Becoming Mentor-Minded

In our exploration of Pillar II – Puts People First – we will continue our dive into three core competencies as outlined by Sipe and Frick (2009):

1. Displays a Servant’s Heart

2. Is Mentor-Minded

3. Shows Care & Concern

Let’s look at the second one, Is Mentor-Minded. Sipe & Frick (2009) discuss becoming mentor-minded as an important component of putting people first. Have you had an experience where you were mentored by someone? Was it what you expected – better or worse? What specifically about the experience influenced your overall feel of the result?

Greenleaf often wrote about helping others grow as persons and this is at the heart of mentoring. How can we help others grow? Too often it is an ego trip – a mere chance for us to share our knowledge or impart our wisdom. We see it as a means to leave a legacy by creating a “little me.” But how does that truly help the mentee grow to be the best THEY can be?

This takes us to the first perspective question … is your mentoring (or desire to mentor) about YOU or the person you are mentoring? If it is about you, unfortunately, you are not really mentor-minded at this time – but you certainly can become mentor-minded!

OK, here is another check on your perspective … does being a mentor give you an ego boost because you can demonstrate your expertise? Again, if you are a servant leader and truly mentor-minded, the focus should be on helping the other person grow versus seeing what you can get from the experience.

In The Mentor’s Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships, Lois Zachary discusses the four stages of the mentoring cycle:

1. Preparing – both the mentor and the mentee engage in self-reflection to determine what she is expecting from the relationship.

2. Negotiating – this is the phase when agreements are established. Agree upon goals, processes, and ground rules.

3. Enabling – implementation or work phase of the partnership. This is the longest phase.

4. Coming to closure – entails consolidating the learning, evaluating the partnership, and celebrating successes.

As you can see from this list, it is focused on the mentee and what they want to learn – how they want to learn – relationships – partnership – growth! Never is there a mention about what the mentor gets from this or how the mentor uses their expertise to mold the mentee. It is a mutual experience but one that is focused on the mentee’s overall growth. Being mentor-minded requires listening and facilitated learning more that talking, ego, and teaching.

So you must ask yourself – am I ready to allow others to find their way toward their goals even if they are different from my goals or how I envision reaching them? If yes, then you are probably ready to be a servant leader mentor. If not, you may not be ready today but maybe you will be ready in the near future. Let’s see where this journey of servant leadership might take you!



References:

Sipe, J. W. & Frick, D. M. (2009). Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving


Zachary, L.J. (2000). The Mentor's Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships

Displaying a Servant’s Heart

In our exploration of Pillar II – Puts People First – we will dive into three core competencies as outlined by Sipe and Frick (2009):

1. Displays a Servant’s Heart

2. Is Mentor-Minded

3. Shows Care & Concern

Let’s start with the first one, Displays a Servant’s Heart. We often hear this mentioned – but what does it mean and how can we display a servant’s heart. I think it starts with a true love of what we are doing – it needs to mean something to you in order to even engage your heart.

What does it take for something to be meaningful? Certainly a lot more than a paycheck or position or title. For most of us it equates to doing “good” either for society or for someone in particular. What is important to you? This goes back to what we have discussed before in our values conversation. What do you value? What is at the core of who you are as a person?

Once you understand your values it is also important to determine how that correlates with your service opportunities. For example, if you value the contributions of our elders, perhaps visiting nursing homes would be meaningful to you. If you value seeing women succeed, perhaps serving as a mentor or coach would be meaningful to you. Also think about how you have gotten to where you are today. Did someone help you? Was there an organization that you loved being a part of? Were there sports or other physical activities (i.e., music and arts) that helped you to express yourself? Now, consider what in particular was meaningful to you about those various experiences … you have probably just mapped out some ideas for how you might give back! Why not serve in a similar organization and help the next generation of leaders achieve what you have?

Sometimes it is a very simple gesture that displays your servant’s heart. Other times, it may be a major project or volunteer position that you agree to take on for an extended period of time. You may find that a combination of gestures, single events or encounters, long-term commitment may be the perfect approach for you. What most people find is that the more regularly they give of themselves, the more natural it becomes WHO they are versus an activity to add to their resume. That is when you truly have developed a servant’s heart and are able to share it with others.

Here is your challenge: What will do you in the next 5 days to cultivate your servant’s heart?


Reference:

Sipe, J. W. &  Frick, D. M. (2009).  Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving

Called to Serve, Inspired to Lead

The concept of a servant nature is a prevalent theme and distinguishing feature in the servant leadership literature. Robert Greenleaf believed that the desire to serve comes from within and that inner feeling is what leads one into leadership.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Greenleaf’s focus was on colleges and universities and the campus turmoil that was occurring. It was during this time that Greenleaf read Hermann Hesse’s novel, The Journey to the East. The novel was a campus best-seller and Greenleaf thought it might provide him with insight for students. Instead, it proved to be a catalyst for synthesizing all of his thoughts and ideas on leadership and became Greenleaf’s inspiration for his first essay on servant leadership.

