Leadership Story Part 2

Grace Connelly, a freshman at the University of Illinois, studied leadership theories in her course. One theory she learned about is servant leadership, which focuses on serving others and building a caring society. Grace shared her experience with a leader who embodied this theory, the manager at a tanning salon she worked at. The manager, Kaylee, prioritized connecting with employees and customers, creating a calm environment. She also committed to the growth of her employees by providing training and support. Grace advises aspiring servant leaders to learn about the characteristics of servant leadership and implement them gradually in their lives. My guest today on the Leadership Stories podcast is Grace Connelly, who is a freshman studying Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Illinois. I understand you are taking a course on the foundations of leadership. What have you learned in this leadership class? Throughout this class, I've learned what leadership is and looks like through several different theories and different views, and how we can use these theories in the real world to grow as leaders and to help our followers grow too. It sounds like you have learned a lot of different leadership theories and perspectives in this class. I'm curious to hear about just one of the theories you have learned. One leadership theory that I have learned about is the servant leadership theory. Robert Greenleaf created the concept of the servant as a leader to encourage both thought and action to build a better, more caring society. His approach focuses on leadership that prioritizes serving others, like employees and customers, because he believes that true leadership emerges from the primary motivation to help others. Servant leadership is not an easy approach. It is long-term and transformational and has the potential to create change throughout society over time. Learning about theories is a great foundation, but it is also important to know how to apply these theories in practice. Tell us about an experience you have had with a leader and the extent to which you feel they demonstrated this leadership theory. The leader that I have chosen to talk about today is the manager at the tanning salon that I worked at last summer. Kaylee embodies the servant leadership theory as she creates a calm environment at the tanning salon that both the customers and employees can thrive at. Kaylee is a strong example of someone who follows the ten characteristics of being a servant leader. First, she makes it a priority to connect with her employees and the customers and build community with us. Kaylee takes the time to listen to her customers, know their names, and connect with them on a more personal level. For her employees, she creates a personal relationship with us so we feel comfortable bringing our concerns with either work or personal life to her and does her best to make us feel valued and respected so that we come into work excited and with positive energy. Next, she is always committed to the growth of her employees. I witnessed this over the summer when she was training me. She took the time each day I worked to grill the names of lotions, prices of membership, and anything else that I needed to thrive at my job. She would also hold friendly competitions between the employees to celebrate our accomplishments in selling something important. Kaylee took the time to make sure that I was growing professionally in an environment as I had never worked a sales job before and I was very nervous at first to sell things to customers. But by her commitment to see me and the other employees succeeding, I was able to grow and thrive in a new environment. What advice do you have for how a person can grow as a servant leader? The advice that I have for a person to grow as a servant leader is to learn about the 10 different characteristics of servant leadership and different approaches and pick one or two to implement into your life daily and go from there. For example, a great place to begin could be with the two characteristics of awareness and listening. By learning to be self-aware, you can learn about your strengths and weaknesses and your values and learn about yourself to strengthen yourself as a servant leader. By listening to your followers, you show that you are a present leader and you have a desire to take into account the needs and interests of others. It is important to be a servant leader to your followers as it allows your followers to be more comfortable in different environments and it creates different relationships with them. By learning about the different characteristics of servant leaders and implementing them into your life slowly, you can begin to build a foundation of servant leadership and become a servant leader yourself. Thank you, Grace, for stopping by today for this episode of the Leadership Stories Podcast.