
Practically this means a good scrum master acts as a servant leader to the scrum team in several ways:
- Removing impediments that get in the team’s way.
- Coach/Mentor/Train the team, as appropriate, to build and continuously improve their ways of working in line with agile practices and principles.
- Facilitating valuable events and interactions for the team.
- Coaching the rest of the organisation in which the team works to enable them to best serve the team.
How to become a better servant leader?
The 5 characteristics of a servant leader
- Empathy. A servant leader should always strive to understand others. ...
- Listening. Communication skills are emphasized in other leadership styles and while those remain important, being able to actively listen is key to successful servant leadership. ...
- Self-awareness. ...
- Humility. ...
- Integrity. ...
What does it take to be a Servant Leader?
You may be a servant leader if you motivate your team, have excellent communication skills, personally care about your team, encourage collaboration and engagement, and commit to growing your team professionally. Servant leaders have the capacity to boost employee loyalty and productivity.
What companies use servant leadership?
Companies such as Starbucks and 7-Eleven apply leadership to serve others based on a need or desire to do so in an effort to help their employees develop professionally. Starbucks can be referred to as a servant leadership company and built a servant leadership culture.
What are the qualities of a Servant Leader?
Top qualities of servant leaders
- They are customer-focused These executives look at their companies through the lens of their customers and ask, “How can I enrich their lives?”
- They are purpose-driven These leaders ask how their actions can serve humanity and not just the bottom line. ...
- They are courageous Employees sometimes come up with better ideas than the boss. ...

What do you mean as servant leader in Scrum?
Servant leadership in a scrum team involves performance planning, coaching, helping the team self- organize, resolving conflicts through conflict management, removing obstacles that hinder progress and serving the team.
What is the role of a servant leader?
A servant leader builds teams, listens, heals, persuades and empowers followers until a consensus is reached. A servant leader ensures successful shared governance by building effective teams. Indeed, servant leadership promotes team effectiveness.
What are the 4 elements of servant leadership?
Here are four steps to develop into a better servant leader.Encourage diversity of thought.Create a culture of trust.Have an unselfish mindset.Foster leadership in others.
What is a servant leader example?
Abraham Lincoln is one example of a servant leader. Lincoln's actions during the US Civil War are often cited as prime examples of servant leadership behavior (Hubbard, 2011). In particular, many scholars look to his preservation of the Union during this conflict and the freeing of the Southern slaves.
What are the 5 characteristics of servant leadership?
These five most prominent servant leadership characteristics were:Valuing People. Servant leaders value people for who they are, not just for what they give to the organization. ... Humility. Servant leaders do not promote themselves; they put other people first. ... Listening. ... Trust. ... Caring.
What is one characteristic of a servant leader?
This article examines a set of ten characteristics of the servant leader that are of critical importance. They are: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community.
What are the 7 servant leadership traits?
7 Key Principles of Servant LeadershipHonor Others (Before Yourself)Inspire Vision (Before Setting The Course)Choose Ethics (Before Profit)Empower Others (Before Personal Gain)Privilege People (Before Tasks)Balance Focus With Flexibility (Before Making Decisions)Serve With Humility (Before All Else)
What are the three main components of servant leadership?
This chapter presents a servant leadership model based on Liden, Wayne, Zhao, and Henderson (2008) and Liden, Panaccio, Hu, and Meuser (2014) that has three main components: antecedent conditions, servant leader behav- iors, and leadership outcomes (Figure 10.1).
What a servant leader must not do?
Don't: Shut Down Diverse Opinions A servant leader is not threatened by the ideas and inputs of others. Instead, they regularly seek out feedback and consider the opinions of others. This type of behavior encourages innovation and will carry your business into the future.
When would you use a servant leader?
Servant leadership is important in business because it creates a work environment in which employees at all levels of your organization feel respected, appreciated and valued. Businesses that follow a servant leadership philosophy tend to have stronger work cultures with high employee morale and engagement.
What is a servant leadership approach?
The servant leadership style is based on the idea that leaders prioritize serving the greater good. Leaders with this style serve their team and organization first. They don't prioritize their own objectives. Employees in a servant leadership environment are more likely to feel that their voices are heard.
What are the benefits of servant leadership?
Benefits of Servant LeadershipStronger teams. ... Conducive working environment. ... Alignment of personal and professional goals. ... Improved organizational agility. ... Leadership training. ... Employee motivation. ... People-oriented corporate culture. ... Decreases employee turnover.
What are the 7 servant leadership traits?
7 Key Principles of Servant LeadershipHonor Others (Before Yourself)Inspire Vision (Before Setting The Course)Choose Ethics (Before Profit)Empower Others (Before Personal Gain)Privilege People (Before Tasks)Balance Focus With Flexibility (Before Making Decisions)Serve With Humility (Before All Else)
What Bible says about servant leadership?
