One of the most valuable leadership styles is servant leadership, which derives its philosophy from the basics of compassionate communication and emotional intelligence. It ensures a leader’s team members feel heard, seen and valued. This is proven to yield higher levels of job performance as well as outstanding personal and organizational results. Most importantly, it’s just the right thing to do.
Today’s world needs compassionate servant leaders in positions of power now more than ever. The following eight values (along with personal and other examples) will help leaders refresh and renew and remember why they decided to accept the awesome responsibility of leading a healthcare organization’s most valuable resource for success—its people.
1. Patience
A patient leader has mastered the ability to exhibit self-control in challenging and tense situations both publicly and privately. Being patient as a servant leader involves trusting your people and providing the right resources for them to be successful. The more you believe in your people, the more patient you will be with them and yourself. As an example of what not to do, I once became frustrated and impatient with the extended onboarding training process for new nurses, which necessitated additional costs due to temporary staffing. The CNO reminded me that the in-depth onboarding process was required to protect patients and ensure they would receive the best care possible. The fact was that our team was managing this challenge the best they could, and I needed to recognize that and have patience in their process rather than shortcutting it to save money.
2. Trustful
Being trustful means encouraging those you lead and believing in their talent and skills. Distrust is choosing to interrupt someone while they are speaking or simply deciding not to listen actively. Servant leaders listen actively, and they practice being the last ones to speak so everyone on the team is heard.
3. Grudgeless
Being grudgeless means being willing to forgive in professional and personal situations. The ripple effect of forgiveness can be extremely positive.
I once learned that an employee was stealing prescription drugs from the hospital. I spoke directly to this employee with the intent of terminating her, but she made a strong case to keep her job and a commitment to the organization to stay clean. I gave her another opportunity. This was 15 years ago, and to this day, she is clean and still working. Successful servant leaders are known for being slow to fire and quick to forgive versus quick to fire and slow to forgive.
4. Honesty and Integrity
This means being open and truthful in your relationships with others individually and in your communications related to the organization’s performance. Here’s an example of a situation lacking corporate integrity:
A large healthcare system was making a major organizational change regarding the management of a key service line and decided to not include two out of the three major physician groups, keeping the planning secret. The two unincluded physician groups were furious and left the system for a major competitor.
From an ethical and business perspective, the other two groups should have been included from the beginning. Clear and transparent communication is always key to integrity and honesty.
5. Communication
A true servant leader is the organization’s model for open and transparent communication. Consider what makes someone stand out as a servant leader with strong communication skills. Actions such as sending handwritten thank-you notes to an employee’s home or following the 10/5 rule (walking with head up, acknowledging someone from 10 feet away with a smile and acknowledging someone with a “hello” at 5 feet) can make a huge difference. There are many more ways to foster better communication, including simply by being visible and accessible regularly.
6. Unselfish
Facilitating the success of those you serve leads to both organizational and personal success. It’s important for leaders to ask themselves the following question: Is this (objective, initiative, project) about my personal success or the success of those I am entrusted to lead?
There is no greater satisfaction than watching someone or a group you lead enjoy success with your help and support. It is important to remember that their success is your success, as well as the organization’s success. It is a choice to be unselfish.
7. Walks the Talk
This means living and breathing love and compassion in your daily leadership journey. A servant leader actually “walks the talk,” ensuring their staff sees them. This has a comforting effect on employee engagement and productivity. The people you lead will notice because you are setting an example by demonstrating behavior that reflects your organization’s values.
8. Commitment
Similar to the above value, leaders must stay dedicated and true to their personal and professional values no matter the circumstances—good and bad. This is not always easy to do. But consistent commitment will lead to consistent employee engagement and performance. Employees you lead need to know you are committed to them through your actions and deeds.
In developing compassionate, servant leaders in your organizations, consider teaching a leadership course that’s open to leaders of all levels. Participants and you may find, as I had, it to be an inspiring learning experience. Mentoring and coaching others is a key commitment to successful servant leadership.
Author Brigette Hyacinth and others have written that leadership is not about being the best but about making everyone else better. Isn’t that what we all desire from ourselves and those we lead? Most of all, being a compassionate healthcare servant leader is fun and enjoyable. Try it—it will make a difference in the lives of those you are privileged to serve.
Editor’s note: The eight core leadership values highlighted in this blog are taken from the book Driven by Compassion: 8 Values for Successful Servant Leadership, Amplify Publishing, 2022, by David Zechman, LFACHE.
David Zechman, LFACHE, is an author, executive coach, consultant, frequent speaker and retired hospital CEO.