What Makes a Servant Leader

Servant leadership is an incredible way to jump start your dental business’s employer/employee relationship. If you’re tired of seeming like the “big bad boss”, it might be time to rethink your strategy. While it may sound paradoxical, servant leadership embodies the practical and pragmatic application of traditional management practices. As a servant leader, you need to exemplify and practice these attributes with your coworkers each day

• Listening: This means taking a few minutes to hear out your employees, whether that’s about a confusing project or touching base after the holidays. Communication isn’t just about speaking, but also being able to lend an ear.
• Empathy: If your employee had a recent personal trauma, hear them out if they want to talk. If there was a recent victory, celebrate work attributes in a positive manner to demonstrate your support.
• Awareness: Seeing problems before they happen, discussing them, and solving them are all a part of being aware of the future and its potential. 
• Persuasion: Being a leader is about leading, not ordering. To be persuasive, you must make work worthwhile; growing towards business or personal goals.

Naturally, good servant leaders are pros at understanding the needs of their coworkers, and are quick to lend a hand to help. Saying something like “What can I help you with on this task?” instead of “Why isn’t this done?” is a far more productive conversation. A servant leader holds employees accountable, but also knows that team effort is always the way to victory.

At eAssist, we have made effective servant leadership the primary goal of each of our team members. