Servant leadership is a buzz word. Agile principles encourage servant leadership in the Scrum Master role and for other managers as well. What does servant leadership really entail? I often hear the misperception that servant leadership seems too soft, weak, squishy, unclear, and/or un-opinionated: in other words, far too accommodative. On the other hand, Agile values shun the idea of command-and-control (overly assertive) leadership.

The Leadership Agility model indicates that the strongest leaders - Catalyst leaders - achieve a very deliberate balance between accommodative and assertive leadership. Here is what the research indicates for these three levels of leadership, in order from the least developed to most developed leadership stage.

• Expert-level leaders typically default to one style or the other, without much self-awareness of which style they are using.

• Achiever-level leaders typically prefer to be accommodative or assertive, and are uncomfortable with the opposite style. They will compromise if they can’t win.

• Catalyst-level leaders are more balanced. They deliberately choose when to be more assertive versus accommodative, and they are adept (e.g. agile) at intentionally shifting between the two. They seek win-win solutions.

Here is a framework for balancing assertion and accommodation in a conversation or dialogue.

1. [balanced] Align each party’s objective

2. [accommodative] Explore their perspectives. Seek first to understand.

3. [balanced] Clarify understanding of perspectives shared.

4. [assertive] Share your insights, wisdom, and opinions

5. [balanced] Empower action

If your style tends to be too assertive, you can create more balance by emphasizing step #2. If you are typically too accommodative, you might want to emphasize step #4 to create a more balanced approach.

Interested in developing your own Catalyst leadership skills? Contact us about the Agile Leadership Journey (CAL) training and practice programs.