The Concept of Servant Leadership in Different Religions

Servant leadership is a leadership technique that focuses on serving others and making sure that everyone has a voice in decision making, whether that be employees, customers, or the community as a whole. A servant leader’s primary concern is their followers, putting everything else aside. Also, according to Patterson’s definition of servant leadership, a servant leader should lead with altruism, empowerment, humility, love, service, trust and vision (Patterson, 2003). Altruism means when a leader sacrifices something to help another person and having no personal gain come out of the situation.

Empowerment is when a leader motivates their followers to lead and work together. Humility is when a leader puts their opinion if themselves below everyone else and puts their own talents and skills into perspective. Love is when a leader can value, care, and appreciate the others around them, as well as inspire hope.

Service is when a leader helps others to develop their skills, abilities and any other area that needs work.

Trust is when followers believe in their leader and are confident that they have their best interests at heart. Lastly, vision is when a leader can see the potential in a person and help that person to better their future (Leadership Crossroads). While many people associate these characteristics of servant leadership with Christianity and the Bible, it is also compatible with other cultures and religions, like the Indian culture and Hindu religion. The principles and values of both the Indian culture and Hindu religion are similar to those of servant leadership by the way they act and the way they treat others.

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While both are not exactly like the typical idea of servant leadership, many qualities of the Indian culture and the Hindu religion are similar to this leadership style. Indian culture over the years has become one of the fastest growing economies. While India has grown both politically and socially, their ability to effectively lead is one of the main reasons that this country has improved so much.

Many of the Indian companies have a business strategy that focuses on the needs of their employees first and then their customers second. They focus on the internal parts of the company and truly invest in their employees. They want their employees to engage and be open to sharing their ideas in the company. This idea goes along with servant leadership because the organization is focusing on the best interest of their employees, which in turn is helping the organization run more efficiently. Placing the focus on your employees helps with communication and helps to increase the trust and loyalty your followers have for you and your company. When this happens, it leads to better collaboration and increased productivity in the workplace, which then leads to high morale and less employee turnover (Carroll & Patterson, 2014). India has this kind of leadership style due to past leaders of their country, like Mahatma Gandhi. This man was a role model for truth and did not want any violence. He fought for freedom and led India as a servant leader.

Gandhi was known for being humble and leading with integrity. He was vulnerable with his people, and he believed in equality for his people. He had all the qualities and values of a servant leader, which is why the Indian culture has such a good idea of what servant leadership is (Barnabus & Clifford, 2012). There are a lot of similarities of Indian culture to traditional servant leadership, but there is one difference that is seen throughout this culture. While it is essential to focus on your employees and motivate them in the workplace, it is important not to keep your customers last. When Indian leaders prioritize their responsibilities, they keep their business strategy and their employees on top and keep their shareholders last. It is similar to servant leadership for the idea of put your employees needs ahead of your own, but also the customers’ needs as well. With servant leadership, you put everyone above yourself, not just certain parts of the company. This is one area that is unlike traditional servant leadership models (Cappelli, Singh, & Useem, 20016).

Next is the Hindu religion, which is similar to the Indian culture since Hindu is one of the main religions in this country. One of the biggest things about the Hindu religion that is similar to servant leadership is their belief about Dharma. Dharma is the Hindus idea of one’s purpose or destiny in life. They believe that when they are born, they have five different kinds of debts, whether that be to their gods or various other people. The debts must be paid off during their lifetime in order to lead a better life in their next life. To pay off their debts to their gods, they perform rituals and give offerings. They support and continue passing knowledge unto others for their debt to their parents and teachers. They pay their debts to guests by fulfilling any desire they need to make their stay better. Their debt to human beings is to treat them with the respect they deserve. Lastly, their debt to any other living thing is to offer goodwill and anything that they can provide. The idea of Dharma is similar to what servant leadership teaches about having respect for others and offering good will. Servant leadership teaches people that we need to help others in need and look to serve others before ourselves (Meaning of life, 2016).

One area where Hinduism might be different from the typical idea of servant leadership has to do with how Hindus emphasize karma. Hindus believe that your current reality is based on what happened to you in past lives. Because of this, Hindus divide their people into different caste systems starting with the Brahmans and ending with the untouchables. This system separates people anywhere from the high and respected level to the low and least respected level. This caste system forces people to behave and keep their caste image. This also forces people to have to work the jobs and collect the resources that their caste is allowed to have. This idea of karma conflicts with the foundation of servant leadership. Servant leadership would only work within one caste since Hindus are not supposed to treat people based on what caste they belong to. Someone from the Brahman caste would not be able to show servant leadership to someone who is considered an untouchable since they are not very well respected. This is one difference that the Hindu religion has when it comes to the philosophies and values of servant leadership. (Wallace, 2007).

Although many people might think that servant leadership is only associated with Christianity and other denominations, servant leadership approaches can be seen in many different areas around the globe, especially the Indian culture and the Hindu religion. When you look at the center of servant leadership, it is all about putting other people first. This idea should not just be a leadership approach, but a way of life. While it is important to lead, and be able to dictate people to do specific duties, it is important to serve those people as well and guide them into becoming better versions of themselves. We should always be thinking of ways to help others grow and succeed in life. It should not be seen as a particular cultural or religious value, but a worldly value. This thought process would help people work better together towards a common goal. People would not be so power hungry all the time if people in leadership positions used servant leadership. If these people were able to lead the right way and use servant leadership’s values and philosophies, then people would be more focused on working together, instead of working against each other.

References:

1. Barnabus, A., & Clifford, P. (2012, January). Mahatma Gandhi – An Indian model of servant leadership . Retrieved February 16, 2018, from
   https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Annette_Barnabas/publication/234090908_MAHATMA_GANDHI__AN_INDIAN_MODEL_OF_SERVANT_LEADERSHIP/links/02e7e51ca648ed42dd000000/MAHATMA-GANDHI-AN-INDIAN-MODEL-OF-SERVANT-LEADERSHIP.pdf
2. Bryant, S R. (n.d.). Leadership Crossroads: The Values of Servant-Leaders. Retrieved February 16, 2018, from http://succeedtolead.com/pdfs/articles/leadership/Leadership Crossroads_Bryant_Oct08.pdf
3. Cappelli, P., Singh, H., Singh, J., & Useem, M. (2016, July 08). Leadership Lessons from India. Retrieved February 18, 2018, from https://hbr.org/2010/03/leadership-lessons-from india
4. Carroll, B., & Patterson, K. (2014, August). Servant Leadership: A Cross Cultural Study Between India & the United States. Retrieved February 16, 2018, from http://www.sltpjournal.org/uploads/2/6/3/9/26394582/carroll_b._c._patterson_k.__servant_leadership_-_a_cross_cultural_study_-_sltp_v1_i1_2014.pdf Meaning of life (Hinduism). (2016, November 19). Retrieved February 18, 2018, from http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/meaning-life
5. Patterson, K.A. (2003). “Servant Leadership: A Theoretical Model.” Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Regent University.Wallace, J. (2007).
6. Servant Leadership: A Worldview Perspective. Retrieved February 16, 2018, fromhttps://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7a36/8e6c254773af89dfb760af577a80fe737984.pdf