Leadership As Service Integrated Reflection Paper 

Introduction

 Leadership is the action of leading in an organization or a group of people. For and individual to be a leader, they must have the capacity of guiding and influencing team members or follower. In leadership, individuals adopt different styles which in most cases depend on personal factors such as personalities. Servant leadership style is where a leader prioritizes their followers and leads by serving those (Eva et al., 2019). Servant leadership style engages followers in various dimensions including spiritual, emotional, ethical and rational such that they are inspired, encouraged and motivated into growing to become what they want. A servant leader ensures that they have a vision, vision and the goals that they want to achieve. In the journey of leadership a servant leader is guides by various principles. Servant leaders follow the steps of Jesus who is a very good example of a servant leader. 

Leadership as Service

 My Mission, Vision and Values 

 I have learned a lot about leadership both in from our course work materials and from the real world as a servant leader. The concepts and ideas have really impacted me and they have also enabled me improve my leadership abilities and skills. As a servant leader, I have mission, mission and values that I operate under in my leadership. I emulate Jesus steps in leadership where Jesus made his mission and vision very clear so that his followers could understand and help him into achieving them (Wilkes, 2011). My vision is to become the light to the world, touch people’s lives by helping them in any ways and anything that I can afford.

 I also intend to become a destiny helper in ensuring that I help people in fulfilling their lives either personal or career wise living a life of a follower as Jesus instructed. My mission is to ensure that I serve others and ensure that I treat everyone around good as I would like them to treat me. I will live to share my wisdom, knowledge, time and resources as Jesus instructed us to love our brothers and sisters, give and we shall also receive more. My personal values and servant leadership principles assists me in achieving my goals and vision. 

Principles of a Servant Leader

 There are seven principles that a leader can used to lead like Jesus. To understand the principles, the leader must first understand that Jesus was not only leading his followers but he also served them. First, A servant leader must remain humble and for God to exalt them. A servant leader no not has to show their followers how powerful they are or the authority they possess rather they should remain humble and let God lift those (Walkes, 2011). As a humble is leader, I understand that I should not mistreat other people regardless of their age, social status or race. As a humble leader I must also learn to treat my followers with honor and ensure they feel valued. 

Secondly, for me to eat like Jesus, I must ensure that I become a follower first. Jesus came to the world to save people to fulfil his mission where he encountered a lot of difficulties. Jesus had all the authorities and position but he accepted to first serve as a follower and now he is the king of kings sitting at the right hand of the father. As a servant leader, I have always tried to serve my followers and every person around me by ensuring that they are fine and supporting them. 

Third, a servant leader must also find greatness in serving. As a leader I do not focus more on my rights but I always find greatness in in serving my friends and other people (Saleem et al., 2020). Forth, a leader must always take risks. Taking risks means that a leader risks things including their own life while serving others as they believe and trust in God as the controller of everything. Leaders need to understand that God has granted them all they need in serving others including enthusiasm, vocational skills, relational style, experiences and the spiritual gifts. Fifth, leaders have to take up the towel. Leaders must ensure that they meet the needs of others and it does not have to be washing people’s legs but showing followers how valuable and important they are in the mission. 

Sixth, a leader must learn how to share authority and responsibility. Sharing the responsibility and authority means ensuring that the followers have all they need to achieve the set goals and mission (Walkes, 2011). A leader must also work very closely with their followers which will enable them know followers needs and concerns. A leader must also be ready to offer assistance and give guidance and instructions to followers which will enable the followers accomplish the mission effectively. 

Seventh, a leader must ensure that they build team with their followers. A leader multiplies their leadership only by empowering others to become leaders as well. Jesus was a great example as he empowered his disciples and after he left, the disciples had the capability of leading with the help of Holy Spirit. 

The Domains of Leading like Jesus

The four domains of leading like Christ have really impacted my leadership as it has given me insights that will improve how I lead my followers. The domains consist of heart habits, head and hand (Blachanchard & Hodges, 2016). For me to lead like Jesus, I realized I had to understand that leadership is a transformational journey. A leader must also understand how they must align the domains since they change our perspective, gain peoples trust, organization culture becomes transformed and communities develop. 

Leadership is considered as a heart b matter. It’s the role of a leader to first evaluate their intention anytime they get an opportunity of leading. This is because; a leader influences their follower’s behavior and thinking. Leaders that lead like Jesus must benefit from their followers or not act out of self-interest rather they should serve them. The second domain is the head. After the leader has evaluated their intention for the mission, they then evaluate their theories and beliefs about motivating and leading people. 

