“仆人式”领导，“主人般”员工

尉艳娟

人物簡介

苏珊娜·马德森（Susanne Madsen），项目领导力学院联合创始人，国际知名项目领导力顾问、教练、培训师，英国项目管理协会（APM）成员。2012年成立自己的公司（Susanne Madsen International Ltd.）之前，苏珊娜·马德森有20余年的企业项目管理实践经验。曾出版图书《项目管理训练手册》（The Project Management Coaching Workbook）、《项目管理中的领导力》（The Power of Project Leadership）。

观点精要

“仆人式”领导者把被领导者的需求放在首位，他们是“给予者（givers）”，通过赋能其他人来实现客户愿景。

“仆人式”领导者能够以身作则（lead by example），在他们眼中，领导者这个职位是一种责任，是不可滥用的特权。

“仆人式”领导风格日益流行的原因有三： 一是“千禧一代”开始步入职场，他们期待参与，讨厌被告知怎么做。二是传统的“命令&控制”式领导风格不适用于管理知识型员工，因为团队成员可能比领导者更了解工作内容，因此领导者的角色不是下命令而是帮助团队成员运用好并拓展他们的知识。三是VUCA时代，我们面临的环境易变、不确定、复杂、模糊，领导者不可能知晓所有问题的答案，领导者越来越依靠团队成员去共同发现答案，去创新，去交付更好的成果。

“仆人式”领导者要“阴阳结合”、温暖与力量并存。

“仆人式”领导者具有高情商、良好的倾听技巧和指导他人的能力。“仆人式”领导者能够站在他人的角度想问题，给予成员实现目标所需的支持，让他们参与决策，并在团队中建立社区意识。倾听、支持和维持稳定的能力可以用“阴”元素来代表。领导者利用这一要素来建立团队的信心，并培养团队缺乏的技能。

“仆人式”领导者还需要有“阳”的一面，这意味着他们要具有很强的方向感和成果驱动力。一个高绩效的团队并不一定是最舒适的地方，因为它不断面临着改进和创新的挑战。“仆人式”领导者设定高标准，也会提出苛刻的问题，不断挑战团队尽其所能实现目标。

“仆人式”领导风格下，团队成员参与合作程度更高、目标感更强、热情高涨。

“仆人式”领导力不仅仅是一种领导风格，更是一种方法和态度。“仆人式”领导者需要根据不同的情境来调整领导过程中使用“阴”和“阳”元素的程度。

实施“仆人式”领导力最大的障碍是领导者的自我（ego），还有一个障碍是传统的组织文化。

“仆人式”领导力与其他领导力不冲突，可互补。

Interview Characteristics of Servant Leaders

Q1. What is “servant leadership” by definition？ Would you please offer a description of a perfect “servant leader”？

Susanne Madsen： Servant leadership means that the leader puts the needs of those they are leading before their own needs. Rather than serving themselves and being steered by self-enhancement values， servant leaders are driven by self-transcendent values linked to growth， contribution and connection. They gain satisfaction from empowering others， from contributing to a cause greater than themselves， from continuously learning， and from knowing that they are doing the right thing. They have an honest approach to their work and tend to be transparent and open. When things go well， they look out of the window and let others take credit. When things go wrong， they look in the mirror and take responsibility.

Servant leaders dont play favourites or engage in dishonest politics. Rather than being interested in power， money or prestige for themselves， they have a desire to serve their team and clients and enable others to make a difference. They have a clear view of what their clients needs are， and they seek to fulfil them with utmost care and judgment. We could say that servant leaders are givers who seek to empower people to contribute to the clients bigger vision. They naturally lead by example and recognize that being a leader is a privilege and a responsibility that must never be abused or taken advantage of.

Q2. What are the typical qualities of “servant leaders”？

Susanne Madsen： One of the qualities of servant leaders is a high amount of emotional intelligence， good listening skills and the ability to coach. Servant leaders acknowledge other peoples perspectives， give them the support they need to meet their goals， involve them in decisions that affect them， and build a sense of community within the team. The ability to listen， support and maintain stability can be symbolised by the feminine “yin” element. Leaders use this element to build the teams confidence and to develop skills that are lacking. They encourage collaboration and provide a safe environment for team members to work together and come up with their own solutions.“Yin” leaders are also good at praising people for a job well done and will often ask what type of help the individual needs. This style is enabling and is concerned with making it possible for others to flourish， lead and contribute.