32:11-14, 30-35). Servant leaders strengthen the weak and empower those entrusted to their care, and also show compassion towards the disadvantaged and the lost (Eze. 34:2-10).
What a servant leader must not do?
Don't: Shut Down Diverse Opinions A servant leader is not threatened by the ideas and inputs of others. Instead, they regularly seek out feedback and consider the opinions of others. This type of behavior encourages innovation and will carry your business into the future.
What are the benefits of servant leadership?
Pros of servant leadershipThe characteristics of success are well-defined.Builds deeper, trust-based relationships.Encourages greater ownership and responsibility.Encourages innovation, curiosity, and creativity.Develops a people-focused culture.Delivers a significant positive impact on company performance.More items...
Why is Servant Leadership so important to Agile?
Servant leadership is very important in an agile environment because it emphasizes creating empowered teams. Servant leaders encourage teams to self-organize and innovate, which generally leads to maximizing business results. This is because people who feel empowered tend to be more motivated to do their work, which can lead to better results.
What are the characteristics of a servant leader?
Characteristics of a Servant Leader: 1 Promoting self-awareness – being aware of yourself helps to understand ethics, power, and values. 2 Listening – being effective in meeting facilitation and removing impediments for your team requires excellent listening skills. 3 Serving those on the team – as a servant leader, your job is to bring the team food and water, this means thinking of others before yourself, giving credit where it’s deserved, and taking blame. 4 Helping people grow – you have to help people grow in their agile journey, helping them understand the agile mindset to be more successful. 5 Coaching vs. Controlling – instead of traditional command and control leadership, you have to instead coach the team to be successful. 6 Promoting safety, trust and respect – your team needs to feel safe from reprimand, they have to trust and respect themselves and each other. Successful teams are not in it for themselves. Instead, you have to create an environment where everyone is comfortable to grow as a team. 7 Promoting the energy and intelligence – be a positive influence to your team, always lift people up, foster an environment where people are motivated to go the extra mile.
What does a servant leader think of?
Servant leaders think of the teams’ needs before their own. It’s a behavior you need to adopt and display to your team. Here are some other behaviors you need to display in order to be a great servant leader:
What is the job of a servant leader?
Serving those on the team – as a servant leader, your job is to bring the team food and water, this means thinking of others before yourself, giving credit where it’s deserved, and taking blame.
What is a servant leader?
A Servant Leader is not concerned with his power or his title. In fact, he is not primarily concerned about himself, but about the team and what the team can create for the company and its customers under ideal conditions. This voluntary surrender of power not only makes the team members feel more secure – it also makes them feel responsible for the success of the team and they show the corresponding commitment.
What is the role of a servant leader in Scrum?
By ensuring that (in line with the Scrum values) courage, openness, respect, focus and commitment are lived within the team, the Servant Leader creates an environment in which ...
What is the role of Scrum Master?
But instead of telling the team members what to do in detail, Scrum Master and Product Owner act as Servant Leaders who help the team to organize itself.
Why is it important to be a servant leader?
A good Servant Leader supports the team members so that they can feel secure. This not only ensures that employees have the courage to bring out the best in themselves and to contribute their own ideas and solutions. It also makes sure that employees trust you as a Servant Leader and follow you willingly and voluntarily. It can be that easy to turn employees into fans of your company which can be a good start if you want to start an agile transformation.
What is the characteristic of a servant leader?
Another important characteristic of the Servant Leader is that he really trusts the team members to make their own decisions. He is therefore able to trust the team – something that is extremely difficult for leaders with traditional leadership styles because they have never learned to give up control.
Why is the servant leader modest?
The Servant Leader is modest by nature and takes himself back, because it is much more important to him to do something meaningful for the team, the company and its customers.
Who coined the term "servant leadership"?
The term Servant Leadership was originally coined by Robert K. Greenleaf, the founder of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.

6 Advantages of Self-Organized Teams
Even Self-Organisation Needs Leadership
Servant Leadership – A Definition
- The term Servant Leadership was originally coined by Robert K. Greenleaf, the founder of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. Servant Leadership means that one person in their role as Servant Leader supports the team and serves them in a way that allows them to perform their tasks in a self-organized way to best implement the product vision according to the principles a…
This Is What Makes The Servant Leader
- A Servant Leader is not concerned with his power or his title. In fact, he is not primarily concerned about himself, but about the team and what the team can create for the company and its customers under ideal conditions. This voluntary surrender of power not only makes the team members feel more secure – it also makes them feel responsible for the success of the team an…
Conclusion: Leadership in An Agile Context
- Servant leadership in an agile context means the opposite of what we know (and fear) from traditional leadership: Instead of exercising power and relying on rights that arise from a hierarchy, the Servant Leader promotes a collaborative approach within the team – and thus throughout the company. A good Servant Leader supports the team members so th...