Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 30s and I'm suspicious of people who refer to their own management as "servant leadership." How are you serving? What exactly does it look like? Nobody objects to a boss who supports them in reaching their full potential. If they do, it probably means you're doing it poorly, or not actually doing that, or have a very different vision of their potential than they do.
In other words, I'm not convinced this is an "old people" issue, or that we're getting the full story. I'd like to hear an example of a clash as told by an employee. And why on earth would you have to run your DCUM post through ChatGPT?
Servant leadership is just the term that’s used to describe one style. I don’t know where the term came from, but it mostly means that you see your role as empowering your staff and stepping in as needed. Your job is to “serve them” by removing impediments rather than dictating commands.
OP is not apparently aware of what it means at all. I hate when someone refers to themselves as a servant leader, actually, because I see it more as instituting a style
of management adopted by a team, rather then something insisted upon by their manager. I have only had 2 actual servant leaders in my career. That’s my preferred style for someone to whom I report. However, I know people who hate it because they like very clear boundaries and a hierarchical structure.