Free resource / From Servant Leadership Stories
The Servant Leadership Implementation Checklist
Take care of your people. Use this checklist with your own team: tick what you already do, and pick one item to start this week.
Earn trust where the work happens
- Ask one employee to teach you their job—then do a shift of it yourself.
- Walk the process end to end before you change it.
- Trust the people in the field, closest to the work, over distant staff reports.
- Show up where the work happens at least once a week.
Keep your integrity visible
- Do what you said you would do—ideally a day early.
- Admit your mistakes immediately and publicly.
- Never lie to your followers or your superiors.
- Be positive, but never sugarcoat a crisis.
Invest in your people
- Give every person a clear, documented training plan.
- Communicate through each person’s preferred channel.
- Listen to your team’s problems—and help solve them.
- Praise people who do a good job, often.
- Hire people who are better and smarter than you.
Lead the improvement
- Offer solutions, not problems, and keep them simple.
- Go with your gut when the data runs out; avoid data paralysis.
- Share your hard lessons with others—and do not embellish them.
- Accept the blame when it arrives on your desk.
This week’s challenge
- Find one broken process to fix.
- Find one person to mentor.
- Find one opportunity to lead from the front.