My leadership model has served a significant role in helping me identify and continuously assess my leadership style and ability. The assessments assist me in discovering and deploying my strengths while working on my weaknesses to refine my leadership qualities. As a result, my leadership model helps me understand myself and the entire society. Moreover, leadership models are essential for organizations to identify the various leadership qualities of their employees to be able to group them into a team that would produce effective results. Identifying one’s leadership values in a team offers insight into the right decisions to make when working on meaningful choices for the organization within work ethics. This paper seeks to provide leadership values representing the four levels of individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal leadership. Further, the report will expand on the deals by explaining the leadership behaviours and their influences on various levels.
Values and Leadership Behaviors and Actions
The following values represent each of the four levels: the individual level is characterized by autonomy; the interpersonal level is governed by respect; at the organizational level, there is integrity; and at the societal level, there is social responsibility. These values result in specific leadership behaviours and actions when fully applied in one’s life. Leaders who value autonomy encourage self-decision-making among their team members and offer opportunities for self-direction at work (Htet, n.d.). The only support such leaders would be willing to provide to the embers is personal growth and development, even as they enhance innovation and creativity. Under autonomous leaders, there would be a culture of respect and trust where all members would have the jurisdiction to explore their ideas and take risks personally. Also, such a leader would recognize and reward the different contributions and experiences of the team members to encourage them to be more productive and exploit their talents.
Valuing respect is essential, as it creates a culture that supports active listening, freedom of expression, and mutual understanding. Such a leader would treat everyone with fairness and dignity, regardless of their position, race, or any other discriminatory factor. These leaders would solicit ideas and opinions from all members while encouraging constructive feedback. Moreover, they would also recognize and reward the team members’ various talents, strengths, and expertise and implement an environment that allows all the members to be included and valued.
A leader who values integrity is truthful, open, and ethical. Such leaders lead by example and take responsibility for every positive or negative result. These leaders always held themselves and others accountable based on the same standards. The decision made by these leaders is founded on specific principles and values, and the available resources will be used responsibly. Further, such leaders cultivate cultures of trust, allowing the members to feel secure based on the integrity of their leaders.
Social responsibility allows leaders to encourage commitment to environmental and social stewardship. As a result, value underpins ethical business practices and contributions to doing good for society rather than just oneself. As a result, the leader will always look for ways to make a positive difference, such as through volunteering, donations, or environmental initiatives. Also, they would ensure that the company based its operations on social and ethical responsibility by implementing the appropriate practices and adhering to the relevant regulations.
Meaning and Purpose
In its simplest form, autonomy represents the ability of an individual to act on their interests and values for self-determination and to achieve a sense of growth and fulfillment. The value recognizes individuals’ uniqueness in pursuing their dreams and goals. In this case, individuals are more likely to achieve their goals if they are free to act uniquely. Individuals are more likely to come up with ideas and solutions to various problems confronting the organization if they work according to their interests and are allowed to pursue their interests. As a result, autonomy may serve the purpose of increasing productivity within the team.
Respect seeks to recognize the internal dignity and anxiety of every human being, regardless of age, position, or any other factor. The primary purpose of respect is to enhance the culture of diversity and inclusivity. It is a value that recognizes each individual’s importance and contributions. Therefore, respect encourages team members to work together while honouring their differences (Tiwari et al., 2022). Due to constructive feedback and open communication built out of respect, team members work freely and can share their ideas and opinions.
Integrity implies the ability to adhere to moral values and ethical principles, as well as honesty and good character. Integrity allows the leaders to do the right thing without being watched or supervised, which enhances trust between the leaders and the members. Additionally, integrity will enable leaders to make sound decisions and be responsible for their outcomes. When a dilemma or situation requires a decision with profound implications, integrity allows leaders to stay true to their word and ethical principles.
Social responsibility is an ethical value whereby individuals must be accountable for and take responsibility for performing their civic duty. Also, social responsibility allows leaders to focus on actions that benefit society and not just their own interests. Any activities that negatively impact the environment or society are regarded as socially irresponsible. The purpose of social responsibility is, therefore, to ensure that managers make decisions that maximize profit while keeping in mind the interests of society.
Influences of personal values and a unique model of servant leadership on individual or group behaviour
As a servant leader, my leadership model and personal values are founded on humility, selflessness, commitment, empathy, and a serving mentality. These values and leadership qualities have significantly impacted individual and group behaviour for many years. For starters, empathy and understanding have helped me develop the habit of active listening to individuals and groups as I seek to understand their reasoning and give feedback that meets their needs. As such, I have enhanced respect, trust, and open communication channels, significant to building a collaborative and favourable environment.
Humility and selflessness have assisted me in putting others ahead of myself. Only by keeping others first in my mind can I create a culture of support and teamwork to ensure that individuals and teams work together towards achieving a common goal. Therefore, there has been increased motivation, job satisfaction, and engagement since the members feel honored, valued, supported, and heard. My habit of serving others has greatly encouraged team members to take the same approach when working with others. As such, everyone would view their contributions as an important channel to serve. Therefore, all my team members would always have a sense of fulfillment and purpose when they looked back to see just how much they had contributed to society.
