Pat Falotico, CEO of the Robert K Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, stops by the show to talk about servant leadership and how following this approach can help us all be better leaders.
Pat defines servant leadership, explaining: “It is a place of caring and compassion, and you lead from that place. You connect the way you lead to an understanding that your obligation is to help other people grow. And when you do that, organizations thrive.”
Pat explains how servant leadership differs from other models of management. ”When Robert Greenleaf defined it, he talked about a servant-led model versus a power-centric model. You probably have heard about it in terms of command and control. ‘Do as I say, follow my rules, and we’ll all be successful.’ Servant leadership is leading to success, but from a very different perspective — from a point of view that says, ‘I believe in you. I want to help you grow.’ And when that happens, our teams are going to be better. Our companies are going to be better. We’re going to give back to the community better, and society is going to be a better society.”
So what’s one way we can all work on practicing servant leadership? Listen first. “Servant leaders approach every situation by listening first and really beginning to understand what the other person is dealing with,” Pat says. “They are quiet enough so that the other person finds their own truth by reasoning out their own issues.”
Pat says the servant leadership model can be used everywhere, but especially within the Church. She points out that when leaders establish trust with those they are leading, they increase not only the rate of success, but also a sense of community and a feeling of belonging.