reality

The inconvenience of serving others

I bet you’ve been faced with a situation where someone needed help and you knew the right thing—or Servant Leader thing— to do was to offer your assistance, yet you didn’t. Likely you were faced with your own pile of work and were feeling overwhelmed yourself. That’s just reality.

But the thing we need to realize is that being a Servant Leader means we’re always “on call,” as Lary Kirchenbauer puts it:

To serve means you’re on call. It doesn’t mean that you must have an open door every minute of the day, but it does mean that you stand ready and willing to serve your troops, and recognize their needs don’t always come in handy doses delivered at a convenient time. The test of a true leader is the ability to be present, to be reliable and disciplined about how to serve her team, and her willingness to go the extra mile to make sure that she’s serving her team, when, and where needed […] Don’t get run over, lose money or make accommodations that are unreasonable. Bring a positive “service” attitude as your sidekick and be willing to go the extra mile to serve everyone in your universe.

Joe Kiedinger

Action Plan:  I challenge you this week to remain present and stand ready and willing to serve…even if it does come at the most inconvenient of times. That’s just the Servant Leader thing to do.

A Servant’s Journey

I was fascinated watching him play. “Get out of you,” I heard a voice say. I watched as he challenged me and how I loved him as he grew into a preteenager. “Get out of you,” I heard the voice say again. I was too busy judging him, pretending that his reality was my own. He became a teenager and I felt him drifting away. “Get out of you,” the voice said yet another time. I finally decided to listen to the voice.  As soon as I got out of me, I was finally able see my son for who he was. My eyes were open and I could finally be the dad he needed me to be.

Get out of yourself this week and begin to understand those around you: a spouse, a child, a co-worker or a friend. A Servant Leader sees people through their eyes. Join us and see again for the first time.

Joe Kiedinger