Servant Leadership A Model For Corporate Responsibility

These days, the words "ethics" and "business" may not seem to fit in the same sentence together. With so many corporate scandals, the last thing we expect to hear about are companies that invest in their employees and their communities. However, a number of companies are embracing a model known as servant leadership, becoming responsible corporate citizens and empowering their employees.

But businesses do have an ulterior motive: Giving to employees and the community comes back to them in positive ways.

"The idea is to make servants out of leaders and leaders out of servants," says Bruce Dalgaard, an economics professor at St. Olaf College.

Empower Your Employees

The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership website explains the concept this way: "Servant leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions."

"It goes farther than a company taking care of its employees," adds Dalgaard. "It needs to include empowering employees."

That empowerment, says Dalgaard, becomes a two-way street. As the business encourages the employee to contribute to the community, the employee brings something back to the business.

Servant leadership also extends beyond simply donating money to the community.

"I have no criticism of companies that want to contribute 5 percent of their profits or 5 percent of their employees' time," says Dalgaard, "but for servant leadership they have to find a way to make that a two-way street."

Medtronic

Medtronic is a company that has embraced the idea of servant leadership.

"We are a very involved company," says Christy Eichers, Medtronic's manager of employee involvement. "Part of our mission is volunteerism."

Medtronic has a number of programs that help promote its commitment to servant leadership, including Mission in Motion, Time-N-Talent, and Furniture Fridays.

Mission in Motion involves a partnership with VolunteerMatch, an online service that matches employees with volunteer opportunities.

That partnership also helped the company organize Furniture Fridays, a program in which Medtronic employees donate their time to build furniture for people in transition. Last year, 750 Medtronic employees volunteered. Medtronic's Time-N-Talent program offers a double bonus for organizations. Once an employee donates 25 hours of his or her time to an organization, then Medtronic will donate $500 to that organization.

"We don't tell them where they have to give their hours," says Eichers. "If you have a passion to work with pets, that's wonderful. With volunteerism, they have to feel a connection."

The Bottom Line

It's no secret that companies are in business to make money. But does servant leadership equate to greater income for a company?

Yes and no.

Eichers sees the principal benefit in happier, more satisfied employees.

"You're working with a very fulfilled individual," she says.

Further, she note, college graduates are increasingly civic-minded.

"Volunteerism becomes a recruitment and retention issue," she says.

"Does it benefit companies in terms of the bottom line?" asks Dalgaard. "It probably does. It empowers employees. It engenders a commitment to the organizations, and it creates a growth path for the employees."

On The Web

• Medtronic: www.medtronic.com.

• VolunteerMatch: www.volunteermatch.org.

• Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership: www.greenleaf.org.