Servant Leadership Questions

There are eight questions that every Servant Leader must answer if their goal is to improve as Servant Leaders.[1]

The Adding Value Question: What can I do today to add value to other people? Servant Leaders define others’ success as their own success. Therefore, they focus on helping others succeed. This is accomplished by adding value to other people. Organizations exist to serve, Period. Leaders live to serve, Period. – Tom Peters

The Everyday Question: What do people need from me daily they may not be willing to ask for? Too many leaders have the attitude, If they need something, let them ask. My door is always open. Here is a better idea, walk through the open door of your office and go to your team to see what they need before they ask. Provide it for them. You cannot assume that other people have the same desires and expectations as you do.

The Improvement question: What can I work on that will help me serve people better? Servant leadership is all about the people you serve. In order to grow in effectiveness, you must value what is valuable to the people your serving. As a leader do you possess what your team members need? To bring out the best in others I first have to bring out the best in me. I cannot give what I do not have.

The Evaluation Question: How will I know that I am serving people well? If you had to give yourself a report card on how well you lead your team, how would you score yourself? Do you even know what your teams’ expectations of you are? Are you communicating these expectations well? Are you asking your team what you are doing well and where do I need to improve? If you are not asking questions, how will you ever learn and know how to score your performance?

The Blind Spot Question: What is it like for the people who work with me? We all have blind spots, things we do not see about ourselves. I do not always see myself as others see me. I am 100% sure the same is true for you. As a leader, understand that people are often intimidated by your power and authority – they may be reluctant to approach you. How do you overcome this issue? Ask this key question; What is it like to sit across the table from me?

The Respect Question: How can I gain value while adding value to others by serving? There is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human, being, to help someone else succeed – Alan Loy McGinnis. It has been said that success means that we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others. As we lose ourselves in the service of others we discover our own lives and happiness – Dieter F Uchtdorf.

The Giftedness Question: What do I do best that allows me to serve people best? We serve others the best when we serve from the areas of our giftedness. Here is a list of questions that will allow you to answer this question effectively.

The Example Question: How can I serve others in a way that will inspire them to serve other people? The most effective way to accomplish this is to get outside of your box and serve others within your community. Take you team out of the office and spend a day serving any number of great agencies in your area. As part of the on-boarding process of new hires – have them to serve an outside agency in the community for one-half day. Why is this important? It helps us to

Being thoughtful versus being gifted.

[1] Maxwell, John Developing The Leader Within You 2.0. Harper Collins, 2018 Kindle Version.

Shepherds Advantage Inc