Working At The Edge

Make School Different: Digital leadership & Transformation

Servant Leadership and State Department’s of Education

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Servant Leadership Mountain[3]This past week I had an encounter with the concept of servant leadership. In a PIL course, ironically, delivered through the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the presenters shared the 10 characteristics of a servant leader for us to ponder. (Click through to learn more specifically how each characteristic is defined.)

  1. Listening
  2. Empathy
  3. Healing
  4. Awareness
  5. Persuasion
  6. Conceptualization
  7. Foresight
  8. Stewardship
  9. Commitment to the growth of people
  10. Building community

We don’t often look fondly on our state department’s of education. They work in a PUSH model, sending this and that mandate without blinking (or seemingly thinking). How would things be different if organizations looked at themselves as servant organizations, developing these same characteristics in themselves and other organizations? How much better off would our students be?

And for that matter, how about our own organizations? How different would our schools and our school districts be if we embraced these characteristics? We could all use a little self-reflection time, individuals and organizations alike, to think about servant leadership.

 

Randy Ziegenfuss
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