But servant leadership is not only characterised by supportive “yin”. Its also important that leaders can access their challenging “yang” side. “Yang” symbolises the masculine element， which is challenging， demanding and factual. Servant leadership is not about being nice all the time. Its about serving the client and developing a high-performing team to enable that. Interestingly， a high-performing team isnt necessarily the most comfortable place to be because its constantly being challenged to improve and innovate. “Yang” leaders have a strong sense of direction and are results-driven. They set a high standard， ask difficult questions and challenge the team to deliver to the best of its ability.

You could say that “yin” is a predominantly heartbased approach， whereas “yang” is a rational and head-based approach. When these two elements are combined， we find servant leaders who use equal amounts of warmth and strength； they involve people in the decisions that affect them and they ask questions that empower and stimulate creative and innovative thinking. They challenge the team to reach a high standard and they provide them with the support required to do so. The outcome is a higher level of engagement， more trust， stronger relationship and increased innovation.

Reasons for Popularity of Servant Leadership

Q3. Why do you think “servant leadership” is getting increasingly popular？

Susanne Madsen： With new generations entering the workforce， there is an increasing demand for leaders to involve teams in the work they are doing and to help people grow and find purpose in their work. Millennials dont just want to be told what to do. Instead， they want to be involved. A traditional“command & control” management style works well in a setting where the manager holds all the knowledge and is instructing a team of unskilled workers. But in our era of knowledge workers， team members often understand the subject matter better than the leader. The leaders role is therefore not one of giving orders but one， which helps team members apply the knowledge they already have and expand upon it.

The need for engagement and involvement is further accentuated because we now live in a VUCA world. As our environment is volatile， uncertain， complex and ambiguous， one leader simply cannot hold all the answers. Leaders rely to a larger and larger extent on the team to find the answers， to innovate and to deliver great outcomes.

Performance of Team Members under Servant Leadership

Q4. When the leader is leading in a serving manner， will the employees act like masters with more enthusiasm for work？ How should employees act so that “servant leadership” can reach the desired results？

Susanne Madsen： Under servant leadership， the employees or team members level of engagement， collaboration， sense of purpose and enthusiasm grows. Thats because they feel listened to and because they have real influence on their work rather than simply being told what to do. On the other hand， team members must actively step into the challenge， act responsibly and recognize that they are working with a leader who is doing the best they can with the resources they have.

Q5. Is “servant leadership” applicable to all projectoriented industries？

Susanne Madsen： Yes， I would say so. But leadership always needs to be adapted to the situation at hand and to the person who is being led. Servant leadership is an approach and an attitude more than just a leadership style. A servant leader needs to adjust his or her level of “yin” and “yang” to suit the environment.

Application of Servant Leadership

Q6. What are the major barriers in applying “servant leadership”？ What should we pay special attention to in applying “servant leadership”？

Susanne Madsen： The biggest barrier is perhaps a leaders own ego， that part of our personality， which is tempted to serve itself. Some people have a big need for significance and may fulfil this need by using situations， colleagues and subordinates as a means to gain greater power， money and recognition. Im sure we have all experienced people who primarily cared about their own advancement and who made decisions that would see them progress within the organization. When people take out as much as they can from their surroundings， they dont serve anyone other than the greedy part within themselves.

Another barrier could be an old-fashioned organisational culture where leaders are expected to make all the decisions and where the challenging“yang” element is favoured over the feminine “yin”element. In such organisational cultures， servant leaders may need to initially move quietly and let their results and stellar team performances pave the way.

Q7. “Servant leadership” is NOT contradictable to other leadership styles such as “balanced leadership”， right？

Susanne Madsen： Thats right. Servant leadership is an approach， which compliments several leadership styles. You might for instance find a servant leader who makes use of a coaching style， a visionary style and a democratic style. You will also find similarities between servant leadership and transformational leadership.