Ryan Boh

Humility and self-awareness are essential to strong Servant Leaders. It is impossible to invest in those around you if you aren't taking a hard look at yourself and staying honest about personal shortfalls and missteps. This comes to fruition in a few ways. 1) examine your conscience and do so daily or weekly (think of Ben Franklin's ledger) 2) pursue contrition when you are at fault for a mistake or make a regrettable comment. 3) move on and be better. It never helps to marinate on something, but rather acknowledge, apologize and move on. Taking these steps allows Servant Leaders to be present and thoughtful in ways that overcome human nature. It drives respectable interactions and curious invitation for others to behave the same way.

Some ways to get started: -keep your door to your office open -maintain a consistent schedule. To take it further, find 1-3 opportunities and timeslots to check in with direct reports each day. -if you can't be in the office or present remotely, overcommunicate why and establish alternative opportunities to engage and connect with your team. -establish your service "trademark," even if it comes naturally, you should still be intentional and consistent. This influences how your employees think/talk about you when you aren't around. -always prioritize the right thing via candor. Challenging conversations are inevitable, but don't ignore or postpone conversations because the inevitable is going to happen. -pursue and lead with the truth.

I had a leader once who would ask frequently, "how can we love on our team." For Servant Leaders (SL) this means we have to ask how we can proverbially "wash feet" or literally facilitate an act of service. When employees and colleagues watch and experience the "washing of feet" they are often moved and inspired to do the same for their colleagues. This social contagion transcends conflict and creates authenticity. Acts of service aren't everyone's love language, but tapping into what drives others and "scratching that itch" does create a presence of authenticity. It's truly knowing those around you. 3 ways to practice this is: -keep detailed notes on employees/colleagues -try to "wash feet" once a week/month/quarter -track touchpoints

Decision-making as as servant leader (SL) has one major requirement: You must be present. Quintessential SLs bring a presence the drive trust and transparency. This is easier to do in onsite/flex environments, but harder to do remotely. In remote environments it requires lots of time over the phone and the team knows that the SL's undivided attention is on organizational goals, projects and wellbeing. The process above is a strong framework for SLs to work off of, but its very easy for self-described SL's to break trust and lose SL status if their hearts, minds and time is divided and spent away from the team and organization. This diminishes the SL to Employee bond. Reducing throughput, team spirit, confidence and increases churn.

Conferences or events via, trade organizations are also tremendous goldmines for networking. There are two ways to pursue these: 1) look at formal industry specific organizations, follow their content, engage with leaders and participate in their events (if the content isn't strong, spend time with competitors, clients and partners). 2) informal industry meetups. Post covid there have been a ton of grass roots meetup. These are terrific ways to network in your own backyard and often don't require much travel. If these don't exist then create your own and leverage linkedin or meetups to get the word out.

True servant leaders are willing to lead with the changes. A few examples of blunders I've seen are leaders who... 1. require their employees in the office between posted times, but don't adhere to the standards themselves. Strong leaders are the first in & last out. 2. have an open door policy, but fail to follow up or through. Strong leaders proactively address employee concerns and seek closure. 3. provide little feedback when readouts or reoccurring meetings go poorly. Strong leaders prep their team members before engagements with major clients or stakeholders. 4. allow their employees to be demoralized and scapegoated by other teams. Strong leaders operate as a buffer between team members and key stakeholders.