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To Serve Others

Handshake centered around the word serve

To Serve Others. The phrase has now become an earworm, like a song that just won’t go away. This has become my mantra as a result of a workshop for authors I attended. In order to understand what compelled us to write our book, the facilitator guided us through an exercise that gave us a north star as a point of focus.  The phrase is not new to me, I base my work on it but it was always I sensed but couldn’t articulate. After I completed the exercise, the words were staring me in the face as if they had been written in 72 point font.

Why it Matters

As leaders and managers, it is crucial that we define what service means to us personally and how the definition displays our values and beliefs. Once we understand the term, we can start to figure out who should be on the receiving end.  Granted, it’s easy for me to say, “figure out what matters to you and follow the golden rule” but we all know  It’s not that easy. The reason it isn’t easy is that messy things like emotions and conflict and critical thinking tend to get in the way. It means taking a hard look at the mindset and our actions but if you truly want to serve others, you have to be willing to do the work.

By aligning our north star to serve others, we become better managers and leaders. We also become better world citizens.  The world is a hot mess because many of us seem to have lost sight of that star. All you have to do is look at the news to know that the lack of servant leaders is apparent, and  I believe a big part of that is how we choose to define the word service.

Service

To serve others. What exactly does it mean? The word nerd in me made a beeline for the dictionary.  Here’s what I found: Service [noun] The action of helping or doing work for someone. (https://www.lexico.com/definition/service).  There you have it.  This seems pretty clear but when “we” become the someone that gets the help things can get ugly. The result is poor performance, high turnover, poor health (physical and mental), and emotional detachment from the very someone we want to help. Our job is to keep the “someone” in the forefront but how do we do it? Well, it takes courage, compassion, critical thinking skills, and strong emotional intelligence. These skills and attributes may not come naturally but we can learn them with some effort and dedication. Unless we are willing and able to do the work, we cannot be of service to others.

It Starts with Focusing on “We” vs  “Me”

I began by talking about aligning our north star.  If we stay true to our course, we don’t get distracted by things that get in the way because we have a plan to get to our ultimate destination. I said that our world is a hot mess and I believe one of the reasons is because leaders lose their bearings and start to shift their focus inward. Looking inward can make it more difficult to serve others.  When that happens, things tend to fall apart. Here are some examples:

Russia Invades Ukraine

This is the elephant in the room and I would be remiss not to use it because it is a stark example of two leaders with different foci. For me, the actions below paint a vivid picture of how each leader defines service.

Vladamir Putin:

  • Recognizes the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent and moves in troops to protect them from Ukraine. How are these two regions being served?
  • Invades Ukraine with the goal of stopping acceptance into NATO.
  • Must be concerned with reports that soldiers are sabotaging their vehicles to keep from fighting. It doesn’t matter if the reports are true or not, the reports have to be addressed.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

  • Refuses offer from the US to evacuate “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride”.  Are the people of Ukraine motivated to fight?
  • When asked if he was afraid of dying in the war, responded: “I simply do not have the right”. Again, does this inspire the citizens?

The news reports state that some Russian soldiers are sabotaging and abandoning their vehicles because they don’t want to fight. Conversely, in Ukraine, ordinary citizens are making Molotov cocktails to fend off the aggressors. Think about the actions of the leaders and the resulting actions of their people.  Which of these men exhibit the desire to serve others?

Covid-19 Mask Mandates

The divide over lockdowns and mask mandates takes servant leadership to a personal level. What some see as an imposition on personal freedom, others see as a major health issue.  For some, the mandate to wear a mask in public became an argument about the right of the government to tell us what to do with our bodies.  For others, it became a call to stop the spread of a virus that killed so many people around the world.  Community protection vs personal freedom is a singular example of service to self vs service to others.  Politicians, legislators, businesses, and health officials gave their opinions and those opinions impacted citizen groupthink. There is nothing wrong with being self-serving. The question is: When and how does self-service strengthen our ability to lead others?

Police actions and civil unrest:

The next time you see a law enforcement vehicle roll by, take a look. You’re likely to see the phrase “to protect and serve” or words to that effect. It’s a phrase that literally screams service to others,  yet we see more and more officers being held accountable for doing neither. Is there a lack of service and an escalation in enforcement? Are officers more concerned with serving themselves  (i.e. wanting to “control” the overall situation, fearing for their lives, etc.) or with protecting the public?

If the focus shifts from protection to enforcement it’s easy to see how our perception of who is bad can cost someone their life. We see a cell phone, we think it’s a gun so we pull the trigger.  A result is a dead man holding his cell phone in front of his own garage.   This is especially true if the officer lacks the ability to tamp down whatever fear they may be experiencing about their own safety. Emotion overrides the critical thinking skills necessary to de-escalate a dangerous situation. End result – a dead citizen and a felony charge against the officer.  In this instance, there’s no service to anyone.

Conclusion

I could go on and on but hopefully, you get what I’m trying to say. Serving others means instilling hope and courage. It means making people secure in their minds, bodies, and surroundings.  As leaders, it is up to us to make sure that our mindset is directed towards service and that it is present every day in every way.

One way we can do this is by purposely looking outward.  Ask yourself when you get to work: “how can I help the next 2 or 3 people I meet to be better?” How do I improve my conflict resolution skills?  How does this one small act make me a better world citizen?  Keep these questions top of mind. Plaster sticky notes all over your computer, put up signs, get a tattoo. Do whatever it takes to go out and serve others. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to stop thinking about what we want and concentrate on what others need.