Digest this definition. When it feels clear and logical to you, move into the activities. No need to rush.
How many storyFORMs do I need?
A quick note about "servant leadership". Please don't force the concept on people who rebel or resist the idea. History shows us that "servant" is an ideal attached to hierarchies that, for some, were deadly and, for others, stymying.
If servant-leadership does resonate with your group, here are some further touchstones.
Trompenaars and Voerman say servant leadership "is a question of inner motivation, of a deeply felt mission" (2009: xiii) that underlies what Robert K Greenleaf identifed in 1970: a "management style in which leading and serving are in harmony, and thoughtful interaction with the environment" (3).
The relation between service and wholism is articulated by cancer physician Rachel Remen. Her 1999 article in the magazine Shambala Sun explained:
"Helping, fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.
[...]
"Serving is different from helping. Helping is not a relationship between equals. A helper may see others as weaker than they are, needier than they are, and people often feel this inequality. The danger in helping is that we may inadvertently take away from people more than we could ever give them; we may diminish their self-esteem, their sense of worth, integrity or even wholeness.
"When we help, we become aware of our own strength. But when we serve, we don’t serve with our strength; we serve with ourselves, and we draw from all of our experiences. Our limitations serve; our wounds serve; even our darkness can serve. My pain is the source of my compassion; my woundedness is the key to my empathy.
"Serving makes us aware of our wholeness and its power. The wholeness in us serves the wholeness in others and the wholeness in life. The wholeness in you is the same as the wholeness in me. Service is a relationship between equals: our service strengthens us as well as others. Fixing and helping are draining, and over time we may burn out, but service is renewing. When we serve, our work itself will renew us. In helping we may find a sense of satisfaction; in serving we find a sense of gratitude."
Reference
Trompeenaars, Fons and Ed Voerman. (2009). Servant-Leadership Across Cultures; Harnessing the strength of the world's most powerful leadership philosophy. Oxford: Infinite Ideas.
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