Lessons on Servant Leadership from the Dog Park

This weekend we did not have an opportunity to visit the dog park as our black lab, Jack, was ill. However, I did have a chance to reflect on employee motivation and simple techniques we can use as leaders to engage our employees.

W.H. Auden has an interesting quote; “To ask the hard question is simple”. Employees like to believe their leader has a sincere interest in their well being and professional development. As a leader, are you spending quality time talking with your employees on a daily basis? In the past, I worked with a leader that did a phenomenal job with motivating and leading his team. When he retired from his position, his employees actually planned his retirement party and commented he was the best leader they had ever worked for.

One day, I asked him about his leadership secret. He said it was simple. He made time in his schedule on daily basis to walk the production floor and talk with every single employee. It was manufacturing environment and he did not intend to make it a lengthy or formal discussion. Instead, he informally spoke to the employee by name and asked how they were doing. He asked a very simple, but insightful question: Do you have everything you need to do a quality job today? There is a term for this called “Management by Walking Around”. The employee trusted him and would openly share any issues they were having that day. If the employee revealed any issues, he would ask for ideas on a resolution. Frequently, they came up with some excellent and creative solutions. He and the operations manager would proceed to work on a resolution utilizing the employee’s input. This leader viewed his role as providing support and resources for his team members. In addition, this conversation with the front line workers often revealed issues with productivity and system performance which allowed the leader to rapidly troubleshoot problems and quickly respond to customer needs or concerns. This was an effective example of Servant Leadership.

Have you seen examples of Servant Leadership in your work or professional lives? We would like to hear about additional examples of Servant Leadership from you.

Chrissann Ruehle is Co-Founder of Black Lab Ventures, LLC. The firm provides customized human resource consulting services for small businesses.