Becoming A Servant Leader

SUMMARY

Do you tend to focus on what you want rather than the needs of others? Or are you continually looking for ways to increase your client satisfaction? 

Today, I want to continue our conversation in the third quadrant of Emotional Intelligence, Social Awareness by helping you Become A Servant Leader. 

I don't know about you, but I definitely can remember the times where I received poor service from someone; where it felt like when I was on the phone with them, that I was interrupting them or they weren't actually listening to what it is that I was looking for. 

I can also remember many times where I've received exceptional service - where I could tell that people were putting me first. Then in doing that, knowing that they were going to get what they needed as well.

And that's the key to this crucial competency of Service Orientation. 

Here are the Key Principles to Becoming A Servant Leader:
 
Number one is to Be Available.

Number two is to Be Helpful.

Number three is Go the Extra Mile. 

Number four is to Make People Feel Valuable, Respected, and Listened To.

Number Five is Be Friendly.

Number six is Have A Yes Attitude.

Number seven is to Make Promises and Keep Them. 

Well, that's it from me for another week. 

Join me again next week as we land this plane in 2021, and we start getting ourselves ready for an amazing 2022. 

I'll see you then. 

TRANSCRIPT

Do you tend to focus on what you want rather than the needs of others? Or are you continually looking for ways to increase your client satisfaction? 

Well, stick with me in this episode because I will help you unpack the crucial competency of Service Orientation. 

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, Emotional Intelligence Speaker and Trainer of the Year, and Master Coach Trainer. Today, I want to continue our conversation in the third quadrant of Emotional Intelligence, Social Awareness by helping you Become A Servant Leader. 

I don't know about you, but I definitely can remember the times where I received poor service from someone; where it felt like when I was on the phone with them, that I was interrupting them or they weren't actually listening to what it is that I was looking for. 

Over the weekend, I rang a supplier of mine to talk about some changes that I wanted to make to my account. Unfortunately, they had a script in front of them, and they didn't listen to what I was saying.

The solution that they came up with was so far away from what I'd asked for. 

It wasn't funny.

Now, at the end of the day, I got through to someone who could help me and got the result that I wanted. 

However, I still felt like I hadn't been treated with the value that I was spending deserved.

I can also remember many times where I've received exceptional service - where I could tell that people were putting me first. Then in doing that, knowing that they were going to get what they needed as well.

And that's the key to this crucial competency of Service Orientation. 

Now, before you can move into this competency, you need to step back and look at the things we've looked at over the last few weeks and particularly around the area of Empathy.

To serve the needs of others, you firstly need to seek to understand. 

You need to look at it from their perspective, not just yours. 

So, Empathy is essential. If you haven't had the opportunity to go through that particular episode, then go back a couple of weeks, and you can go through it before you come back.  

Last week, I talked to you about Situational Awareness. 

Situational Awareness is also essential for you to read the room and understand what's going on in the other person to tailor the way you resolve their situation - not just stick to a script.

When you develop this competency, rather than just offering off-the-shelf solutions to your client's needs, you can go the extra mile. You can make sure that what you're offering them is ticking the boxes, and they go away from that experience with you going, "wow, I feel valued, and I enjoy working with this person."

Now, I'm talking to you about this in the context of customer or client service. 

However, what I want to get across to you is:

 This is the way we can work with everybody. 

It's easy for you to understand this, looking at it in this context. 

However, when you become a servant leader, you look at life and your interactions with people in a way that says, "I'm going to give you the best of me so that in return, I'm going to have the communication that we need to have a mutually beneficial relationship." Even though I am talking about transactions with clients, I want you to expand your thinking to every area of your life where you get to work with people.

People remember their interactions with you. If it's one that was pleasurable, then they favorably remembered you.

What I want to do is give you some key principles of Service Orientation so that you can then go out and practice these, particularly as you're going into this busy part of the year, where everybody's going on holiday. There's a little more tension in the world right now. 

Before you do that, I want you to understand what servant leadership is NOT.

