Servant Leaders Achieve Extraordinary Results

Servant leaders’ behaviors and traits have been known for centuries but remain ambiguous. However, the term Servant Leader was first introduced only in 1970, by Robert Greenleaf’s essay, “The Servant as a Leader.” It has risen in popularity, but it is obscure because many deride it for being soft and out of touch in this “dog eat dog” world of competition, and fast paced business reality. Consequently, 82% of managers fail and 85% of employees are sadly disengaged worldwide.

Yet, according to research and other sources Servant Leaders achieve better-even extraordinary results. Adam Grant, management researcher and professor at the Wharton School of Business, shows in his book Give and Take that servant leaders are more productive and more highly regarded by employees. Furthermore, see these additional studies that back this up. Then, consider how you can become a Servant Leader and transform your career?

Servant Leaders Outperform Others

The University of Illinois at Chicago Business School (2015) conducted a study at national restaurant chain.  It demonstrated that the stores with servant leaders gained 6 percent higher job performance, 8 percent increase in positive customer service ratings, and 50 percent higher staff retention rate.

Also, research by Schaubroeck, Lam, and Peng (2011) found servant leadership at the team level gained 10% in performance. In addition, research by Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn & Wu (2016) showed an additional 12% gain in outcomes beyond other studies.

Servant Leaders are Better than Great

Most importantly, Sipe & Frick study (authors of the 7 Pillars of Servant Leadership), found these results over a ten-year period (1995-2005).

• Stocks from top 500 public companies averaged a 10.8 percent pre-tax return.
• The 11 companies’ studied by Collins Good to Great averaged a 17.5 percent return.
• The servant-led companies’ returns averaged 24.2 percent!
• Good to Great companies did beat the average companies as did Servant Led organizations. However, Servant Led companies beat the Good to Great Companies and did more than twice as well as other companies.

In conclusion, Servant Leadership companies and managers better than great!

Pulling It All Together

Why do Servant leaders achieve more? Bottom-line they focus on people and not the other trapping of business life. They create winning cultures through authenticity, teamwork, and personal development. As a result, they learn to tap into hearts and minds of people to bring out their best performances. Of course, they also lead by example and with integrity. These approaches are rare today, yet they work in extraordinary ways! To sum up, superb leadership involves being and serving.

Also, do you want to Motivate-NO-Inspire People? See this: 10 Keys to Elevating Employee Engagement.

In addition, go here for our RealTime Learning & Training leadership and personal development website. Over 130 micro-learning and career development resources at your fingertips!

Finally, do you want to accelerate your leadership success and learn more about Servant Leadership? Go here for Rick’s newest book, The Dynamics of Servant Leadership: Inspire Your Team to Achieve Extraordinary Goals!