BUSI 502 Week 6 Group Discussion Board Forum 3 Example

Group Discussion Board Forum 3: The Habits of a Servant Leader

BUSI 502 Servant Leadership, Group Discussion Board Forum 3 Answer and Replies

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

Answer to Question 1

Question 1 asks which of the servant leader's habits busy leaders neglect most, and why it matters. Blanchard et al. (2016) describe several habits that renew a leader's commitment to serve: solitude, prayer, the study and application of Scripture, accepting God's unconditional love and maintaining supportive relationships. My answer is solitude, because it is the habit a full calendar crowds out first. Prayer can happen in the car, and Scripture can be read on a phone, but solitude requires stopping, and leaders who measure their value by productivity find stopping almost impossible.

Jesus practiced solitude at exactly the moments when demands were greatest. After a day of healing the crowds, he rose very early and went out to a desolate place to pray (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016, Mark 1:35), and when the disciples found him, he chose to move on to other towns rather than return to the crowd that wanted him. Solitude clarified his priorities. Luke 5:16 adds that he often withdrew to deserted places to pray, which suggests a habit rather than an occasional retreat. If the Son of God needed time apart to keep his mission clear, leaders who carry far less should not assume they can do without it. Blanchard and Hodges (2003) describe the same function: time alone with God reorders a leader's motives before the day reorders them.

Research on recovery from work supports the habit's practical value. Sonnentag and Fritz (2007) identified psychological detachment, mentally switching off from work during time away, as a key recovery experience associated with lower exhaustion and better well-being. Hülsheger et al. (2013) found in a field study and an experiment that mindfulness, a deliberate quieting of attention, reduced emotional exhaustion and increased job satisfaction among employees in demanding service roles. A leader who never steps away eventually leads from exhaustion, and exhausted leaders are impatient, controlling and short with people.

Practically, solitude might be twenty minutes before checking email, a weekly walk without a phone or a quarterly half-day of planning and prayer away from the office. The form matters less than the regularity; a habit, as the book uses the word, is something done whether or not the leader feels the need.

For our list of criteria: servant leaders protect regular times of renewal, so their service flows from rest rather than depletion.

Reply to Grace

Grace, you chose supportive relationships as the habit that holds the others together, and I think you are right that solitude without relationships can become isolation. Blanchard and Hodges (2003) describe leaders as needing a small group of people who know them well enough to tell them the truth. Research suggests such relationships matter physically as well as spiritually. Heaphy and Dutton (2008) reviewed evidence that positive social interactions at work are associated with healthier physiological functioning, including cardiovascular, immune and hormonal responses, and argued that relationships at work are a resource for well-being, not a distraction from work. For a leader, an accountability group might be two or three peers who meet monthly and ask hard questions about how each is leading, including how each is treating the people with the least power on the team. Proverbs 27:17 compares this to iron sharpening iron. Combining your habit with mine, a leader might spend the morning in solitude and end the week with a trusted friend who asks what the solitude revealed. The hard part is choosing friends who will actually challenge us, rather than ones who only encourage. Does your group at church serve that purpose for you, or would you look for one at work?

Reply to Andre

Andre, you raised a fair concern that habits like prayer and Scripture may feel out of place in a secular workplace, where leaders lead people of many faiths and none. I agree that a leader should not impose his faith on employees, but research suggests that a workplace where people find meaning and community can benefit everyone. Duchon and Plowman (2005) studied work units in a hospital system and found that units whose members reported a stronger spiritual climate, a sense of meaningful work, community and connection, tended to perform better on measures including patient satisfaction. Their concept of spirituality was broader than Christian faith, but it suggests that a leader's private habits can shape a unit's public culture. Blanchard et al. (2016) describe the habits as renewing the leader's heart, which then shows in how the leader treats people, regardless of whether employees share the leader's faith. Matthew 6:6 speaks of praying in private, which fits your concern: the habit is personal, and its fruit is public. Employees may never know why a manager stays calm in a crisis, but they notice that the manager does. Would you say your own habits change how you treat people on hard days?

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.

Duchon, D., & Plowman, D. A. (2005). Nurturing the spirit at work: Impact on work unit performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 16(5), 807-833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.07.008

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

Heaphy, E. D., & Dutton, J. E. (2008). Positive social interactions and the human body at work: Linking organizations and physiology. Academy of Management Review, 33(1), 137-162. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2008.27749365

Hülsheger, U. R., Alberts, H. J. E. M., Feinholdt, A., & Lang, J. W. B. (2013). Benefits of mindfulness at work: The role of mindfulness in emotion regulation, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98(2), 310-325. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031313

Sonnentag, S., & Fritz, C. (2007). The Recovery Experience Questionnaire: Development and validation of a measure for assessing recuperation and unwinding from work. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(3), 204-221. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8998.12.3.204