Analyze your volunteer experience by writing a 1,000-1,250-word reflection in which you examine how volunteering enabled you to practice the principles of servant leadership. In your paper, reference

Analyze your volunteer experience by writing a 1,000-1,250-word reflection in which you examine how volunteering enabled you to practice the principles of servant leadership. In your paper, reference
Running Head: SERVANT-LEADERSHIP 0 Servant-Leadership Student’s Name Institution Due Date Part One The unique opportunity identified is from my organization, where I volunteered to lead arrangements for a team-building exercise. It brought together members from other departments regardless of the position. I was in charge of making pre-visits and assigning roles and responsibilities to different members(Stone et al., 2017). There was a general meeting for the entire team where the team building’s chairperson requested a volunteer leader to plan the whole exercise. That is when I decided to be a leader and discover new talents and insights. The experience was going to be unique, particularly for my introverted behavior. The entire team was looking up to me for guidance and selection of the best venue. The determination of the scheduling to be created and timelines was vital for the success of the exercise. The first exercise was the forming of a committee where I identified each member’s strengths and weaknesses before assigning each role (Muthia and Krishnan, 2015). The budget development required assertiveness as any extra costs that are not accountable could be pinpointed to the leader. Therefore, I took one of the team members’ on-site visits and identified the site with a competitive price range and unique services. Part 2 According to the bible, servant leadership is about building trust and confidence around the team. The ability to guide and encourage others without pride and arrogance defines real servant leadership. Jesus flipped the meaning of leadership from the satisfaction of the number of servants under an individual to identify the help that a leader can give to followers (Thompson, 2015). Love and respect to followers ensure a servant leader pleases God through their integrity and humility. The modern meaning of servant-leadership does not differ from the one presented by Jesus. The scope and the goals have changed to reflect a demanding corporate environment that requires each member to play their role well. Jesus portrayed his servant-leadership techniques by washing his disciples’ feet as a powerful gesture that he was there for their service. It can be depicted in the modern world through friendships and work relationships that are genuine with few “back-stabbings” cases. Today’s corporate world’s competitive nature requires everyone to play their part to get a promotion or a salary raise. It is a selfish concept that limits the growth of high-value relationships. Part 3 The management style has influenced the development of servant leadership that an organization finds effective. If the corporation encourages charismatic leadership, some principles will be easily compatible (Muthia and Krishnan, 2015). A dictatorial form of leadership is not consistent with Greenleaf’s concepts, leading to conflicts and unnecessary increases in operational costs. Employees will leave the company in such other favorable working conditions in terms of employee participation. The engagement and commitment that leaders show in my organization have gone a long way to encourage employees. Their skills and knowledge are more profitable when they believe they are wanted and needed in an organization (Thompson, 2015). Suppose promotions are given to new individuals outside the organization, although the existing members have met the minimum requirements. In that case, it portrays distrust and leaders that do not understand how to derive full potential stored in their employees and followers. The overall culture of my organization encourages philosophies that bring together leaders and employees to the same level. It allows informed decisions to be made with little effort. The provision of safety clothing and insurance portrays a caring leadership willing to pursue excellence despite the costs involved. Although the institution being customer-centric, resources are channeled to cater to the well-being of the employees. A familiar emotional attachment to the business will occur, allowing the institution to focus on the business’s core functions without worrying about rogue employees that would jeopardize efforts to achieve goals set. Part 4 Greenleaf Principles. Robert Greenleaf was influential in the promotion of the servant leadership mentality in the modern world. In 1970, his publications became famous among leaders, particularly in the highly skilled sector where performance was vital merit (Muthia and Krishnan, 2015). Modern leadership concepts put a leader’s needs on top of the pyramid while those of the employees and servants remain below. Robert emphasized the needs of the employees being met for the organization to thrive. The pyramid was inverted, according to Robert. Servant leadership in organizations promotes multiculturism through the leadership promotion of empathy. It means that employees, regardless of their background, will be treated similarly as the leader will understand that an organization thrives on different perspectives(Stone et al., 2017). The leader acts as a role model by promoting the policies and regulations that an organization demands. The role model concept of servant leadership plays a vital role in achieving multiculturalism in the organization. Humility and the leader’s will to accept criticism leads to various perspectives to be introduced into