Greenleaf Centre for Servant-Leadership UK Conference 2009
Servant-Leadership – Making it Happen
The Ambassadors Hotel Bloomsbury London 11th and 12th November 2009
Report and pictures by Jaap Huttenga
This year saw the 13th annual conference run by the Greenleaf Centre for Servant-Leadership UK. It has always been a conference for those who wish to fully participate, and this year was no exception. At least half of the delegates each year are regular attendees, and every conference welcomes new folks who often go on to become regulars. This inevitably results in open and frank conversations and discussions on a wide range of aspects of leadership in which everyone is given the opportunity to take part. For me, it's being among friends.
With an intriguing presentation Ntombi Langa-Royds opened the conference, showing us how servant-leadership is practised in South Africa. One of her main themes was the role women can play. It wasn’t hard to find a perfect metaphor for servant-leadership: motherhood. In most families in the world motherhood proves to be the most caring and effective way of leading. So why not in companies and organizations? Is there any good reason for restricting mother-like leadership to home and family? We have often talked of the ten characteristics of servant-leadership distilled from the work of Robert K Greenleaf. Ntombi made us aware of an 11th one: servant-leadership is a calling!
Mark Wilkinson shared with us the story of brITe, an initiative undertaken in Reed Elsevier to help better align people, process and technology and to strengthen IT leadership and create a high performing culture that supported the IT vision.
Using a variety of exercises to look at such elements as work life balance, involving customers more and developing relationships across the IT teams brITe helped create a number of important changes. Some of the lessons learned from the whole process included the conclusion that working on culture change has to rank alongside everything you do. People need to be seen as vital to the bottom line. The simple formula is People plus profit = a healthy bottom line. Finally – and we have heard so much about this in the conference over the years - you need to have fun along the way and make sure you celebrate your successes.
We then heard from Marion Janner, founder of Star Wards, a project that works with mental health trusts to enhance mental health inpatients’ daily experiences and treatment outcomes project. Marion delivered a memorable session, one full of humour, creativity and spontaneity. What struck me in her story was the simplicity and practical nature of the suggestions to improve life for patients, and that rather than trying to impose yet more standards or rigid practices on wards, they should provide encouragement and support. The resulting changes and improvements have been dramatic. *
Roy Wilsher, Chief Fire Officer for Hertfordshire, made clear that serving and leading perfectly match in preventing and dealing with fires and rescuing people. His work, of course, is basically serving: serving the society he works for and the people he works with. The motto of the Hertfordshire Fire And Rescue is “Working to Protect. Acting to Serve.” One of the key issues of his work is to improve the relationship with the community. The result is an impressive reduction of fires and dangerous situations. He made clear that serving doesn’t mean you can’t be – if needed – a directive leader. On the contrary: serving as basic attitude makes your leading far more respected and effective.
The final session of the conference was a fully interactive workshop led by two of the Centre’s Board members, Jane Little and Terri McNerney. The theme was Servant-Leadership in Difficult Times and we were asked in teams to imagine, and to illustrate, what organisations might look like working at their best, and at their worst. The way in which each group used the available resources to literally picture what came from their discussions was both enlightening and provocative. The final session of any conference is the most difficult to carry off well, but on this occasion it proved to be a great success and provided an appropriate conclusion to the event.
*Marion Janner has been awarded the OBE for her services to the mental health services
in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List.
CONGRATULATIONS!