On SERVANT leadership
A common misconception about servant leadership is that it means giving the team complete agency. I assure you—it doesn’t. Being a servant leader means providing the why, clearly defining what needs to be accomplished, setting guidelines, removing obstacles, and offering support through mentoring and coaching so the team can succeed.
We hire, coach, and mentor our people to ensure they have everything they need to be successful. So why question their ability to do the job we hired them for?
I always ask two important questions: “What do you think?” and “How can I help?”
Telling the team how to do the work crosses into micromanagement—and that can erode confidence and psychological safety.
In a self-organizing team, how the work gets done is up to the team. They decide how to break it down, who takes on what, and which tools, methodologies, or frameworks to use. As leaders, our role is to manage the system, not the people—creating the right environment for the team to thrive rather than controlling their every move.
While the team focuses on the tasks at hand, the leader should focus on the big picture—roadmaps, integration points, tracking progress, facilitating meetings when needed, and handling escalations. It’s also the leader’s role to represent the team in higher-level meetings and to understand and support their decisions.
Servant leadership is also about engaging people and their interactions. It’s about fostering collaboration, encouraging open dialogue, and co-creating the work with the team—not just handing it down. When people feel ownership and connection to the work, they’re more invested in the outcome.
A good leader challenges both the team and each individual to inspect and improve. This happens through retrospectives or one-on-ones. Everyone should feel empowered to share observations, ask questions, and propose action items or experiments. And as we do this, we’re not just improving individuals—we’re improving the system itself, making it more effective and resilient over time.
Ultimately, our goal is to help delight our clients. That means staying focused on delivering value, continuously learning, and adapting to meet evolving needs. It’s not about control—it’s about trust, support, and shared purpose.
Servant leadership isn’t about stepping back—it’s about stepping up in the right ways.