If I told you a guy took a personal pay cut to increase his employees’ minimum wage salary to $70,000, would you believe me?
A recent SUCCESS article highlighted the servant leadership of Gravity Payments CEO, Dan Price - it was so striking because of the outcome.
His employees banded together to buy him a Tesla in appreciation for his increase of their minimum wage. (I'm not promising that servant leadership will lead to a Tesla), but it does lead to a team that is truly engaged and working toward one greater vision.
"Gravity payments seeks to turn the boss-employee relationship upside down and create an environment in which leaders exist to serve those around them.
Real servant leadership is about giving without the expectation of receiving.
Ask yourself, am I truly working to serve the people around me, or for personal gain? If the answer is personal gain, try beginning the journey to servant leadership by requesting to be held accountable, rather than the other way around."
Dan Price outlines 3 practical ways you can practice servant leadership:
Instead of spending time defining expectations for your team, spend it identifying how you can support them.
Have your team keep an eye on your actions rather than the other way around.
Ask for feedback rather than telling your team what to do.
Resist the urge to accumulate power. Focus on giving it away.
Servant leadership takes a lot of what we have been taught or our own expectations of what a leader looks like and turns it on its head. Becoming leaders that serve our team genuinely allows us the opportunity to learn more from each other and become more "moldable" in nature, leading to great flexibility as a team.