Project Controls & Project Management Leadership Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership - Serving Others

We all find ourselves in crazy times; COVID-19, systemic racism, unemployment, market uncertainty, political landscape & murder hornets. The stress and fatigue put on us has made some of us not so nice or supportive of one another. It's times like these that we need leaders to step up. 

Leaders come from any level or background, not a title. A leader that serves others is a servant leader, leading by example, serving others and showing humility. Recognizing that there are others that may be better suited to lead the team at a given time gives others the opportunity to grow. I try my hardest to do this with my teams which usually leads to better outcomes and gives the individual the opportunity to grow. Throughout my career I have been told that this was unorthodox but achieved results. Then I discovered it was #ServantLeadership.  

Taking the time to meet each of my teammates on a personal level allowed us to make connections, understand each other & give us clearer expectations. Discovering their interests & goals helped me find motivators for each one. Everyone is different and the more a leader can know about their team, the better. Once I had this information, my approach could be tailored for each team member. Allowing me to serve them better. We put plans in place to help them get there and checked progress regularly. Finding the independent drivers for each person gave me insight into how I could support them. 

Understating and finding the right motivators made for some of the most rewarding experiences of my career. When aligned to support the achievement of a common goal truly superior results can be achieved. Some of you may disagree with my approach for whatever your reasons are and that is fine. But I can assure you that the teams we built this way not only created massive benefits for the organization, we also learned a lot along the way. 

Seeing several of them receiving accolades and promotions across LinkedIn makes me proud knowing that I may have some impact in helping them along the way. Along the way several of us made lifelong friendships.  

I hope some of them share their perspective from our team experiences.  

Until next time,

Chris Bloxham

PE4U Admin Notes:

Chris Bloxham is a a regular contributor to the PE4U Project Controls and Project Management Blog. To learn more about Chris Bloxham please visit Chris Bloxham's LinkedIn Profile