Principles of Servant Leadership
TDIndustries uses Robert Greenleaf’s essay‚ The Servant as Leader‚ as a blueprint for behavior. Every TD employee completes Servant Leadership training and participates in small Servant Leadership dialogue groups. This philosophy has built an environment where employees trust leadership to listen to their thoughts and ideas. And leadership has learned to trust the judgment of the employees. The Servant Leadership philosophy suggests that every person can become a leader by first serving‚ and then through conscious choice‚ leading. Servant Leadership principles are summarized as follows:
"People can and should work together to grow a company. If an organization is to live up to its basic values and vision‚ a key ingredient will be leadership from a very large number of us.
Simply and plainly defined‚ leaders are people who have followers. They have earned recognition and respect.
Leaders are first a servant of those they lead. They are a teacher‚ a source of information and knowledge‚ and a standard setter‚ more than a giver of directions and a disciplinarian.
Leaders see things through the eyes of their followers. They put themselves in others’ shoes and help them make their dreams come true.
Leaders do not say‚ “Get going.” Instead‚ they say‚ “Let’s go!” and lead the way. They do not walk behind with a whip; they are out in front with a banner.
Leaders assume that their followers are working with them. They consider others as partners in the work and see to it that they share in the rewards. They glorify the team spirit.
Leaders are people builders. They help those under them to grow big because the leader realizes that the more big people an organization has‚ the stronger it will be.
Leaders do not hold people down… they lift them up. They reach out their hand to help their followers scale the peaks.
Leaders have faith in people. They believe in them. They have found that others rise to their high expectations.
Leaders use their heart as well as their head. After they have looked at the facts with their head‚ they let their heart take a look‚ too.
Leaders keep their eyes on high goals. They are self-starters. They create plans and set them in motion. They are persons of thought and persons of action — both dreamers and doers.
Leaders are faced with many hard decisions‚ including balancing fairness to an individual with fairness to the group. This sometimes requires ‘weeding out’ those in the group who‚ over a period of time‚ do not measure up to the group needs of dependability‚ productivity and safety.
Leaders have a sense of humor. They are not stuffed shirts. They can laugh at themselves. They have a humble spirit.
Leaders can be led. They are not interested in having their own way‚ but in finding the best way. They have open minds."
