Question

Select and research a contemporary political, social, religious, or business, leader to learn about how the leader employs Greenleaf’s principles of servant leadership to motivate, influence, and lead others. You may use the “Individual and Corporate Servant Leaders” handout in the Topic Materials if you need assistance locating potential leaders. Write an 850 word paper that addresses the following. Summary of the principles of servant leadership employed by the leader. Specific examples to illustrate the leader’s application of servant leadership principles. Information about the unique way the leader inspires followership. Discussion of what would you seek to emulate or see more of in your own organization from both the people who lead you and the leadership you provide to others? Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a rubric (see attached). Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful.

Answer

Servant Leadership: Melissa Reif of ‘The Container Store’

Contents

Introduction. 2

Background of Melissa Reif’s Servant Leadership. 3

Communication in Leadership Strategies. 3

Conclusion. 5

References. 5

Introduction

Robert Greanleaf’s essay on Servant Leadership stems from his own experience in the corporate world and his dissatisfaction with a centralized system of leadership. Greanleaf was highly suspicious of the traditional centralized process that sought to concentrate power among managers and amass even more power and material possessions for these individuals through methods of subordinate exploitation and negligence (Adair, 2002). He developed servant leadership principles with a focus on individual recognition of employees within an organization and the role of leaders in ensuring that each employee’s priorities are attained and given the time or resource required. The immediate consequence would be the growth of the individual, their job satisfaction and their increased productivity within their organization (Adair, 2002).

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Over the years, servant leadership has been distinguished as a set of principles that empowers the employees through decentralized management structures that provide avenues for expression and contribution of ideas. This leadership approach also emphasizes the concepts of developing strong corporate cultures and establishing trust and cooperation within teams and departments (Storey, 2011). Melissa Reif is a modern demonstration of servant leadership within business. She exhibits a remarkable ability to practice servant leadership styles but still sustain the financial and profitability requirements of the business. The Container Store is identifiable through concepts of communication in leadership on a daily basis. Reif describes her procedures as daily and continuous execution of effective courteous, consistent and compassionate communication. She has attained great milestones in a short period by establishing a corporate culture that highly values communication and participatory leadership.

Background of Melissa Reif’s Servant Leadership

Melissa Reif took over as the CEO of Container Store from Kip Tindell and she has effectively maintained the company’s principles of servant leadership and conscious capitalism. The company holds core foundation principles that serve as a guide towards creating and sustaining the company certain y’s environment as a conducive and supportive place for all its stakeholders (Storey, 2011). In different capacities, the customers, employees and managerial stakeholders are progressively engaged in procedures that modify any communication or operational limitations. Even though Reif found an already established culture of servant leadership, she has widely actualized it and further decentralized it with a unique sense of practicality. Reif’s commitment towards her communication is leadership plan has provided a productive learning curve for the employees.

Communication in Leadership Strategies

The goal of servant leadership according to Robert Greanleaf’s principle is to provide knowledge so that every employee knows everything. In reality, the practicality of every employee having full knowledge on everything is not possible; however, it provides a positive setting that eliminates limits of skills and learning and excites employees into development. Notably, the concept of learning everything has promoted cultures of individual and team initiative when it comes to skill development and interaction that supports exchange of functional ideas (Payne, 2005). The goal is to provide an openness that inspires participation and confidence of every individual.

Reif has successfully been able to motivate a good and stable following within the company though the efficiency of her communication strategies. In truth, Reif acknowledges that one of the strongest methods of promoting team dynamics is to ensure that all individuals have been properly communicated to on all important levels. This includes non-negotiable top-down directives which require detailed communication for accurate execution. In addition, company operations that do not involve employee negotiation must be fully laid out to the employees so as to create a level of commitment to the goal. Indeed, servant leadership managers understand that open sharing of information always holds the risks of leakage to competitors but insists that the benefits outweigh the risks (Storey, 2011).

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Reif’s approach to servant leadership provides a practical reference for emulation. However, a significant challenge arises in companies that have no prior exposure to servant leadership. In reality, few companies hold a multidimensional servant leadership principle or identity. Incorporating this system thus requires a complete overhaul of the company culture. Even so, companies can continuously roll out a servant leadership initiative that is implemented in phases. During this gradual implementation, it is crucial to adapt the structure to the internal and external factors surrounding the company. Communication in leadership is a practical aspect of Reif’s system that can be integrated into daily leadership.  Communication training programs are exemplary methods of introducing more awareness on the importance of effective communication. Cultural sensitivity and diversity psychology are emerging aspects of communication in the workplace that musts be highly regarded. Essentially, servant leadership recommendations also include mutual respect and understanding as individual responsibilities and skills that have to be consciously cultivated (Statt, 2000).

Contrary to popular belief that engaging the employees slows down decision making and profitization, modern research identifies strong correlations between profitability, employee satisfaction and customer attitudes.  Psychological theory reveals that customers are able to detect the general work environments and the mood of the employees in manner that directly translates to their purchasing patterns (Statt, 2000). In consequence, organizations must continue to listen to employees and understand their qualitative and quantitative impact on brand development and profitization.

Conclusion

The concept of servant leadership remains impractical and unappealing to many organizations most of which prioritize micromanagement and profitization (Adair, 2002). Admittedly, servant leadership and its dominant systems of decentralized management are not beneficial to specific companies and industries. However, as social science principles such as those advocated for by Robert Greanleaf continue to penetrate contemporary business world, corporate leaders must develop openness to servant leading and move towards establishing a balance between decentralized and centralized management, just like Melissa Reif has done during her tenure as CEO of The Container Store.

References

Adair, J. (2002). Inspiring Leadership: Learning from Great Leaders. London: Thorogood.

Payne, V. (2005). First Level Leadership: Supervising in the New Organization. New York: American Management Association.

Statt, D. (2000). Using Psychology in Management Training: The Psychology Foundations of Management Skills. London: Routledge.

Storey, J. (2011). Leadership in Organizations: Current Issues and Key Trends. New York: Routledge.