Educational Servant-Leaders and Personal Growth

Abstract

Background: Servant leadership is a leadership approach based on universal values and involves an ethical, practical, and meaningful way to live and lead. Servant leadership has been adopted around the world as a follower-centered transformational leadership paradigm focusing on identifying and meeting the needs of others. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to explore servant leadership and the personal growth phenomenon with the context of education. Research Design: This study used an exploratory collective case study which addressed how servant leader principals and superintendents understood and facilitated the personal growth of those they serve. Data Collection: Data were collected from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews and analyzed through inductive and deductive processes. Results: Two findings emerged from the study: 1. to facilitate the growth of others, educational servant-leaders utilized emotional intelligence and; 2. facilitated growth through the principles of a learning organization. Conclusion: Implications of the study suggested that participant servant leaders instituted paradoxical approaches, which leveraged the polarity between individual and group to facilitate the growth of staff as well as their organizations.