Over 200 years ago, a man in civilian clothes rode past a small group of tired and battled weary soldiers. They were digging what appeared to be an important defensive position. The leader of the group wasn’t making any effort to help. He just shouted orders and threatened to punish the group if the work wasn’t completed within the hour.
“Why aren’t you helping?” the stranger asked on horseback.
“I’m in charge! The men do as I tell them,” said the leader. He added “Help them yourself if you feel so strongly about it.”
To the mean leader’s surprise, the stranger got off his horse and helped the men until the job was finished.
Before he left, the stranger congratulated the men for their work, and approached the confused leader.
“You should notify top command next time your rank prevents you from supporting your men – and I will provide a more permanent solution,” the stranger said.
Up close, the now humbled leader recognized General George Washington and was taught a lesson he would never forget!
What does this have to do with Halloween and your costume? I remember back to the time that I was a positional leader. People followed me because they had to. Real leadership is when people gladly follow you because they want to. To create that culture, a leader needs to love their people more than their position. That means adding value to them, and by having a servant’s heart. Let’s put on the cloak of a servant leader with the following “tricks” and get the “treat” of expanding our influence.
1. Perform small acts. Find ways today to show others that we care. Small acts of kindness can go a long way to show people we care. Start at home–when was the last time we did a meaningful act for our spouse? Oh geesh–besides laundry, grocery shopping and cooking, I can’t remember…that’s not a good thing.
2. Learn to walk slowly through the crowd. The next time we are at an event or meeting with employees, clients or acquaintances, make it a priority to cruise the room to connect with the people in the room. Circulate and chat. Find out how their day is going. Make it our agenda to focus on them. Learn their names. Not only is that adding value to them, but it helps us get out of our comfort zone, too.
3. Take action. I am task oriented and I had to learn to invest in relationships. When I realized that serving others expanded my influence because I was adding value, I had to get out there and start serving…no matter how I felt. What I found is that those I served were blessed. AND wonder of wonders, I was impacted in a positive way because I served. This is just one of the “treats” that we get from having a servant heart.
Other treats received by servant leadership; increased happiness and efficiency of our teams, enabling higher performance. It’s very motivating to see the boss roll up their sleeves and do the hard work with the team. Modeling this behavior trickles down into our workplace, home or community culture and multiplies that behavior. People do what people see.
The best treat of all, in my opinion, is that people’s lives are enhanced and relationships are strengthened.
I am sure you can think of other “treats” resulting from serving others. I’d love to hear back from you!
Happy Halloween!
Jan
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