This paper examines Robert Greenleaf's servant leadership philosophy and its application to the community college setting. Beginning with the foundational principle that leaders exist to serve others rather than themselves, the paper explores how this perspective aligns naturally with the mission of educational institutions, where student success is the primary measure of organizational effectiveness. The discussion extends to the role of human resources in embedding servant leadership principles throughout an institution — from job design and performance evaluation to hiring practices. The paper argues that when servant leadership is implemented at every organizational level, both students and the broader community benefit from the resulting culture of empowerment and growth.
Robert Greenleaf developed the concept of servant leadership around the idea that leaders contribute most to their organizations when they help the people under their charge to be at their best. According to his organization's website, servant leadership is "servant first … the natural feeling that one wants to serve" (Greenleaf.org, 2015). This juxtaposes the more traditional view of leadership that puts the leader first. In that more traditional view, there are a number of different leadership styles a leader can have, and most scholarly focus is on either leadership styles or traits — to determine what types of leadership are most effective, and what defines leadership practice (Manktelow, 2015). What differentiates servant leadership is that the perspective shifts from being about the leader to being about anything but the leader. The leader has a role, but that role is to facilitate the excellence of others, so whatever style or traits the leader possesses are not necessarily all that relevant.
Under the servant leadership perspective, organizational performance is more important than individual performance. Servant leadership therefore begins from the premise that caring for people is a critical element of leadership. Whereas traditional leadership is mediated through channels that are "complex, powerful and impersonal," servant leadership is more human in nature — mediated through direct personal interactions and the genuine desire to help others be their best. In this sense, servant leadership is rooted in an entirely different conceptualization of what leadership should be. From a philosophical perspective, it is completely different from the traditional view of the leader's role within an organization (Greenleaf.org, 2015).
Servant leadership is a natural fit for the education setting. Crippen (2004) notes that one of the critical stakeholders in education is the student; the servant leadership philosophy holds that those working within educational institutions are essentially servants to the students, facilitating their learning above all else, and only then performing more traditional leadership functions — after the servant element has been fulfilled. Those working within the educational system should be empowered by the leadership function to provide the best educational outcomes possible. The leaders in the education system should be oriented towards the needs of students and toward what they can do to fulfill those needs. That can include, for example, ensuring that the people who work under a given leader are provided with the resources, training, guidance, and support needed to do their jobs more effectively. The servant leadership model — in the sense that students are the most important stakeholders — is well-aligned with the objectives of educational institutions.
Consider what Robert Greenleaf wrote when defining the philosophy of servant leadership: "Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?" (Spears, 2002). This captures precisely what one would want to accomplish for students: to facilitate their growth and their increasing autonomy, and for them to exit their educational experience ready to build up the next generation and become great servants themselves. This shows that servant leadership aligns closely with educational mission at the philosophical level. If leaders in education are oriented toward student excellence, they will do what is necessary to ensure that students grow, become healthier, and become wiser while in their institution. This is the key measure of success for servant leadership.
Overall, the community college environment is unique because it seeks to facilitate not only the needs of students but of the community as well. This makes servant leadership all the more important. When students exit the college, they become members of the community. Greenleaf's vision of building people so that they are ready to be servants themselves is directly relevant here: when students enter the community, they need to be in a position to make a positive contribution as a whole. The community therefore benefits from educational institutions that embrace a servant leadership perspective, because those students go on to facilitate the excellence of others around them. Stronger people emerging from schools can pass along that strength and will contribute more broadly — ultimately, everybody in the community gains when leaders in education pursue a path of empowering students and helping them to grow.
"All staff share servant leadership roles"
"HR embeds servant leadership through hiring and evaluation"
Greenleaf's servant leadership is about serving others, not about the leader. The leader is essentially a facilitator — someone oriented toward others who does whatever is necessary to bring about positive outcomes in them. The philosophy of servant leadership is a natural fit for education, because educators are inherently serving the interests of their students. At the community college, the community is also a stakeholder, and the community benefits from leaders who are focused on making students better. Drawing directly from the words of Robert Greenleaf, one can easily see this high level of alignment between servant leadership and education.
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