Servant Leadership and Army Values
Servant leadership is a type of leadership in which the leader’s main purpose and drive are to serve others. In other words, the goal of a servant leader is, “to develop followers to achieve their potential by building self-confidence, performing as a role model, developing trust, and providing valuable support and resources”. A servant leader is able to gain the respect of his or her subordinates by being an active listener and is committed to having his or her subordinate’s best interests as a top priority. He or she also shows empathy in his or her leadership. The ability to understand someone else’s experiences and imagine oneself in a subordinate’s place during different situations is critical in gaining subordinates that respect and trust their leader through thick and thin.
Chaplain Colonel Paul L. Vicalvi delivered remarks on servant leadership before a National Prayer Breakfast in Fort Lee, Virginia. His remarks clearly separate what a servant leader is compared to a leader who does not lead to serve based on his twenty-nine years of active duty service. For example, Vacalvi first brings up the Army values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. He says that a servant leader is one that leads according to these Army values. Vicalvi says these, “are great values – some just memorize them, and some live them”. Living and leading by the Army values means that he or she is instilling these values into the people they lead, and he or she is leading with their purpose being to serve their subordinates. On the other hand, there is a type of leader who just memorizes the Army values. Their leadership style and mindset are completely different. They are leading to be served by and to be taken care of by their subordinates. This type of leadership is more about being the boss than being a leader. It is the opposite of servant leadership.
Vicalvi also gave direct examples of people who were servant leaders around him while he was serving. His first assignment was a “battalion chaplain in the 82d Airborne Division.” Vicalvi needed assistance when he began his assignment, and there was a first lieutenant there who took it upon himself to help Vicalvi. He was “patient” and “went out of his way to serve me,” stated Vicalvi. The lieutenant never made him feel like less for not knowing how to rig a ruck well or not knowing what to expect when conducting a tactical jump. Instead, the lieutenant helped Vicalvi and explained to him what he needed to know in order to be as successful as possible during his assignment with the 82d Airborne Division.
Within ROTC, the concept of servant leadership is applicable as well. Each cadet is training to become an officer in the US Army; therefore, each cadet needs to train as if they are officer. This includes being a leader to others within the ROTC program, and being a boss is vastly different than being a leader who serves his or her subordinates. The MSIIIs in an ROTC battalion are supposed to be examples and leaders for the MSIs and MSIIs below them. This includes making sure they are informed of events taking place and that they know and understand their roles in the events. However, being a servant leader is going one step further than that. This includes taking care of the younger cadets and mentoring them, even if it is not in the job description. Being a servant leader means going beyond what one has to do or is expected to do. For example, an MSIII showing a younger cadet that they care about them by reaching out and showing empathy or actively listening to their concerns are things that one can do to serve.
Mentoring is a major piece to be a servant leader to others within ROTC. The purpose of mentorship groups is to have all different levels of MS classes mixed and able to share knowledge from the top to the bottom and from the bottom to the top. Everyone can learn something from each other, and upperclassmen such as the MSIIIs and MSIVs have opportunities to serve the MSIs and MSIIs. They can teach them skills so that they are more competent and ahead of the game when it comes to events such as FTX. The mentors also have a chance to create an environment with their mentees where they know they can go to their mentors about their personal well-being outside of ROTC events. It is very important to make sure that a soldier is emotionally and physically fit, so mentorship groups play a critical role in making sure that cadets know about and receive all of the services they may need.
Servant leadership is also about caring for soldiers and making sure they know that their leader will go out of his or her way to assist them. As a Nurse in the Army, servant leadership is very applicable. It is important for an officer of any branch to serve their subordinates; however, a nurse must show compassion and empathy whether they are an officer or not. Injured and ill patients in a hospital deserve to have caring and empathetic nurses by their bedside taking care of them. A nurse’s job is to serve and take care of people who are unable to properly take care of themselves. Therefore, it is extremely important to have nursing officers whose priority is to serve, both their patients and their subordinates.
On top of that, a nurse’s job as a leader and an officer in the Army at times can be to manage and command a shift of nurses in a field hospital. This includes supervising all of the nursing care that is taking place during the shift one is commanding. Nursing care includes taking care of the patients as well as providing resources for both the patient and their families for different types of care. It is important for nurses to serve their patients and help to improve their overall quality of life while injured or ill. As a leader in the US Army, it is a nurse's job to be a servant leader to their subordinates as well as their patients.
Works Cited
- WON JUN KWAK, and HWA-KYUNG KIM. “Servant Leadership and Customer Service Quality at Korean Hotels: Multilevel Organizational Citizenship Behavior as a Mediator.” Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, vol. 43, no. 8, Sept. 2015, pp. 1287–1298. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.8.1287.
- Vicalvi, Paul L. “Servant Leadership.” Army Logistician, vol. 38, no. 3, May 2006, pp. 51–52. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=20943651&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
