Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2018 - 44

IDENTIFYING
A TEAM
EFFECTIVENESS
STRATEGY CAN
FEEL LIKE A
"PICK ONE AND
LET'S SEE"
APPROACH.
To better apply servant leadership to
our teams, Dr. Justin Irving and Dr. Gail
Longbotham conducted a study titled,
"Team Effectiveness and Six Essential
Servant Leadership Themes." In their
research, they found that if leaders
who followed the servant leadership
methodology applied these themes to
their workgroup, there was a significant
increase in overall effectiveness. The
themes are as follows:
1. Providing Accountability
2. Supporting and Resourcing
3. Engaging in Honest Self-Evaluation
4. Fostering Collaboration
5. Communicating with Clarity
6. Valuing and Appreciating

1

PROVIDING
ACCOUNTABILITY

Through the lens of servant leadership,
accountability is ensuring each member
of the team is accomplishing the goals
that were identified by the team. For
many, they hear the word accountability
and they become uncomfortable
due to a perception of negativity.

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Accountability is a good thing and
is something all teams need to have
established to effectively accomplish
their goals. However, accountability is a
skill that many leaders are excepted to
understand, yet this is a skill that is often
overlooked when providing onboarding
and development training.
Looking at the root of accountability,
communication is one of the key pillars.
If there is an identified issue with a team,
one of the first elements that should
be examined is communication. As the
leader, have you clearly explained your
expectations of the task? Does your
staff know what is expected of them
in their role? Have you made too many
assumptions when assigning duties?
These questions will foster discussion
within your team to help identify if the
problems are due to a misunderstanding
or lack of clarity on what is to be
expected of them.

2

SUPPORTING AND
RESOURCING

According to Irving and Longbotham,
this theme highlights the importance
of leaders supporting their workers
and providing necessary resources for
the accomplishment of their goals.
One of the key elements of this theme
is empowerment. Think about the
requirements that each of your staff
faces. Do they have what they need to
get the job done? This question moves
beyond physical equipment (although,
this is important) and examines whether
staff feel they can make the decisions
they need to.
It is not uncommon to hear staff say
that they are "scared" or "uncomfortable"
of making independent decisions
to complete their duties as they are
worried of the response from their
supervisor. If this is the case, then the
leader can consider this by asking what

support and/or resources they need to
be successful. In some cases, it may be
additional communication pathways, or
it may be that they need insight on who
they can collaborate with. Regardless of
the reason, as the leader, it is important
that we take the initiative to seek out
that information.

3

ENGAGING IN
HONEST SELFEVALUATION

No one is perfect. For many leaders,
admitting faults and decision errors can
be difficult. There are times when it feels

DAILY LEADERSHIP REMINDERS
To assist with the implementation
of servant leadership theory, the
following questions have been
developed as daily reminders or
checkpoints for leaders.
1. Is my staff held accountable for
their actions?
(Providing Accountability)
2. Does my staff have what they need to
get the job done?
(Supporting and Resourcing)
3. Have I truly examined myself
before others?
(Engaging in Honest Self-Evaluation)
4. Do I encourage and
support collaboration?
(Fostering Collaboration)
5. Do people really understand what I
am saying?
(Communicating with Clarity)
6. Does my staff know how much I
appreciate them?
(Valuing and Appreciating)
https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/2006/irving_longbotham.pdf https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/2006/irving_longbotham.pdf
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2018
