Training in Franciscan Servant Leadership

Next week, I will be presenting on Training in Franciscan Servant Leadership for Business Leaders together with Marcy Ripberger of Character Council of Indiana at the 2010 Symposium of the Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities. The symposium is being hosted by the University of St. Francis in Ft. Wayne, IN.

Marcy and I will be building on the practices of Franciscan Servant Leadership that I discussed in my previous blog: dialogue, discernment of gifts, and shared leadership. I will add prayer to that list as well. After this brief talk, we hope to show a couple of videos – one modeling poor leadership and the other modeling an appeals process that will illustrate some of the practices of Franciscan leadership in action. I imagine an energetic discussion will ensue.

The theme of the symposium is “Care for Creation.” Since business can be conceived of as an essential human creation – and since there is plenty of evidence that business has been poorly cared for of late – our presentation fits the symposium theme nicely.

Without giving away the whole presentation, suffice it to say that the four practices build upon one another. Through prayer, we discern God’s call to us to serve as leaders. Since servant leadership is about meeting needs, we engage in dialogue with those we serve to discern those needs. True dialogue that seeks the good of the other and not ourselves is only possible if undergirded by a prayerful attitude. As we discover needs and conceive of tasks to be performed to meet those needs, we need to understand our own and our team members’ gifts and talents. As we go through this discernment individually and in community, we do so in prayer and through dialogue. Finally, as we set upon the tasks before us, we share in leadership of the team. Those best equipped for certain tasks step up and lead the team. Some leaders may need to step down and allow others to exercise leadership and take authority. Again, we do this prayerfully, engaging in dialogue and constantly reviewing the gifts and talents of each person in the group.

While the practices of dialogue, discernment of gifts, and shared leadership can be embraced by a secular approach to servant leadership, I believe that prayer is a necessary practice that undergirds and perfects the other 3 practices. Furthermore, the Franciscan flavor of these practices is evident because the practices bring to fulfillment the four Franciscan values that Marian University embraces: dignity of the individual; peace and justice; reconciliation; and responsible stewardship.

Lead from the Heart: Ethical Perspectives on Servant Leadership

On Thursday, March 11, the Center for Organizational Ethics at Marian University will sponsor a panel discussion on servant leadership titled "Lead from the Heart: Ethical Perspectives on Servant Leadership." Servant leadership was first suggested by Robert K. Greenleaf, who understood servant leadership to be a vocational approach to leadership that opts for servanthood rather than power as the basis for leading others.


The event will be held at Civic Theatre, a venue selected because it provides fully accessible facilities. Starting with a continental breakfast at 7:30, the program will begin at 8:00 a.m. A discussion and Q&A opportunity will follow the presentations. The event will end at 9:30.


Our speakers will be Dr. Kent Keith, CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership; Marcy Ripberger, President of the Character Council of Indiana; Richard W. Smith, consultant and Organizational Development Specialist with the Peace Learning Center; and me.


Dr. Keith will provide an overview of servant leadership and Ms. Ripberger will present on character traits of servant leadership. Richard W. Smith will take a narrative approach with stories of ideas that were significant markers in the life of Robert Greenleaf. Finally, I will present on a Franciscan understanding of servant leadership.


This is the first public event for the Center for Organizational Ethics, so I am very excited. I hope some of you might be able to make it to the event and learn with us about the ethical value of a servanthood approach rather than a power approach to leading and nurturing others.