Servant Leadership: The vital key to your tech team's success

October 5th, 2023

Servant leadership. It is a term that almost sounds backwards, but implementing it as a leader is crucial to not just your team's success, but your success too. There are many ways you can define "Servant Leader", but here are two of mine:

  • A servant leader is someone “whose actions and motivations reflect a selfless commitment to a cause, an organization, or their teammates.” (Kouzes & Posner)
  • Servant leaders empower, not overpower. Providing them with tools and resources for them to succeed. Helping them develop professionally and personally. (Maxwell Leadership Executive Podcast)

Typically what we understand leadership to be is a top-down model. One person at the top, commanding everyone at the bottom. That's pretty normal on most teams, regardless of the field. And it works, right? Well, what if I told you that flipping that top-down model to a down-top model (aka: leading from behind) would actually cause you and your team to excel as not only a unit, but as individuals?

Why servant leadership?

Something that easily slips from our minds as leaders is this: We are leading humans. And if the only time that you remember that is when one of your team members makes a mistake, it is time to make a shift in your thinking. When we lead from the bottom, and seek to serve others before ourselves, we really bring back to our remembrance that hey, we are leading real life people, just like ourselves. Yes, of course we want to see our company succeed and of course we want to meet deadlines, but if we prioritize those ahead of our people the results are as follows:

  • Burnt out team members
  • Lack of loyalty in the team
  • A team who really just wants to punch in and punch out (Leading to a lack of quality products)
  • People who don't really care to stick around or go an extra mile
You see, when we lead in the "classic" way (where we are disconnected from those under us, expect them to work with excellence because "well they get a paycheck from us!", and expect them to improve and grow all on their own) I believe we fail them as a leader. However, if we take the title "leader" as an opportunity to come alongside those under us and ask "Hey, how best can I help you today? What can I do that will help you win today?" we show them that we care, and that in turn will actually help them care about and enjoy what they do (and in turn, building better products and driving better results)

How can I become a servant leader?

These 5 points come from this episode of the Maxwell Executive Leadership Podcast (with some of my own notes added):

  • Intention. Servant leadership begins from the inside. People can practically smell your intentions, no matter how good you think you are at hiding them!
  • Presence. "Focused intention on the person you are with." Be fully engaged with the teammate or person you are with. People will be able to tell when you check out, and you will not get your intent across when you are disengaged.
  • Provision. Ask yourself this: How am I providing for and equipping the people on my team?
  • Care. Care for your people personally. Their environment, their professional development, their families, etc.
  • Reward. Celebrate the wins! I know you are headed somewhere next, but don't be so focused on what is next that you don't acknowledge the accomplishments your people are making now.

Why this is uniquely important in the tech space

Let me make that a bit more concise: Why it is uniquely important as a Senior/Principal/Staff engineer. Or, really any role where you have gained the expertise to be where you are, and have people under you who desire to know what you know.

Let's take this situation for example: You are a senior dev. You have a junior dev under you, and they are stuck on what sounds like to you a simple problem. You have 2 choices: A) Get frustrated. I mean, they should know these things. This is the 4th time they have slowed things down, don't they know how to figure things out for themselves? B) Get understanding. At the end of the day, they want to be where you are. They want to know how to fix this problem, and while they could eventually get it themselves, if you would just come along side them and use it as a teaching/serving moment, they probably won't run into it again.

Do you see how servant leadership actually will save you time and money? People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And when they know you care, they will stick around. They will go that extra mile. They will put in the quality work you need them to, and they will be happy to do it. Why? Because when we lead from behind, they feel seen, empowered, trusted, and excited.

What I am not saying

I am most certainly not saying we need to do everything for everyone, and never let anyone figure out things for themselves. We don't let ourselves be led by feelings and pity, or let ourselves be doormats. Servant leadership is not a position of weakness, but a position of strength. You are a warrior for your people. You are going before them, knocking down barriers they might have, helping them to truly succeed in their career and even personal lives. (Maxwell Leadership Executive Podcast)

Final thoughts

There's a good quote that goes something like this: "Don't grade my paper, help me get the A!". When you help your team members get "A"s, you are forming a team that eventually becomes incredibly productive, resourceful, and delivers quality results every single time. When we implement servant leadership in the tech space, we cultivate our culture of learning, which is uniquely vital to us as this is the one of the fastest evolving industries in the world.