Shared Leadership and Empathy

Class Post on Shared Leadership and Empathy

Good Morning R:

I agree with your discussion of the King Arthur’s round table. It reminds me of the concept of shared leadership. In the shared leadership approach, a quality of servant leaders is the ability of listening to and understanding the other person (Greenleaf, 1970). Greenleaf (1970) affirmed to be a servant leader, one must become disciplined in listening and realizing that listening comes first in helping anyone with anything (Greenleaf, 1970). Listening aligns behavior and cognition with everyday activities (Van Engen, 2012) and is most effective when it makes connects with others, and involves a give-and-take relationship (Sipe & Frick, 2009). Through the act of listening, feedback is offered, relationships develop and mature, and leaders are created. The servant leader who is a skilled communicator displays a core competency of servant leadership (Sipe & Frick, 2009).

Empathy is also linked to servant leadership. Kouzes and Posner (2007) found empathy is critical to effective leadership; along with listening, empathy, and trust, servant leaders make organizations functional and influence others within the organization (Russell & Stone, 2002). Greenleaf (1970) claimed servant leaders have an unqualified acceptance and a tolerance of imperfection. Empathy allows the followers to grow taller when they know they are accepted for who they are. Taken together, listening, empathy, and trust allow servant leaders to facilitate relationships and demonstrate attributes such as trust, integrity, accountability, and authentic concern for people (Kouzes & Pozner, 2010).

References

Greenleaf, R. K. (1970). The servant as leader. Indianapolis, IN: The Robert K.

Greenleaf Center.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The leadership challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco,

CA: Jossey-Bass.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2010). The truth about leadership. San Francisco, CA:

Jossey-Bass.

Russell, R. F., & Stone, A. G. (2002). A review of servant leadership attributes:

Developing a practical model. Leadership & Organization Development Journal,

23(3), 145-157. doi:10.1108/01437730210424

Sipe, J. W., & Frick, D. M. (2009). Seven pillars of servant leadership. Mahwah, NJ:

Paulist Press.

Van Engen, E. K. (2012). The role of communication and listening in leadership

(Master’s Thesis). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database.

(UMI No. 1511677)