{"id":7,"date":"2016-05-04T13:42:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T13:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/2016\/05\/04\/servant-leadership-you-need-to-be-more\/"},"modified":"2017-06-28T14:13:27","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T14:13:27","slug":"servant-leadership-you-need-to-be-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/2016\/05\/04\/servant-leadership-you-need-to-be-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Servant Leadership: You Need To Be More Than You Are | By Guest Blogger Brook Thomas, News Director at KNWA\/KFTA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brook<\/p>\n

I answered a critical question incorrectly during my last job\u00a0interview; “What does a News Director do?”. Of course, my answer was\u00a0pretty obvious; “Direct the overall news product.” I mean…duh, right?\u00a0Nope.<\/p>\n

The corporate suit interviewing me coolly looked across the desk and\u00a0said, “Brook, the primary role of a News Director is to make every\u00a0individual on his team better”. It was a defining moment in my career\u00a0trajectory.<\/p>\n

“What I know now that I didn’t know then is the power<\/b> of servant leadership<\/i>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Imagine a world where every leader pours everything they have into\u00a0making their teams stronger. Instead of bullying, unrealistic demands or\u00a0shaming – leaders focus on individual growth, equipping teams with\u00a0tools and training to succeed and inspire genuine motivation. \u00a0What\u00a0great heights would we achieve then?<\/p>\n

To that end, I will share with you a few things I’ve learned along\u00a0the way in the hopes that you will become a stronger servant leader.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Listen<\/b>. This is much harder than it sounds.\u00a0Sometimes you’re just too busy, too tired or too fed up with situations to take a moment to stop and listen to a team member. But listening is\u00a0critical to servant leadership because it builds a mutual respect. You\u00a0are actively validating their feedback. Most times you’ll find telling\u00a0someone “no” or “not right now” goes over much better if they feel their\u00a0feedback was actually heard. And more often than not, you’ll discover\u00a0they have good feedback, innovative ideas and solutions to problems!<\/li>\n
  2. Respond<\/b>. After you listen – act! Some actions are\u00a0swift and simple. Fix a broken tool, update a communication breakdown or\u00a0praise\/correct a team member. Some actions are complex and take time to\u00a0accomplish. Change a culture, invest in an individual, redefine company\u00a0direction. In these cases, I’ve found open dialogue about the ongoing\u00a0process is helpful. Let the team know there is progress!<\/li>\n
  3. Explain your decisions<\/b>. You don’t have to justify\u00a0your decisions. But I have found an open and honest approach to the\u00a0decision-making process has helped build an understanding of shared\u00a0goals, shared obstacles, shared ethics and shared culture. I had a
    \nmanager (years ago) tell me “No” to an idea I had. When I asked why, the\u00a0answer I got was, “Because…no”. Do you know what I learned in that\u00a0exchange? Nothing that could help me grow and better benefit the\u00a0company. But I learned volumes about the manager. At that moment I chose\u00a0to stop contributing and stop caring.<\/li>\n
  4. Be selfless<\/b>. Give the victories to your team. Take\u00a0the failures for yourself. Give until you are utterly spent and then\u00a0give more. Countless times during my morning drive to work I would pray\u00a0that God help me be more than I am…because the team needs me to be\u00a0more.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And then an amazing thing happens.<\/p>\n

    The more you pour yourself into\u00a0serving your team, the stronger they become. And as they each become\u00a0stronger, so does the overall product.<\/p>\n

    Despite my failure to answer the most basic question correctly, the\u00a0corporate suit gave me the job and told me to go lead.<\/p>\n

    But for me, that\u00a0was the day I truly began to serve<\/b><\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I answered a critical question incorrectly during my last job\u00a0interview; “What does a News Director do?”. Of course, my answer was\u00a0pretty obvious; “Direct the overall news product.” I mean…duh, right?\u00a0Nope. The corporate suit interviewing me coolly looked across the desk and\u00a0said, “Brook, the primary role of a News Director is to make every\u00a0individual on his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"

    \"Brook<\/p>

    I answered a critical question incorrectly during my last job\u00a0interview; \"What does a News Director do?\". Of course, my answer was\u00a0pretty obvious; \"Direct the overall news product.\" I mean...duh, right?\u00a0Nope.<\/p>

    The corporate suit interviewing me coolly looked across the desk and\u00a0said, \"Brook, the primary role of a News Director is to make every\u00a0individual on his team better\". It was a defining moment in my career\u00a0trajectory.<\/p>

    \"What I know now that I didn't know then is the power<\/b> of servant leadership<\/i>.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>

    Imagine a world where every leader pours everything they have into\u00a0making their teams stronger. Instead of bullying, unrealistic demands or\u00a0shaming - leaders focus on individual growth, equipping teams with\u00a0tools and training to succeed and inspire genuine motivation. \u00a0What\u00a0great heights would we achieve then?<\/p>

    To that end, I will share with you a few things I've learned along\u00a0the way in the hopes that you will become a stronger servant leader.<\/p>

    1. Listen<\/b>. This is much harder than it sounds.\u00a0Sometimes you're just too busy, too tired or too fed up with situations to take a moment to stop and listen to a team member. But listening is\u00a0critical to servant leadership because it builds a mutual respect. You\u00a0are actively validating their feedback. Most times you'll find telling\u00a0someone \"no\" or \"not right now\" goes over much better if they feel their\u00a0feedback was actually heard. And more often than not, you'll discover\u00a0they have good feedback, innovative ideas and solutions to problems!<\/li>
    2. Respond<\/b>. After you listen - act! Some actions are\u00a0swift and simple. Fix a broken tool, update a communication breakdown or\u00a0praise\/correct a team member. Some actions are complex and take time to\u00a0accomplish. Change a culture, invest in an individual, redefine company\u00a0direction. In these cases, I've found open dialogue about the ongoing\u00a0process is helpful. Let the team know there is progress!<\/li>
    3. Explain your decisions<\/b>. You don't have to justify\u00a0your decisions. But I have found an open and honest approach to the\u00a0decision-making process has helped build an understanding of shared\u00a0goals, shared obstacles, shared ethics and shared culture. I had a
      manager (years ago) tell me \"No\" to an idea I had. When I asked why, the\u00a0answer I got was, \"Because...no\". Do you know what I learned in that\u00a0exchange? Nothing that could help me grow and better benefit the\u00a0company. But I learned volumes about the manager. At that moment I chose\u00a0to stop contributing and stop caring.<\/li>
    4. Be selfless<\/b>. Give the victories to your team. Take\u00a0the failures for yourself. Give until you are utterly spent and then\u00a0give more. Countless times during my morning drive to work I would pray\u00a0that God help me be more than I am...because the team needs me to be\u00a0more.<\/li><\/ol>

      And then an amazing thing happens.<\/p>

      The more you pour yourself into\u00a0serving your team, the stronger they become. And as they each become\u00a0stronger, so does the overall product.<\/p>

      Despite my failure to answer the most basic question correctly, the\u00a0corporate suit gave me the job and told me to go lead.<\/p>

      But for me, that\u00a0was the day I truly began to serve<\/b><\/i>.<\/p>","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chambernews"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/news.jpg?fit=4807%2C2385","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8RhO8-7","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions\/319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/impactpossible.com\/voice\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}