JimmyOentoro.com

Empower others, not overpower them.

If you put the focus on yourself, your needs, your ego, your agenda, more than on the needs of others, the people you lead will not have an opportunity to grow, learn and develop.

Why empower others? Very simple, no one person can do as much or as well as a team that works together with united focus toward a common goal. Insecurity is one of the main causes for people to fail in becoming servant leaders. The insecure person is afraid others are going to make him look bad, take power away from him or gain advantage preservation to kick in, with attempts to protect power and position. When a person insists on solving everyone’s problems and making all the decision, that person is generally reflecting insecurity.

Servant leaders look at problems and issues as an opportunity to help others grow. They aren’t afraid of helping other people develop and become leaders, even though some of the people they help may rise higher in the organization than they will. Servant leaders understand one of the responsibilities of a leader is to empower and develop people

Servant leader are required to have regularly scheduled, one on one meetings with their people. Realized what a powerful tool this can be in developing people, leadership and an organization. Then have regular team meetings with those they lead, with well thought out agendas for each meeting. Once again, the purpose of both these meetings is to keep the channels of communication open and to value people.