Leaders as servantsGrowing number of Fox Valley businesses adopting servant leadership philosophies to guide their routineStory by Amanda M. WimmerTHE IDEA OF LIVING AS A SERVANT and focusing on others to meet needs has long roots. For Mark Priestaf, running his insurance company using a servant leadership philosophy was like a brand new shirt that fit just as if it’s always been his favorite, he said. Priestaf, managing partner of Servant Insurance in Oshkosh, formerly The Starr Group, said the idea of servant leadership fit the personalities of him and his partner, Wayne Weese, well, which is why the team has been consistently using the servant leader philosophy since July 2008 when they renamed the company after breaking ties with their previous partners. “It fit our faith convictions and our values and it fit like a well worn shirt,” Priestaf said. Servant leadership is an approach to leadership development coined and defined by leadership-guru Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s that emphasizes the steward’s role as a steward of resources. Servant leaders are focused on identifying and meeting the needs of others rather than acquiring power for themselves, said Kent Keith, chief executive officer for the Indiana-based Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership and author of The Case for Servant Leadership. “We think it’s not only ethical and meaningful, but also practical,” Keith said. The modern movement launched by Greenleaf in the 1970s is still carried out by the Greenleaf Center today. Servant leadership encourages leaders to serve others while staying focused on achieving results in line with the organization’s values and integrity. The servant leadership movement has been re-emerging in the New North in recent months with a variety of workshops, speakers and organizations focusing on the subject.
WEESE AND PRIESTAF SAID THEY ALWAYS had the desire to run a business “the way it should be,” which is why they built their business based on this philosophy. “There is enough profit and enough money out there for everybody. We don’t have to grab everything and take everything,” Weese said. “We always wanted to run our business with the idea of being appreciative and thankful. Making sure the integrity and ethics and morality is number one. After that, everything else will come.” Keith describes becoming a servant leader as a continuous process that starts with identifying needs of employees, customers, vendors and others associated with an organization. Listening to others is crucial when creating a servant leadership atmosphere in a business. He said the listening step may happen in the form of market research or focus groups and extends throughout all levels of an organization when implemented properly. A servant leader is nearly the opposite of another model of leadership – the power model, Keith said. According to the power model, Keith writes in his book, “leadership is about how to accumulate and wield power, how to make people do things, how to attack and win. It is about clever strategies, applying pressure and manipulating people to get what you want.” “The power model is about (leaders) trying to get power or wealth or fame for themselves. Leaders like that turn out to be irrelevant,” he said. “I’ve never met anyone living the power model who could get enough power. It’s like it becomes a disease.” Mark Skogen, president of Skogen’s Festival Foods – with 13 locations across Wisconsin, including those in Fond du Lac, Oshkosh and the Fox Cities – has been using elements of servant leadership in his stores for about 10 years, he said. Skogen describes servant leadership as “meeting the legitimate needs of those we work with.” “It used to be that being a manager or leader, you told people what to do and you didn’t try to get buy in, and that doesn’t work well in today’s society,” he said. “People run their companies like dictators and tyrants. Even though (servant leadership) is simple at its core, people still don’t get it.” Skogen said management level employees at Festival Foods get yearly training to help them understand servant leadership and become good leaders. From there, the idea of servant leadership trickles down to all levels of employees and is passed on to the customer. Skogen said servant leadership in his business is about earning authority and respect, not being given power. “We talk about it a lot in management meetings and it has become part of our culture,” Skogen said. “We don’t even have to think about it, it’s just how we do things.”
Put into practice SKOGEN SAID FESTIVAL FOODS has many programs in place that reflect its servant leadership philosophies. Appreciation and merit programs for employees who receive complements from customers are well advertised on bulletin boards within stores. Skogen believes it’s important for his employees to feel valued and respected because that’s what they will pass on to customers. “We try to do a lot of things everyday to make their jobs fulfilling and fun, and that all falls under being a servant leader,” Skogen said. One of the mechanisms Festival Foods has in place to serve customers is called the 10 Tile Rule, Skogen said. Each employee is trained to greet anyone within 10 floor tiles of them. And Skogen said it goes beyond just saying hello. Skogen said the 10 Tile Rule is so important because it creates a more pleasurable shopping experience for Festival Foods shoppers. “It makes it more fun for the associates, as well,” he said. “I maintain that people enjoy contact with other people. Stocking the shelves isn’t a whole bunch of fun, dealing with people and working with people is where the enjoyment is at.” Skogen, Priestaf and Weese all agree that using a servant leadership model in their business has been good for employee retention. “I think employee retention is a byproduct of having a servant leadership company,” Skogen said. “Another part is keeping everyone informed and being very transparent. There aren’t any secrets. We talk about sales. We have a huddle up everyday where we talk about sales, advertising plans and so on.” Priestaf said it was important for him and his partner to sit down with employees and talk about the servant leadership philosophy when they began more vigorously pursing it last summer. “We have employees tell us they love their jobs, that they love working here and feel valued and important,” said Weese. “It’s just a different type of place to work and it’s fun coming in every day.”
A community focus WHILE THE TERM SERVANT leadership was developed decades ago, some in the Fox Valley are just beginning to take interest in the philosophy. Christa Williams, executive director at the Sophia Foundation in Fond du Lac, is part of a pilot program known as Servant Leadership Learning Community. The community is made up of people from all over the country who meet in a virtual learning circle to discuss how they use servant leadership within their own organization. It’s a pilot program because it’s one of the first learning circles done virtually and via teleconferences, Williams said. The Servant Leadership Learning Community meets via teleconference periodically and also uses Web-based resources to share information and experiences. The Servant Leadership Learning Community pilot began in the fall of 2008 and will culminate this summer with The Greenleaf Center’s 19th Annual International Conference in Milwaukee, where many of the members of the group will meet face to face for the first time. “There are many people who want this type of support but aren’t able to (travel to different locations). We can’t always physically be together but yet we can learn from each other,” Williams said. “We came together and said ‘let’s create a program that helps people learn skills and helps others learn from experiences.’” Not only is the pilot program made up of people from all over the country, but there’s a local presence as well. Representatives from the Fond du Lac Area Community Foundation, Marian University and Moraine Park Technical College are also part of the group. Williams said she looks forward to coming together at the convention in Milwaukee to discuss the pilot program and how it can grow and change in the future.
Global outreach THE USE OF servant leadership philosophies extends far beyond the Fox Valley into many Fortune 500 companies throughout the country, Keith said. Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, The Container Store, Aflac Insurance and many others operate with the specific desire to serve. “A lot of people are applying these principals without even knowing there is a label for it,” Keith said. Being a servant leader is like common sense to Keith, and he thinks any business can prosper by implementing servant leadership philosophies. “I think that helping people is a very meaningful way to live and lead,” he said. “It’s an intrinsic motivator. Finding meaning is good for mental health and finding meaning is the key to being happy. Servant leaders get a lot of meaning and that’s a big bonus. It’s a big tangible bottom line and I think everyone should be as deeply happy as they can be.”
Amanda M. Wimmer is a freelance journalist and social media junkie from Oshkosh. She can be reached at www.twitter.com/MWgirl. |