Servant Leadership Research Paper

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Reflecting and Understanding Servant Leadership and Followership

To become more experienced in anything takes countless hours, effort, and sacrifices. Everyone starts somewhere, however most start from the bottom and slowly but surely rise to the top through dedication and work ethic. To be a servant leader you must fully understand what it means to be an effective follower by mastering enthusiasm, being proactive, versatile, as well as flexible. Although being an effective follower and a servant leader is similar and even at times the same thing, they do have their differences.
First, both must show enthusiasm in all aspects of their job. The fact of the matter is enthusiasm is contagious with everything you do, show optimism and you will not need to use it as a tool. As a subordinate showing enthusiasm in daily tasks, it will directly affect the attitudes of your peers. Immediate leadership will identify
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Being a proactive follower is one of the most important pieces of a team that is exercised the least. In order to show followership subordinates need to lead themselves. Followers do this by being proactive and getting tasks taken care of on a personal level. This will directly benefit the team and its effectiveness. By doing this, followers will be prepared to handle tasks on a more important status as soon as possible. Proactive individuals will hold others to a higher standard in the group, insisting on everyone to be just as proactive. This will further enhance the squad in achieving and building a baseline for a leadership style. Servant leaders should be aware among other things and to be aware leads to taking initiative, and then to being proactive. Mission effectiveness directly relies on the leaders being proactive, making sure the platoon, squads, and teams have organized and attacked needs and tasks at a low-level basis before they become an unnecessary

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