Let’s first start with why it matters:

Servant Leadership addresses the most primal, crucial parts of the human psyche – by allowing people to feel validated, heard, supported, and respected, it promotes psychological safety. Practitioners understand that creativity, productivity and innovation can be harnessed only when people feel supported and safe, leading to organization growth and long-term employee asset alignment.

Elbert Hubbard once said “the greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing you’ll make one.” I can tell you from experience that this is not an ideal place to be – this feeling of impending doom. Being afraid to complete an assignment or fail at your job should be part of the learning and growth process, not something to be feared. After all, “mistakes” are key learning opportunities that lead people to a greater and deeper understanding of processes. Without mistakes, there is no growth. This realization is what makes the Servant Leadership model a useful, durable and empowering one to follow.

On its surface, Servant Leadership is a leadership model that turns power-based models on their heads. Traditionally, organizations are structured so that C-Suite (CEO, CFO, COO, etc) individuals, directors and managers hold positional power. This means that these individuals have power only because they hold a title that is of significance to the organization.

Leaders are only as good as their teams, though. After all, leaders hold a grand vision that takes buy-in from stakeholders, as well as meticulous project plans to ensure all involved can play their part to achieve the goal. Servant Leadership understands this organizational codependency and harnesses it by focusing on employees, and placing C-Suite leadership in a position to ensure the workforce succeeds.

For any innovation, creativity and critical thinking to occur, risk is inevitable, and that’s where psychological safety comes in. Pioneered by leadership at Google, psychological safety makes it possible to take reasonable risks and not feel ostracized, reprimanded, and threatened by failure. This flexibility allows teams to develop a collectively resilient and tenacious mindset, allowing teams to test various approaches to reach its goal.

This is a smart and practical approach because by training and trusting the business unit, the C-Suite leaders are reducing burden on themselves by essentially delegating tasks to tomorrow’s leaders – which are being groomed today. This adds to the company’s durability and ability to manage …

Here are 4 ways you can incorporate Servant Leadership traits into your life. These emphasize a collaborative spirit, present state of mind and conscious investment in relationships, which are key for us all – whether you strike up a conversation with your direct report, coffee barista, or friend.

1. Ask people how they’re doing – and really listen

Being a good listener means giving someone 100% of your undivided attention, in order to delve into their experience. Most of us listen with the intent of formulating what we’re going to say in response. If you’re spending your time thinking of what you’ll say while someone is sharing ideas with you, or interrupting someone outright while they are pouring their heart out – you need to work on your listening skills.

2. Foster trust

A large part of why people trust some and not others has to do with how they feel around them. Be someone who builds people up, offers compassion and a helping hand. No one is an island.

3.  Celebrate authenticity

Accept people as they are and replace your judgment with curiosity. Your friend’s talking about a decision she made which is one that you consider crazy and irresponsible – so what? Why not celebrate her uniqueness and understand where she’s coming from?

4. Let others lead

Whether dividing up house chores or a work project, delegating tasks allows others to feel trusted. It provides a vote of confidence, a chance to shine and take ownership. It encourages them to give their best, too.

Servant Leadership understands that when people feel heard, trusted, safe, and empowered, they are more likely to loyally stick with the company for years, which reduces turnover for the company and allows it to invest in developing that employee into tomorrow’s leader.

With the ever-changing trends of industries and companies’ need to constantly be ahead of the curve, why not provide your workforce with a collaborative environment that ultimately helps the organization stay relevant, increase productivity, aligns workers with the organization’s vision, and widens the circle of whom can be groomed and trusted to accomplished goals?