In his classic book ‘Servant Leadership: Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness’, Robert K. Greenleaf suggests that the concept of the servant as leader emerged from reading Hermann Hesse’s ‘Journey to the East’.
In that story, Leo accompanies a party on a journey as the servant who does their menial chores, and sustains them with his spirit and song. He is a person of extraordinary presence, and all goes well on the journey until Leo disappears.
The group then falls into disarray, and abandons the journey. They cannot make it without the servant, Leo.
After some years of wondering, the narrator, one of the party, is taken into account in the order that sponsored the journey.
There, he discovers that Leo, whom he had known first as a servant, was the titled head of the order, its guiding spirit, and a great and noble leader.
Greenleaf suggests that the concept of servant leadership in this story clearly tells him that the great leader is seen as a servant first, and that simple fact is a key to greatness. Leo was the leader always, but he was a servant first because that was what he essentially was. Leadership was bestowed upon a man who was, by nature, a servant.
This principle is embedded deeply in the teaching and example of Jesus. He said to his disciples: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” (Matthew 20:26-28)
The following is extracted from Tom Marshall’s writings, which are included in his book ‘Understanding Leadership’, published by Sovereign World.
In the process of redemption, Jesus not only brings into existence a new and redeemed type of power, but also creates and models a new kind of leader to handle that power.
Both are necessary because you cannot join the new creation to the old, any more than safely put the new wine into old wineskins. In other words, the old type of leader cannot understand, let alone handle, the new kind of power, nor can the new kind of power do what the old type of leaders usually want to do.
When Jesus said “Not so with you” (Matthew 20:26 NIV), he cancelled out the legitimacy of all existing leadership concepts. In their place, he introduces the only type of leader who can safely be entrusted with power without being corrupted by it.
That leader is the one who: Is a servant by nature and Has gone beyond the status syndrome.
After all, leaders lead, and servants serve. If leaders are going to be the servants, who are the servants going to be, and who is going to be the servant?
What are the servants going to do, and who is going to do the leading?
The first thing we have to clarify is that we are dealing with a question of character or nature, not function.
The servant leader is first and foremost a servant by nature; it is what he is, not merely what he does.
Servanthood is the motivation which drives his behaviour, and motivation is all-important in a servant.
A person can carry out all the duties or functions of a servant, or do the task that a servant has to do, but do it unwillingly, resentfully, or just for the money.
The person receiving what is being done becomes aware of the lack of real service.
Often, a person genuinely and willingly serves, but sees service as a means to an end, that end being used to rise to a position where they can no longer have to serve people, but have others serving them.
Therefore, they serve wholeheartedly all the time they are on their way up, but when they get to the top, they turn into tyrants. They somehow reckon they have paid their dues by waiting on other people.
Now, it is their turn to sit back and give the orders, and watch other people jump to it for a change.
Finally, because servanthood refers to the leader’s character or nature, it is not affected or changed by the role they fulfil.
They can be given leadership, and it can be taken away from them; they remain servants.
They can take up leadership and lay it down; their nature never alters. Their in-built natural motivation is simply to serve. If they find they can serve best by leading, they will lead.
If they see somebody else who can lead better, or they can serve better in another role, they will pass over leadership without a single pang, and happily become a follower again. They fulfil their natural motivation to serve.
It is also noteworthy that our Constitution and legislative instruments like the Local Authorities Act 23 of 1992 and the Regional Councils Act 22 of 1992 establish structures aimed at developing our fledgling democracy.
Examined closely, however, it is apparent that the Namibian Constitution also envisions a State built on the service of civil servants, in some cases, servant leaders, to achieve the democratic vision espoused by the Constitution.
Being a servant, and if we are leading, a servant leader, becomes second nature to us. In other words, we do it naturally and spontaneously so that whether we are making the decisions or carrying out someone else’s decisions, issuing instructions or obeying orders, pioneering something new or facilitating someone else’s vision, we do it to serve not only our loved ones, but also broader society and our country in general.
*Reverend Jan A Scholtz is the former chairperson of the //Kharas Regional Council and former! Nami#nus constituency councillor. He holds a Diploma in Theology, B-Theo (SA), a Diploma in Youth Work and Development from the University of Zambia (UNZA), as well as a Diploma in Education III (KOK) BA (HED) from UNISA.