The third domain is the hands. This domain important as it shows what is in the leader’s heart a head. A leader following Jesus footsteps leads by serving others meaning whatever action that they do must reflect servanthood. Irect behaviors, recognizing and praising progress a leader need s to ensuring that their followers are sure of the goals they are working towards, observing followers performance and redirecting followers with in appropriate behaviors. As a servant leader I always try to operate under my core values which inform my actions, decisions and thoughts. Examples of my values include love, humility, honesty, quality relationship and respect. I also ensure that my actions reflect what I tell my followers and ensure that oi lead as an example. Lastly, leaders must ensure that their habits are consistent to Gods will and the mission. Habits are of two types including doing habits and being habits. Being habits strengthens a leader’s heart good character and intentions. 

The Heart of a Great Leader

Servant leaders always have the heart of serving their followers first which is seen by how they treat their followers. Servant leaders do not compete with their followers in who is doing what better rather; they inspire, empower, motivate and encourage them to achieve their goals (Giambatista, McKaege & Brees, 2020). Servant leaders give their followers a chance of succeeding by sharing their responsibility and authority. Servant leaders are known from their traits which include building community, commitment to follower’s growth, stewardship, foresights, conceptualization, persuasion, awareness, healing, empathy and listening (Sasaki, 2019). Leaders must always listen to followers concerns issues and complains and sort them in the wisest way. 

Listening to followers also improves followers trust and relationship with their leaders. Leaders must also try to see things from others perspective and accept to learn as no one knows everything. Leaders must also ensure that their followers are fine and in case they need any help they must intervene and provide. For instance a leader can assist their stressed followers and help them heal by giving some guidance. Humble leaders are also described by various attributes including dangerous trust, sincere investment, admits to mistakes, gentle but strong, quickly diverts attention, forgiveness, recognizes limitations, remains thankful, invites feedback and shares authority. 

Doing Habits

Doing habits are the actions of and a leader demonstrates toe their followers and other people. They include grace, community, forgiveness and encouragement (Sasaki, 2019). Servant leaders are expected to be good in all situations which are not an easy thing. This means that the leader must let go of their fear and pride (Blanchard, Hodges and Hendry, 2016). Leaders show grace to their followers by giving them what they do not deserve by believing that they are doing their best. Leaders must also ensure that they forgive those who hurt them and also ask for forgiveness if they hurt other people which will make their relationships stronger. A servant leader must encourage their followers by giving them hope, confidence and support. Leaders must also value and embrace the habit of community. This is by ensuring that followers are aware of mission vision and values which gives the followers insights on what is expected of them. 

Leadership and Risks

Servant leaders must also ensure that they take risks knowing that God is the controller. A leader can risk their lives in to serve others as Jesus did (Sasaki, 2019). Servant leaders must understand that although they have all the authority and power, they must be humble and serve their followers. Leaders must avoid using their positions and power to manipulate a bully other people. Leaders must also understand that regardless of how good they are, they will always face rejection and opposition from people but all they need is to stay humble until they accomplish their mission. 

Practical Application

As a leader, I will really admire to lead like Jesus as his leadership inspired many in the right way. As a leader, I will make sue that give my followers a priority and ensure that all their needs are sorted. My mission is to help and support people since I feel good seeing people accomplish their purpose in life. I will ensure that I listen to my followers and give them adequate attention so that I can understand their needs and wants. I also ensure that I create trust among my followers as Jesus did. I will also ensure that I align the four domains and ensure that my intention is not self-centered. I will always ensure that I remind my followers our vision, mission and values as they are part of the teams culture (Toiser, 2020). Taking the first step in building the culture is important as my followers will follower the same path where their actions will also be guided by the same culture. The challenge into using these practices when employees are not well trained, coached and mentored to understand the groups culture (Sasaki, 2019). Some people might not understand our group’s culture of helping people and acting as people’s destiny helpers. It becomes very difficult for the team to achieve their goals. Sometimes as a group we might copy others cultures without noticing that we have a unique vision, mission and values.

Conclusion

Servant leadership is never an easy task as it is accompanied by allot of challenges. A servant leadership must therefore learn to be patient and make right decisions in facing the challenges. Servant leaders do not use force but they motivate, encourage and inspire their followers to get into action. Ensuring that the followers are sure of the teams vision, mission and values is a critical aspects as followers needs to know where they are going and what is expected of them. Leaders must also ensure that they lead with a lot of humility and wisdom and those who stays humble will be glorified by God himself. Servant leaders must also learn to take risks and serve others without focusing on their rights. It is important for a leader to lead like Jesus by ensuring that they align the four domains and they follow the seven principles as they work into achieving their goals. \ 

References

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