Perspectives - Success demands service

British Army leadership lessons apply to every project team leader; it’s about knowing how to engender loyalty, respect and love.

Last December, General Sir Patrick Sanders took to the stand at Sandhurst’s Sovereign’s Parade to address 200 Army officers on the eve of their commissioning: “Service is about giving. Your colour sergeants and the staff here have spent the last 44 weeks serving you. They’ve given their all. It may not have felt like they were serving you, but they put every waking moment into developing, nurturing and challenging you. They’ve engendered feelings of love, loyalty and respect in you. That’s the role you must now occupy for your new charges.”

General Sanders was drawing on more than three decades of personal experience in the concept of ‘servant leadership’, a term coined in 1970 by American philosopher Robert K Greenleaf. While a nascent theory to academia, the principles of such an approach have been intrinsic to the British Army for generations, evidenced by the inauguration in 1947 of Sandhurst’s motto, ‘Serve To Lead’.

This service mindset presents a deliberate paradox, demanding that, to lead most effectively and harness the very best from their people, the leader must serve those they lead. Stripped bare, leadership is fundamentally about influencing, motivating and inspiring others towards a common objective. It is a social relationship, fused through trust. Trust is built when those being led know that they are valued, that their interests are foremost and that their potential is being nurtured. Servant leadership is a fast track to earning and sustaining trust. And with trust comes respect, loyalty and a willingness to follow.

Servant leadership, however, extends far beyond just doing right by your people. It underpins the notion of responsibility that is inherent to any leader. By nurturing this sense of responsibility and embedding it into the culture of an organisation, associated behaviours become habitual and intuitive for both leaders and followers. In turn, leaders can unleash the full potential of their people. Any credible leader recognises that individual talent can only go so far. Moreover, no matter how credible the leader is, we all have our personal shortfalls and all are limited by time, resources, knowledge and understanding. Persistent high performance comes not through individual endeavour, but through the collaborative achievements of the team.

The impact of service before self also helps to mitigate another paradox of leadership: the more senior – and therefore responsible – a leader, the less visibility they are likely to have of the daily business of their team. The true impact of any leader, therefore, is understood when they are not present. It is marked by how willing others are to follow in their absence. Hence the responsibility of every leader to establish the conditions for success by serving others, supporting their needs, challenging their ambitions, setting a vision and nurturing a positive culture of shared purpose and identity.

Lt Col Langley Sharp is head of the Centre for Army Leadership and author of The Habit of Excellence: Why British Army Leadership Works.

THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU FROM THE WINTER 2021 ISSUE OF PROJECT JOURNAL, WHICH IS FREE FOR APM MEMBERS.