing that had ever happened to this precious little girl.

Her loving parents, being proud and excited, spent $106 on a custom bouquet when the current leadership told her that she needed to bring flowers to be presented. They brought the flowers, but the flowers were carelessly thrown in a pile in the child's dressing room without their knowledge or permission, and s simpler bouquet was handed backwards to the child--not even face to face with a smile--thereby minimizing what should have been a special moment for Tricia.

Why could Tricia not have had her parent's flowers given to her? Clara is in a class by herself; she is not competing with, let's say, the director's daughter. No one in the audience is going to sit there comparing people's flowers, and no one of any older age, even a teenage girl, could get upset at a little girl getting nice flowers from her parents.

This stingy, mean-spirited, uncaring, and petty act was the thanks Becky was given for all her years of service to us, and may very well be her last hurtful memory of the Columbus Ballet.

So, what did all this result in? A mother who was denied the opportunity to have her daughter either receive onstage or personally from her parents the gorgeous flowers she had bought her child on the biggest night of her life, was left, as a reward for all her loving efforts and support of our production, sad, weary, and frustrated at being lied to and reneged on at the 11th hour.

Uh, wait....what about servant leadership?????????? Wasn't there something in there about leadership serving those under them to facilitate their success and serve their needs?

I'd like to know exactly what need was being met by denying Tricia the flowers her parents had been told to buy for her. I certainly don't see "collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power" being exhibited here.

Anyone care to Comment?

(P.S.--Another whole dissertation could be written on the subject of servant leadership as truly exemplified by David Herriot.)