The story tells of a secret society (the League) setting off on a very unique and mythical journey. The central character is the servant, Leo, who not only carries out the daily chores but also nourishes the League with his uplifting spirit. When Leo disappears, the League can function no longer and the journey is forsaken. After years of wandering aimlessly, the narrator of the story is reunited with Leo and taken to the League where he learns that the president and spiritual leader is Leo, the servant. Greenleaf’s contemplation and analysis of Hesse’s story brought him to a critical and foundational insight about leadership: great leaders have a servant nature; they are servants first.

If great leaders are first called to serve, we must examine our motivations to determine WHY we are leading. Is it because we truly desired to serve? Are we merely doing what we believe others expect of us? Did we do this because it would look good on our resume? Are we seeking notoriety? Is it an ego thing?

Take a few moments for self-reflection and really determine your personal motivation for leading … what got you where you are today – or – what is driving you toward the direction you think you desire? While reflecting, also contemplate what is important to you … what are your most deeply rooted values. Ask yourself: What do I believe in and hold to be good and true?

With a solid understanding of what you believe in and what really drives you, it becomes clearer how you might personally be called to serve. Think of the leadership roles you have had in the past, hold now, or desire for the future … how do those roles align with your values? Are you following your heart’s desires? If so, that is wonderful and you are certainly on an appropriate path for you. However, if not, what can you do TODAY to correct this course? How can you make even small shifts in your direction to help you become aligned with your core values? Take a moment and write down some ideas – even better – make a to do list for today, this week, this month, and this year – then take ACTION!


References:

Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness 25th Anniversary Edition


Hesse, H. (1956). The Journey to the East

Hello and Welcome to Becoming a Servant Leader!

My hope for this blog is that it will enable you to truly become a servant leader. For some that may include simply understanding what it is and what it is not. For others, you may already have a good idea of what it is about but have never really focused on the specific behaviors that will help you “become” one. There may be some of you who are practicing servant leaders but you desire to dig deeper and really fine tune your servant leadership skills. Regardless of where you are in your servant leadership journey, I’m hopeful that you will find our topics and discussions to be fruitful.

Servant leadership dates back to biblical times; therefore, we certainly do not consider it to be a “fad” or a “latest” leadership approach. In fact, it has been tested many times in many environments and has consistently proven to be not only a rewarding approach to leading but also an effective one. Even with such success, servant leadership is often misunderstood and dismissed by many before even attempting to understand it or experience it first-hand.

What servant leadership is NOT:

·        It is not about taking a weak position

·        It is not about being soft with followers

·        It is not about religion

·        It is not only for non-profit organizations

I imagine that each of you nodded to at least one of those items and thought …. Really? That’s going to take some explaining! We will explore and do some myth-busting on many of the incorrect beliefs regarding servant leadership.

Who is a servant leader? What is servant leadership?

Servant leader. A leader who is servant first. Such leaders naturally want to serve and eventually aspire to lead and in doing so, help those who follow them to grow as individuals (Greenleaf, 1998).

Servant leadership is a form of leadership that places the self-interest of the leader behind what is best for those being led and is characterized by valuing and developing people, providing and sharing leadership all in the context of authenticity and building community for the greater good (Laub, 1999).

For much of our journey together, I will refer to some key books and I highly recommend that you add them to your personal library. In particular, I love the way Sipe and Frick (2009) conceptualized servant leadership into Seven Pillars and we will use their model as a foundation for our journey. According to Sipe and Frick, servant leadership includes the following characteristics/pillars:

Pillar I - Person of Character

Pillar II - Puts People First

Pillar III - Skilled Communicator

Pillar IV - Compassionate Collaborator

Pillar V - Has Foresight

Pillar VI - Systems Thinker

Pillar VII - Leads with Moral Authority

We will explore each of these pillars during our servant leadership journey. When you visit, please bring your thinking cap as I will regularly ask you to reflect and take purposeful action toward becoming a servant leader. This will be a mutual journey and one I hope will be fruitful for all.

Cheers to a great journey!

Rebecca

References:

The Power of Servant Leadership

Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership: Practicing the Wisdom of Leading by Serving

Laub, J. A. (1999). Assessing the servant organization: Development of the servant organizational leadership assessment (SOLA) instrument. Dissertation Abstracts International (UMI No. 9921922).