5 Signs You're a Servant Leader
1. You genuinely celebrate others' successes more than your own
When team members achieve goals or receive recognition, you feel a deep sense of satisfaction that often exceeds your feelings about your own accomplishments. You find yourself actively looking for opportunities to highlight others' contributions, and you naturally give credit to your team when discussing successes with senior leadership or external stakeholders.
2. You spend more time asking questions than giving answers
Your instinct when someone brings you a problem is to ask thoughtful questions that help them discover solutions rather than immediately providing your own recommendations. You're genuinely curious about others' perspectives and reasoning, and you often find that the questions you ask help people develop their own problem-solving capabilities.
3. Team members come to you for development conversations, not just work issues
People seek you out for career advice, skill development discussions, and personal growth conversations. You notice that your one-on-one meetings naturally evolve beyond immediate work topics to include discussions about strengths, goals, challenges, and opportunities for learning and advancement.
4. You feel energized by helping others overcome challenges
Rather than viewing team members' struggles as burdens on your time, you find satisfaction in coaching people through difficult situations. You're willing to invest extra time and effort when someone needs support, and you genuinely enjoy seeing people develop new capabilities and confidence.
5. You regularly advocate for your team with senior leadership
You actively work to secure resources, opportunities, and recognition for your team members. You're comfortable having difficult conversations with your own leadership when necessary to support your people, and you consistently look for ways to create growth opportunities and advancement paths for those you lead.
Recognize these servant leadership traits in yourself? Our assessment can help you understand the full scope of your leadership style and provide strategies to maximize your impact.