Sometimes, when people hear the word servant, they think it's subservient, where they're below the other person.

And it's definitely not that. 

They also view it in a way that says, "if I treat you like you're more important than me, then you're going to get one over me."

To benefit from this training and competency, you need to unlearn some things from your past and your beliefs around the word "servant".
Language is so important. 

It's like the word "sales." 

Some people don't like to say that they sell things.

However, I look at it a different way. 

For me, selling is serving. 


Because if I've got something that you need, and I don't sell it to you, I'm cheating you out of the result that whatever it is that I'm selling could give you. 

So, you need to look at the language you use around these things. You also need to make sure that you start with a platform that will allow you to go out and become more of a servant and, therefore, have more significant relationships and make sure that our transactions are more mutually beneficial. 

So let's have a look at these key principles. 

Number one is to Be Available.

Whether it is a client in your business or a member of your family, being available to interact with you, so that they can seek what it is that they need from you is the first principle of being a servant leader. 

Now, we're not talking about being open 24/7 and just letting people contact you whenever they want to. We're talking about within the boundaries that we said back in Personal Power, that we are fully available, and we're not just available and checking our phone simultaneously on TikTok.

So, when people want to come and work with you, whether they're going to buy something from you, be available.

I don't know about you, but I've gone into some shops sometimes, and people have gone, "can I help you?"

And it's as if I've interrupted them from what they are doing ( they were on social media or they were doing something.) And I was a pain that they had to endure for a few minutes. 

When you are available, when people feel your presence - that you are open to them, then that tells them straight away that you value them, and the whole transaction starts on the right foot. 

So, the first key principle is about being available. 

Number two is to Be Helpful.

Being helpful might sound pretty obvious. However, the type of helpful that I want to talk about here is helpful even when there's not a direct reward for you. 

So, if I'm working with a client or a friend, I'm not always looking at what I'm going to get and go, "if I give you this help, I want this in return." 


I've often given with no expectation of a return to see it come somewhere down the track. Not only did it come with that person, but because they spoke about what it is that I'd done with them, it had come with heaps of referral business as well. 

So, be helpful. 

Look for solutions for people rather than be transactional. 

Number three is Go the Extra Mile. 

There have been many times where I've felt myself falling into the pattern of just ticking the boxes, doing what it is that I've been asked for. 

However, what I've found I enjoy, and therefore I know that my clients will enjoy, is anticipating what else they might need. 

If their original question or request is going to give them a particular thing that you know is not totally what they need right now, adding in that little bit of extra knowledge, helping them to improve on what it is that they were looking for, or get it in a different way (which was going to save them time or money or whatever) is going the extra mile. 

It's like in the "old days," as my kids call it. 

When I talk about these things, someone taking your parcel that you've just purchased in their store, and walking it out to the car for you.

Things like holding open doors, or just things that are common sense and courtesy, can be seen as going the extra mile. 

I know that is a little bit disappointing that those things are seen as going the extra mile these days. They, in my opinion, should be a "gimme" that happens everywhere. 

But what that does is it sets you apart.

It shows the person you are working with that you're different. 

That it's an experience with you, it's not just a transaction. 

So look for opportunities to go one better, go the extra mile when working with people. 

Number four is to Make People Feel Valuable, Respected, and Listened To.

Once again, this is one of these common courtesy things that are unfortunately not that common these days. 

When you listen intently.

When you listen to understand. 

When you allow someone to finish their whole conversation.

When they're requesting something or asking us a question before responding or jumping in, or giving them the solution, that says so much about how you feel about them. 

Intently listening to them says that you are putting them first and that you value them as clients, friends, and family members, whatever it is. 

Remember, the listening that I am talking about is active listening. 

Active listening is being engaged and not just listening for what you need to hear. 

You’re listening for what's not said.

You’re feeling what is going on in that situation as well. 

And you’re reflecting to make sure that ye fully understand. 

When you do that, people go, "Wow, what an experience. Not only did this person help me and give me what it is that I needed, they actually listened."

