BUSI 502 Week 1 Group Discussion Board Forum 1 Example

Group Discussion Board Forum 1: The Heart of Servant Leadership

BUSI 502 Servant Leadership, Group Discussion Board Forum 1 Answer and Replies

Thread by [Student Name]

The assigned question and the group members are composites; the textbooks, the research and the Scripture cited are real.

Answer to Question 3

Question 3 asks why Blanchard et al. (2016) begin their model of servant leadership with the heart rather than with the leader's skills or methods. Their answer is that leadership is first a matter of motive. The authors describe four domains, heart, head, hands and habits, and argue that the inner domains, motive and perspective, shape everything leaders do outwardly. A leader with excellent skills and a self-serving heart will use those skills to serve himself. That is why the authors spend their first chapters on motive before they discuss vision, coaching or habits: a change in method without a change of heart produces a more skilled self-server, not a servant.

The book names the heart's central problem EGO, Edging God Out, which shows up in two forms. Pride puts self at the center and overstates one's own importance; fear seeks security by protecting oneself and controlling others. Its alternative is also EGO, Exalting God Only, in which the leader finds security and worth in God and is therefore free to serve.

Consider a project manager presenting her team's results to senior executives. Pride tempts her to present the success as her own; fear tempts her to hide a problem the team discovered. Either choice would serve her image rather than her team or the organization. The skill of presenting well is the same in every case; the heart decides whom the skill will serve.

Research on servant leadership supports the book's starting point. In a review of the field, van Dierendonck (2011) argued that what distinguishes servant leaders is their motivation to serve, combined with a motivation to lead, and that this orientation toward followers' growth and well-being sets servant leadership apart from other models. The result shows in followers: Liden et al. (2008) found that servant leadership predicted followers' community citizenship behaviors and in-role performance, beyond the effects of other leadership styles.

In Philippians 2:3, Paul asks believers to set rivalry and vanity aside and, with humility, to rank others' interests above their own (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016). That is the heart Blanchard et al. (2016) describe. Criterion for the group list: a servant leader's motive is the good of others, not self-promotion.

Reply to Hannah

Hannah, you made the important point that pride can disguise itself as confidence, and you asked how a leader can be confident without being proud. I think Blanchard et al. (2016) offer a useful test: the difference lies in where the leader's security comes from. Confidence rooted in God's acceptance frees a leader to admit mistakes and share credit, while pride must defend an image. Owens and Hekman (2012) studied leader humility and found that humble leaders modeled growth for followers by acknowledging their own limits, spotlighting followers' strengths and showing teachability, and that these behaviors helped followers feel their own development was legitimate. Humble leaders were not less confident; they were secure enough not to need constant credit. James 4:6 contrasts God's resistance to the arrogant with the favor he shows the lowly. Your manager example, who thanked her team publicly before mentioning her own role, seems to me a good picture of confident humility, because she gave up nothing of her authority by doing it. Humility also changes how a leader receives criticism: a proud leader hears it as an attack, while a secure one hears it as information. Would you add "shares credit before claiming it" and "welcomes correction" to the group's list of criteria?

Reply to Marcus

Marcus, I appreciated your observation that fear may be harder to recognize than pride, because it often looks like responsibility. A manager who checks every detail of her team's work may believe she is being careful, when the deeper motive is fear of looking bad. Blanchard and Hodges (2003) describe fear-driven leaders as protecting their position by hoarding information and control, which leaves followers dependent rather than developing. Research points the same way: Liden et al. (2008) included helping subordinates grow and succeed and empowering them among the core dimensions of servant leadership, both of which fear tends to block. One practical sign of fear is a leader who cannot delegate a task without taking it back, or who asks for more reports than the work requires. Isaiah 41:10 tells God's people not to fear, for he is with them and will strengthen them, which suggests that the cure for fear-driven leadership is not more control but deeper trust. In my own first supervisory role, I rewrote my team's reports late at night instead of coaching them, and only later realized I was protecting myself rather than helping them grow. Have you seen fear-driven control in a workplace, and how did it affect the team?

References

Blanchard, K., & Hodges, P. (2003). The servant leader: Transforming your heart, head, hands, & habits. Thomas Nelson.

Blanchard, K., Hodges, P., & Hendry, P. (2016). Lead like Jesus revisited: Lessons from the greatest leadership role model of all time. W Publishing Group.

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(2), 161-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.01.006

Owens, B. P., & Hekman, D. R. (2012). Modeling how to grow: An inductive examination of humble leader behaviors, contingencies, and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 787-818. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2010.0441

van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 37(4), 1228-1261. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206310380462