The secret science of service: seven lessons for leaders
In the relational world of leadership, the concept of service frames how leaders think, what they believe and how they behave. But what is service? In simple terms it is self-lessness. It is the willingness to place the needs and wellbeing of others before or above one’s own. Far from an act borne out of low self-worth and self-deprecation, service in a powerful demonstration of confidence. When leaders serve, they do so assured in their knowledge and values. Therefore, once service becomes systematised and routine, it is no longer a conscious deliberation or decision, it is a default.
When it comes down to it, service is both a badge of honour and the price of admission for anyone with the aspiration or ambition to lead others. Paraphrasing one of my favourite quotes: ‘if service is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you’. Whenever leaders possess a genuine appetite for service, then their hunger will lead them towards it.
So, let’s explore this topic in more detail. Set out below is ‘the secret science of service: six lessons for leaders’.
1. For better and especially for worse
In leadership, the concept of service has nothing to do with personal preference. It is easy to serve when conditions are conducive and recipients are seen as deserving. Equally, even if beneficiaries are undeserving, it is possible to serve if the effort directed towards them is reciprocated with gratitude and appreciation. But here’s the rub, if what is described above is all that you have ever experienced of service, then you have not served. The secret science is to serve when it is difficult and when those benefitting are neither deserving, nor grateful, but outwardly resentful.
2. The strength of vulnerability
Vulnerability is antithetical to the human survival instinct. After all, those who present as vulnerable can be predated upon and exploited. Notwithstanding, in leadership, service is impossible without vulnerability. The secret science is to understand that sensitivity, to one’s vulnerability, does not diminish with exposure. On the contrary, the more intensely you serve, the more apparent your vulnerability becomes. The difference is that when leaders embrace their vulnerability, they stop fearing it and start enjoying it. With service, the more you try to protect yourself, the weaker you become.
3. Surrender your agenda
If the act of service is going to be meaningful, then you must surrender your agenda. The word surrender is used intentionally here because it is impossible to give [serve], when you are unwilling to let go [surrender]. Ulterior motives, even those that may be well intentioned, only reveal a lack of leadership integrity and place ‘unwritten conditions’ on the act of service being performed. The secret science of surrendering one’s agenda is to recognise that service is not about what you can gain, but what you can give. Therefore, you are more likely to find something, when you are looking for nothing.
4. Measure value not cost
Sometimes the biggest barrier to service is when leaders apply reductive reasoning to determine what it will cost them to serve and whether the costs outweigh the benefits. The danger, when service becomes an economic argument based on costs and benefits [objective], is that it almost always ignores the concept of value [subjective]. The secret science is that value, as a subjective judgement, cannot be weighed and measured using traditional methods of calculation. Therefore, the value of service should be determined by what you believe is best, not what others think is right.
5. It reveals you before it improves you
In leadership, the common perspective of service is that it is something that happens through us, rather than to us. Perceiving service through this narrow lens is understandable but misses a critical reality. The posture, temperament, tolerance, and real-world motivations of those who serve frame the quality of service they offer. The secret science is to understand that service is like a fruit-bearing tree. The key to success is not how much fruit you bear or how quickly you bear it, but rather how long your fruitfulness can be sustained. Therefore, pruning is necessary for fruitfulness.
6. Even if don’t seek them, they will still find you
While service can be a powerful inspiration to those around a leader, it can also stir-up a veritable hornet’s nest of resentment. Specifically, amongst those in leadership who feel threatened. Expect some to sneer and side-eye, questioning your motives. Others will despise you for showing up their own lack of integrity. Still others will discourage you, because your actions put pressure on them to do the same. The secret science is not to ignore distraction, but rather to avoid it. Taking active steps to navigate one’s way round an obstacle, is not the same as pretending the obstacle is not there.
7. Turn the paradigm on its head
Service is comparable to perpetual momentum. While you might not always be moving at a regular or accelerated pace, you should always be moving. Service is not a break from the routine, it is the routine. To that extent, don’t see service through the lens of leadership, see leadership through the lens of service. The secret science is not how you serve as a leader, but how you lead as a servant. Every single action of leadership should be the expression of a servant. When leaders have this level of awareness, they understand that to lead others effectively, they must serve them selflessly.
Servanthood is one of the most difficult subjects for leaders to master. Not because it is inherently difficult on its face, but more so because it challenges traditional perspectives of what leadership is and what it should do. In a servanthood ‘hierarchy’, the leader is at the bottom, not the top. How is that possible? It is possible because servanthood is not a hierarchical position; it is a hierarchical posture. The corollary is that in leadership, when you serve, you don’t just discover your purpose, you find your place.