Personal Values and a Personal Servant Leadership Model’s Influence on Organizations and Society
Apart from influencing individuals and groups, servant leadership has great impacts on organizations and society as well. For instance, putting the needs of others before my own has enhanced innovation, collaboration, and teamwork in the organization. As a result, the organization has experienced increased levels of effectiveness and productivity, retention, and job satisfaction since the team members are supported and honored. Also, understanding and empathy can enable me to build a culture of inclusivity and diversity to ensure that the members are valued and respected for their contributions (Naseer et al., 2020). As such, this could encourage the members to come up with solutions to problems, which results in better decision-making in the organization.
Service to others enhances a sense of purpose and meaning among the team members when they are able to celebrate their contributions to the organization. This may in turn motivate them to extend their services to the society with greater commitment and engagement just to have the feeling that they are doing something. Moreover, extending servant leadership to society can underpin the creation of a world full of equity, justice, and compassion towards others in the community, thereby uplifting and supporting each other. This is an approach that can lead to a thriving and sustainable society that gives each person the opportunity to explore their potential.
Servant Leadership Principles in accordance with the Christian Worldview
According to the Christian worldview, servant leadership principles relate to essential management in various ways. Servant leadership focuses on the needs of others, which adheres to Christian values that mandate loving one another. This is an essential approach that creates a positive working environment and a working mentality. Servant leadership encourages service and humility, which are in accordance with the Christian values of service to others and humility (Krumrei et al., 202). These two qualities serve relevant roles in enhancing collaboration and inclusivity at the workplace.
Humility is the one quality that no human being has immunity against, so applying it at the workplace may attract and help in retaining talent. It is also essential to embrace the value of empathy and understanding. In this case, the leader treats everyone as he would like to be treated, leading to a respectful and supportive workplace where individuals support each other. It is also essential to develop relationships, which is in accordance with Christian values of fellowship and community. This enhances cohesiveness and connectedness, which result in a sense of purpose and belonging. Therefore, servant leadership aligns with Christian values and can build a workplace culture that is consistent with these values. Furthermore, as previously discussed, servant leadership has the potential to transform groups, individuals, and organizational behavior by fostering a culture of empathy, service, and selflessness.
How My Personal Model of Leadership Meets the Needs of Followers and Promotes Follower Growth?
My leadership model has enabled me to meet the needs of my followers and improve their growth in a variety of ways. For starters, I have been able to create opportunities for my followers to win and increase their abilities. Mastering challenges and turning them into victories motivates members to grow. However, none of these can be achieved without believing in the members. Allowing them to explore their talents and meet their needs would be incomplete without sincerity and conviction about believing in them. Believing in them may also enhance their growth as it helps them achieve the impossible. Prioritizing my followers over myself has been critical in demonstrating who I am. This has been a challenge for the team members, and they have used it for their own growth and development, keeping in mind that it is the only representation of the highest calling of leadership. My servant leadership has also enabled me to think big about my followers, even bigger than they think of themselves. This is the most noble occupation for me, as it helps my followers succeed. Thinking big for others enables me to make my followers better while supporting them to go higher than they could ever imagine. Thinking big about others has also enabled me to invest in their success and lift them towards their potential. I’ve also learned to be kind and attentive to my followers, remembering that no matter who they are, the most important thing is what they will become as a result of my influence.
Conclusion
My personal model of leadership has served a significant role in helping me to identify and continuously assess my leadership style and ability. The assessments assist me in discovering and deploying my own strengths while working on my weaknesses in order to refine my leadership qualities. As a result, I would say that my leadership model assists me in understanding not only myself, but also the entire society. The values that represent each of the four levels are as follows: autonomy represents the individual level, respect governs the interpersonal level, integrity governs the organizational level, and social responsibility governs the societal level. Being a servant leader, my model of leadership and personal values are founded on humility, selflessness, commitment, empathy, and a serving mentality. These values and leadership qualities have significantly impacted individual and group behavior for many years. To begin, empathy and understanding have assisted me in developing the habit of active listening to individuals and groups as I seek to understand their reasoning and provide feedback that meets their needs.
References
Htet, S. S. The Effect of Leadership and Organizational Culture on Employee Performance of Century Beverage Company Limited (Doctoral dissertation, MERAL Portal).
Krumrei-Mancuso, E. J., & Rowatt, W. C. (2023). Humility in novice leaders: links to servant leadership and followers’ satisfaction with leadership. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 18(1), 154-166. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2021.1952647
Naseer, S., Syed, F., Nauman, S., Fatima, T., Jameel, I., & Riaz, N. (2020). Understanding how leaders’ humility promotes followers’ emotions and ethical behaviors: Workplace spirituality as a mediator. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(3), 407-419. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17439760.2019.1615103
Tiwari, A., Sharma, T., & Sharma, R. R. (2022). Exploring workplace dignity from managerial lens. Management Research Review, 45(4), 545-562. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/MRR-08-2020-0544/full/html