the institution. Greenleaf’s principles played a significant role in my duties to bring the team together and have a successful team-building exercise. The building of trust and an unselfish mentality played a significant role. The central principle that gave me a clear direction is awareness (Thompson, 2015). I was aware that the project required input from all team members, thus identifying areas that needed further incite. It lowered the probability of conflicts as everyone felt the project was centered around their needs. For example, if a member could not make it on a particular day selected for the team building, we did not ignore it (Stone et al., 2017). The team chose a new date, and the manager communicated with everyone. I was aware of my strengths and weaknesses as I led to limiting the probability of conflict of interest or pride. The other principles played a role in ensuring success, such as persuasion and conceptualization. Effectiveness helped bring everyone on board, mainly when they needed extra funds and needed members to contribute. I had to influence their views and show them that it was necessary to achieve the team’s goals. Conceptualization helped me to identify risks and unforeseen events that could delay the entire activity. Therefore, mitigation techniques were put by managers in place. For example, transportation had a back-up if our initial rides were delayed or failed to show up. It becomes easier to negotiate with the team members if there are obstacles in achieving specific goals. The principles in Greenleaf’s concepts encourage a leader who gives. There was a situation during the planning that there were members who could not afford extra costs that arose from the team-building trip(Muthia and Krishnan, 2015). I had to dig into my account and fund the different needs. It helped me feel fulfilled that there were no obstacles that could hinder the set objectives’ achievement. I have to be a responsible steward with the funds that others entrusted me as I had to pay bills and make eating arrangements in restaurants. The application of Greenleaf’s principles will result in long-term benefits that will benefit the whole organization (Thompson, 2015). During the learning and organizational events, leaders should include training principles to ensure collaboration and teamwork skills that the principles encourage are taught. For example, the foresight principle encourages employees to learn from past failures and focus on improvements that leaders from the lessons can apply. It will lead to a community being built that respects all the members’ views and inspires each other to be better than ever before. I will apply the lessons learned from Greenleaf principles by engaging my workmates through a different perspective. Leading by example in different roles assigned by my managers will set me apart for promotions and help the team grow to greater heights. The continuous monitoring of feedback and the views that supervisors have regarding my work will help me excel in the future as I will have identified my weaknesses and learn how to harness my strengths. Continuous follow-up on my colleagues’ well-being will portray a caring character that will help build positive relationships that will help accomplish a lot of goals and objectives. To help the company buy into my beliefs and values, I will involve them in my daily routines by providing feedback on the challenges I am experiencing every day. The main problem is that many people have not yet identified with the servant-leader mentality, leading to wasted time being wasted teaching and promoting the concept (Muthia and Krishnan, 2015). If decisions are made through collaboration with all employees, as servant-leadership enables, it might lead to time-wasting as the management awaits feedback and views from employees. In conclusion, there are various ways that leadership can benefit from Greenleaf’s principles if the management is willing to incorporate a leadership style that perfectly fits the business processes. The Greenleaf concepts’ application might expose a company to poor productivity if the employees’ skills and capabilities do not meet the minimum required in the industry. Market competitiveness might drop as long as the business tries to incorporate the principles into its system. Therefore, a company with a dictatorial leadership style might have disgruntled employees, but customers receive their services regardless and on time. Thus, to achieve a perfect balance becomes a necessity if the company is to achieve success using the principles. The principle does not promote blind decision making through encouraging and promoting ineffective workers. Therefore, the human resource department must ensure all the infrastructure needed is set up before expecting employees to meet the management’s minimum goals. The servant leadership techniques cannot be successful if the feeling of belonging to a company is not well cultivated and comes out naturally (Stone et al., 2017). The respect that employees have towards their leaders must come out naturally rather than out of fear. It is evident if the morale the employees have is well cultivated in the working culture or not. References Gandolfi, F., Stone, S., & Deno, F. (2017). Servant Leadership: An Ancient Style with 21 st Century Relevance. Review of International Comparative Management/Revista de Management Comparat International, 18(4). Muthia, A., & Krishnan, V. R. (2015). Servant leadership and commitment: Role of transformational leadership. International Journal on Leadership, 3(1), 9-20. Thompson, R. S. (2015). The perception of servant leadership characteristics and job satisfaction in a church-related college (Doctoral dissertation).