Lupe Munoz and Steve McKeon tackle common misconceptions about servant leadership and provide practical insights for avoiding leadership pitfalls while genuinely serving your team.
• Servant leadership is often confused with people-pleasing, but true servant leaders maintain accountability
• Holding team members accountable can actually be an act of servant leadership when framed as a development opportunity
• Over-functioning for your team by solving all problems yourself prevents growth and learning
• Sometimes leaders need to step back and observe to find root causes rather than just manage symptoms
• Servant leadership doesn't mean always achieving consensus before making decisions
• Effective servant leaders seek input and listen to understand, even if they make unpopular decisions
• Self-care is essential—an exhausted leader can't effectively serve their team
• Listen first and speak last to avoid influencing team opinions prematurely
• Create psychological safety where team members feel comfortable disagreeing respectfully
• Proactively develop all team members, not just those who ask for growth opportunities
• Servant leadership is related to transformational leadership but requires knowing when different leadership approaches are needed
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