Entrepreneur’s brew- Servant Leadership: Part II

Pastor Welcome Thamsanqa Mlungisi Dlalisa

Last week I introduced this important topic of “servant leadership”. As a matter of fact, no entrepreneur can succeed without “refining and perfecting” his or her art of leading and leadership. The quality of leadership can make or break families, businesses and even nations. We mentioned some of the leaders like our very own former President Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King. All these leaders made huge impact, touched lives of the people and achieved a lot. The question is how did they do all that? The answer is that they were all “servant leaders”. In this article of servant leadership part two, I continue to unpack this subject in more details.

Leaders do things through people. Any leader that makes impact and achieves a lot of things, do so through people. The question is “how do you cause people to want to follow you”? How do you inspire and galvanize people behind you? How do you motivate people to do their very best for your business, and for your entreprise? How do you get your team to give their very best? How do you cause them to own your success and take personal pride and ownership of your business success? The answer is “leading as a servant”. But what does this mean in practice?

So, servant-leader is the style of leading and a style of leadership. This is where the leaders is “first servant, then next a leader”. What does this mean in practical terms? It means leading from position of humility, respect, love and care for the people. People love being loved and respected. No one wants to be bullied and disrespected. Servant first then a leader after means developing a mindset of serving the people that God has placed under your care. It means putting the needs of your people at the centre of all your efforts. Once people feel cared for, they will care for you and your business. Look at Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned for the needs of all South Africans. In return, South Africans elevated him to the position of a leader and ultimately the first black president in South Africa.

Being servant leader can help you achieve more that being “leader first”. However, you need to develop genuine care for others and their needs. It is almost what I call, “calling”. You need to be called as an entrepreneur. You must be able to see the need in your community and meet it. Make the lives of the people easy and meet their need. Once you do that, your business success is guaranteed. The problem is that most entrepreneurs are focused on making a profit as compared to serving the need of the people.

The other issue is that servant leaders lead by example. In other words, what you say you do. Any leader that say things that they are not willing to do, do not succeed in business. An example, if you say people must come to work on time and you do not do that…it’s a problem. Remember that the behavior of leaders produce culture. So, if you want people to respect time, you must respect it also. Just lead by example as a leader. Leadership is about leading…

Servant leaders also help others to succeed. They occupy themselves by helping others reach their goals. When people see genuine interest from their leader to see them win, they make their leader win also and make more money. This type of leaders are interested in the people and not just work done by the people. They worry about the overall wellbeing of the people.

The inherent qualities of servant leaders are:

1. Humility

2. Respect for people

3. Genuine care for people

4. Power is shared with the people. Often use the word “we” and not “I”

5. They develop others

6. Allow people to grow

7. They are exemplary to others and also do what they say8. They are good listeners

9. They are vision driven and know why they were born

10. Build trust

The makes “servant leaders” who are servants first is that they are in their position to make a difference and then making money becomes inevitable. Their primary focus is not making money at all cost, but meeting the needs of the people at all cost but then once the need is met, money comes in at all cost. In fact, I don’t know any servant leader who did not make a lot of money. They all died rich and prosperous.

These are just some of the attributes of being servant leader and not “the boss”.

So servant leadership is one of those foundations that are critical for running a successful and achieving sustained business profitability.

In order to help entrepreneurs of Tembisa to implement what we are learning via these articles, I have set up what I call the JOSEPH ACHIEVERS MENTORING (JAM) program. The program is based on Joseph in the bible who rose to prominence despite his background. I am encouraging all Tembisa residents to join. This program is aimed at supporting all residents of Tembisa but it targets mainly young entrepreneurs, young professionals, university students and high school learners. It offers a range of support initiatives including career guidance, training and mentoring. Many have enrolled to the program and receive business management training and mentoring. I challenge you to enroll for JAM in order to propel your life or you business to new heights. To register on JAM, send an email to dlalisa.rhi@gmail.com or call the numbers below.

For more information, contact Pastor WTM Dlalisa on 083 395 1165.

To read more about Entrepreneur’s Brew, click on the link below:

https://tembisan.co.za/58008/entrepreneurs-brew-servant-leadership/

https://tembisan.co.za/56494/entrepreneurs-brew-power-of-strategic-planning/