Servant Leadership: How to Lead Better by Getting Out of the Way
Earn trust, grow leaders, and create teams that thrive without you.
Most leadership advice is about being in the spotlight 🔆.
You’re told to own the room, set the vision, and drive results. You get praised for being in control, for being “the expert”, for always having the answers.
But what if that leadership advice is completely wrong? What if the best leaders don’t take the spotlight, but instead… step back?
This isn’t some cool, theoretical idea. I’ve seen it in action. The most effective leaders I’ve worked with through my career had one thing in common…
They served.
They got out of the way.
They built trust instead of fear.
They created space for others to grow.
By now, you might be asking: what do I mean by ‘serving’, and how exactly do you become such a leader?
In this post, we will discuss Servant Leadership, a leadership model that embodies that approach, and how you can practice this style of leadership.
Here’s what we will cover:
Part 1: Understanding Servant Leadership
What is Servant Leadership?
How Servant Leadership Works
Part 2: Practicing Servant Leadership
The 5 Daily Practices of a Servant Leader
Servant Leaders in the Business World
The Servant Leadership Worksheet
Part 3: Going from Here
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Recommend Resources
Final Thoughts
Let’s dive in.
Part 1: Understanding Servant Leadership
In this section, we will try to understand the background and motivation behind Servant Leadership.
What is Servant Leadership?
Servant Leadership flips the most fundamental element of leadership.
Instead of asking, “How can my team help me succeed?”, a servant leader asks, “How can I help my team succeed?”
The term was coined by Robert Greenleaf in 1970. But the idea goes way back. In fact, it’s been around in ancient philosophy, religion, and even parenting for centuries.
Servant Leadership doesn’t mean you do everyone’s job. It doesn’t mean you avoid hard decisions. It means your primary role as a leader is to build people.
Their growth becomes your success.
Their wins become your scoreboard.
And it works because when your team members feel truly supported, they feel more motivated. They take more ownership, solve bigger problems, and as a result, your team and your business grow.
How Servant Leadership Works
Most managers default to control, and most leadership models work top-down. The leader sits at the top of the pyramid, followed by management, then employees, with the customer at the very bottom. Instructions, pressure, and decisions flow downward. It may be efficient, but it’s also rigid.
Servant leadership flips that pyramid.
At the bottom is the leader, and at the very top is the customer.
Instead of control flowing down, support flows up.
Your job as a leader is no longer to command. It’s to serve: to remove blockers, grow people, and create an environment where your team can succeed.
In turn, they serve the customer.
It’s a subtle shift, but it changes everything:
From giving orders → to asking, “How can I help?”
From chasing credit → to sharing it
From being the center of every decision → to building decision-makers
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Part 2: Practicing Servant Leadership
In this section, you will learn how to practice Servant Leadership in your role as a leader.
We’ll start with the 5 Daily Practices of a Servant Leader. These are small, powerful shifts you can make starting today
We will then discuss two very famous examples of servant leaders in the business world, and how this leadership approach has made the difference.
Finally, we will make it real with the Servant Leadership Worksheet, which will help you build your muscle in practicing servant leadership in your role.
👉🏼 If you’d like to see how these tools, scenarios and worksheets fit together as part of a broader practice system, you can explore the ⚙️ The Good Boss Practitioner space - where leaders apply these frameworks in real situations.
The 5 Daily Practices of a Servant Leader
Here are five simple daily shifts you can make to practice servant leadership.