Leading from the Heart: Servant Leadership

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Leading from the HeartServant Leadership
Creating a Culture of Service

• John F. Wallenhorst, Ph.D.
• April 3, 2006

2006 Catholic Home Care and Long-Term Care
Symposium
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Objectives

• Key Themes in Catholic Social Teaching
• Apply to Servant Leadership
• Explore Spirit at Work
• Discuss Practical Applications

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Catholic Social Teaching

• Dignity of the Human Person
• Common Good
• Justice

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Dignity of the Human Person

• There is a growing awareness of the sublime
  dignity
• of human persons, who stand above all things and
• whose rights and duties are universal and
  inviolable.
• They ought, therefore, to have ready access to
  all
• that is necessary for living a genuinely human
  life.
• - Gaudium et Spes, 1965

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Leaders as Followers
Independent, Critical Thinking
Active
Passive
Dependent, Uncritical Thinking
The Power of Followership, Robert E. Kelley
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Leading Yourself

• Self Respect
• Personal Reliance
• Initiative
• Resilience

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Courageous Conscience

• Self Reflection
• Listening to Others
• Ethics of Action
• Communicating Ones Ethics
• Controlling your Ego

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Common Good

• It is imperative that no one ... would indulge in
  a
• merely individualistic morality. The best way to
  fulfill
• one's obligations of justice and love is to
  contribute
• to the common good according to one's means and
• the needs of others...
• - Gaudium et Spes,1965

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Quaker Foundation

• Society of Friends (Quakers)
• John Woolman
• 18th century cloth merchant
• Issues of slavery, peacemaking with native
  peoples, farmer-banker relations, child labor
• Focus on
• What is common, human
• Respectful conversation

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• Walk cheerfully over the earth, answering that
  of God in everyone.
• 
  - George Fox

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Robert Greenleaf

• Servant Leadership Approach
• Creative Disentangling
• Assume a we fellowship
• Engage in friendly conversation
• Potential problems with traditional system
• Ask for help with identifying problems
• Experiment with those agreeable
• Build supportive coalition

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How About You?

• Identify one area in your ministry that could use
  this type of discussion
• Discuss how it might work
• (10 minutes)

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Strengths

• Emphasizes common human foundations
• Peaceful humane
• Allows for reform of tradition
• Allows for win-win
• Promotes deeper personal conversion

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Limitations

• Assumes a true we relationship
• Focuses on problems in a tradition, not in a
  person
• People in power may be unwilling to reframe
• Potential us versus them attitudes emerge

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Justice

• The principle of subsidiarity must be
• respected A community of a higher order
• should not interfere with the life of a
• community of a lower order, taking over its
• functions.
• - Centesimus Annus,1991

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Leadership Roles

• Visionary
• Where are we going?
• Setting direction
• Operational
• How are we getting there?
• Shaping and refining direction

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Paradox of Hierarchy
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Inverting the Pyramid

• Customer-facing people have priority
• Leadership as empowerment
• Training
• Modeling
• Personal Interest

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• How do we do it?

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My Spirit

• Who am I?
• What do I say I value?
• What is really most important to me?
• Where am I going?
• Where do I find divine energy?

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Spirit at Work

• Who are we?
• What do we say we value?
• What is really most important to us?
• Where are we going?
• Where do we find divine energy?

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Healthy Communities

• Shared physical values
• Shared intellectual values
• Shared emotional values
• Shared spiritual values

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Fill in the blank

• At work I care about
• Others care about me at work
• I feel I belong at work
• I feel personally connected at work
• I feel good about working at

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Spirit in Health Care

• Fiduciary Relationships
• Relationship of dependence
• Not a contract, but a covenant
• Social Responsibilities
• Necessary services
• Not a commodity

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Little Things Matter

• The Loaves and the Fishes

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Summary

• Practice
• Patience
• Sense of Exploration Learning
• Humor

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Thank you!