The COVID-19 pandemic has strained established businesses and leadership models. Many enterprises rely on servant leadership to inspire and motivate their workforce.

Servant leadership is facilitative leadership. Leaders provide their followers with the facilities, resources, and support. With optimal work conditions, the employee will become more effective.

The concept of servant leadership goes back to the 1970 book “The Servant as Leader,” penned by the management guru Robert K Greenleaf. In conventional leadership, the leader applies power to force or convince followers to do their bidding. Servant leadership is a radically different approach. Here, the leader guides and supports followers through motivation and inspiration. They also provide a conducive growth environment. The servant leaders “serve” followers and provide them with the resources needed to deliver optimal output.

Many leaders place profits over people. They justify the same because of competitive pressures and the need to keep the business afloat in a competitive environment. Servant leaders need not sacrifice profitability or competitiveness. Only the approach changes. Servant leaders do not centralise their team members or micro-manage. They rather share power, engage in constructive discussions, and strive to meet enterprise goals in a more harmonious way.

1. Servant leadership empowers employees.

Existing models of leadership were already under strain before the pandemic. The pandemic became the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Business leaders, cutting across sectors and sizes, caught the COVID-19 pandemic unprepared. They faltered in the immediate aftermath. The overnight disruption placed excessive stress on the workforce. Transitioning to work-from-home and switching modes to a digital work mode led to uncertainties. The pandemic became a mass trauma, with the touted cures often doing more damage than the disease. Most companies had to set up ad hoc systems and do things by trial-and-error. In the process, they disregarded time-honoured contingency plans and crisis management lessons. Traditional leadership style could not cope with the changed realities and thus became discredited.

What followed was “the great resignation,” where employees quit jobs on a whim, even without having an alternative job ready. A 2020 McKinsey study reveals that 75% of employees considered their bosses the most stressful aspect of their job.

The post-pandemic world is a new era, with rapid changes and disruptive innovation. Old-world command-and-control leadership no longer works. Success depends on having empowered employees committed to the enterprise. The situation demands true servant leaders who bring out the best in people.

Servant leaders foster an inclusive environment. Team members can remain their authentic selves and still thrive.

2. Empathy is the core of servant leadership.

For traditional leaders, results matter more than anything else. Many leaders place virtue in employees working long hours. The leader had little concern for the work-life balance of their followers. Servant leaders, on the other hand, help the worker achieve an optimal work-life balance. They remain emphatic about the worker’s issues outside of work and try to accommodate them. For instance, servant leaders understand people struggle and come with lots of traumas in the post-pandemic world.

Servant leaders:

• Are considerate. Servant leaders engage with and follow up with their team members to understand their physical and mental state. They accommodate personal concerns to the extent possible.
• Treat people gently. Team members get time to recover if they go through trauma or mental issues. For instance, servant team members who worked more to overcome pressures get ample time to recharge and recover. Employees get sufficient time to go through the learning curve when confronted with changes. .
• Are accommodating. For instance, some leaders are eager to return employees to the office to enable direct supervision and control. Servant leaders partner with the team members and create schedules that suit everyone.
• Listen to the followers. Servant leaders listen to their followers and understand how the pandemic or any other issue affects them. They also discuss potential solutions. Even without solutions, the mere act of a leader listening to the problems builds trust and commitment. It strengthens relationships and creates a positive mood.
• Give people the benefit of the doubt and assume team members have good intentions.

3. Influential servant leaders are excellent communicators.

The success of servant leadership depends on effective communication. Influential servant leaders communicate regularly with team members. They help them make sense of confusing situations. For instance, they offer assurance of safety and certainty in the uncertain post-pandemic world. They may articulate credible plans or reinforce role expectations. When leaders communicate, mutual support develops, and work output improves.

Servant leaders:

• Always have a plan. Servant leaders remain prepared for potential challenges. They prepare contingency plans, factoring in responses to potential obstacles. For instance, they have alternative plans ready if a new lockdown occurs. Clear-cut plans for what to do in different scenarios ease anxiety, stress and panic. It helps the workforce act calmly and in a measured way, even during turbulent times.
• Share ideas and communicate news, keeping everyone in the loop to strengthen team spirit.
• Build resilience by sharing positive stories about the enterprise and employees.

The servant leader becomes a source of stability and the “go-to” person to serve during uncertain times.

4. Servant leadership success depends on employee commitment.

Servant leaders grow the company through the commitment and engagement of the workforce. For commitment and dedication, the following prerequisites are a must:

• A workforce with a high level of self-actualization goals. Employees who need constant supervision or seek confirmation will find servant leadership unsettling.
• The workforce committed to the enterprise’s goals. Often servant leadership promotes commitment. But a proper value alignment is essential for commitment to grow in the first place.
• Authenticity and honesty, which leads to transparency and open sharing of information.
• An organisational culture that supports flexibility. Servant leadership becomes irrelevant when a strict rigmarole binds the rank-and-file employees.

Servant leadership is not without critics. Critics regard concerns for employee well-being often come at the cost of competitiveness. Servant leaders could lose sight of the organisation’s end objective and may lose focus. They may become relatively blunt to compete in a hyper-competitive world. But servant leadership approach does not dilute the target or miss deadlines. Instead, it is to take a minute, reframe, and re-engage.

Servant leaders make work a positive experience and create opportunities for team members to thrive at work. Such empowered employees become valuable competitive assets of the enterprise.

Here are seven additional tips for effective IT leadership in today’s challenging times.