And you could be the first person that week that had done that for them. 

So, it's not all that hard to stand out in your market when you seek to be a servant leader.

Number Five is Be Friendly.

Being friendly costs you nothing. 

However, the reward that comes from it for both you and the other person is priceless. It starts with greeting people by asking for their names and then using it. All those simple things that you were taught when you were at school. 

It's about showing a greater interest in that person than the transaction you want to do with them. 

It's about common courtesy. 

And it's not all that hard to do. 

However, once again, it's something that will set you apart. 

Anything you do when interacting with people leaves an experience and an impression on them. That's their perception of you and, therefore, forms their opinion of whether or not they want to continue to work with you.

Just be friendly.

Have a smile on your face. 

Be courteous.

Ask, rather than tell.

Doing this sets you apart as someone who people want to work with.

Number six is Have A Yes Attitude.

Sometimes, when I work with people, I don't feel that they actually want to solve my problem. 

Sometimes, I think, the roles are reversed, and they just want to be heard. 

There's nothing sweeter to the sound of your client than the word, "Yes."

Being able to feel certain and comfortable that you will be able to help them.

Now, the way you do this so that you don't put yourself in a situation where you're unable to give them what they need, or it goes outside your boundaries, is to ask more questions. 

It is to let them know that you're going to do whatever you can. 

So, they may ask for a particular thing, come back with something like, "I'd love to help you with that."

So that puts you on the front foot as being someone who wants to be involved rather than, "oh, I'm not sure whether we can do that." Or "that's not something that we normally do." 

These answers immediately put up a barrier and say, "I'm not here to help you. I'm only here to help me." 

One of the most powerful words in the English language is the word "Yes," and your clients want to hear it. 

Number seven is to Make Promises and Keep Them. 

There's nothing worse when you're working with someone who overpromises and then under-delivers who, out of a sense of uncertainty or a lack of Personal Power, want you to approve of them, so they say "yes" to everything but then do nothing. 

A servant leader makes sure that they only promise what they can deliver and whatever they feel they might be able to do, they speak about that in a different way - where they go, "I'm not sure if we can do that, let me go and find out and come back to you."

Instead of responding directly to things all the time, sometimes you need to get more information, or you might need to get the assistance of others. 

When working with people, they need to know you, like you and trust you. So that they buy things from you, keep buying them from you, and refer you to their friends. 

Nothing builds trust faster than keeping your word. So, it's crucial only to make promises you can keep.

The logistics behind that is to do some follow-up to make sure that you've got a system in place that reminds you what you said you were going to do, that prompts you to do it, and then has a process for you to go back to your client and let them know that it's done. 

So there you have it, the seven key principles you can work on.
 That as, I said (and I'm sure you will agree) are all common courtesy that says to the other person, 
"You're valuable." 
"I want to help you." 
"I want to give you the result that you want and make you a servant leader." 

Servant leaders are the greatest leaders of today. 

They tend to be the most successful because they lift people instead of treading all over them.

People want to get around them.

People want to work with them. 

People want to follow them. 

And that's the type of leader that I know you can be. 

As you go into this break period, into this Christmas holiday period, there will be many opportunities for you to be a servant leader.

If this is something that you need some more help on because you feel like you've got some challenges around those words of servant or leader, then make sure that you get in touch.

Make sure that you go back and look at some of the other episodes and your Personal Power. 

Look at your self-worth. Look at how you feel about yourself and the beliefs you have around your identity because they will stop you from being a servant leader- from having Empathy. 

And these are all competencies of Social And Emotional Intelligence. 

You can see now how you go on this journey from Self-Awareness into Self-Management. And now you’ve gone into those Social-Awareness competencies of Empathy, Situational Awareness, and Service Orientation. 

They build on each other. 

So, go back continually working on those competencies that you need to lift yourself in. 

Well, that's it from me for another week. 

Join me again next week as we land this plane in 2021, and we start getting ourselves ready for an amazing 2022. 

I'll see you then.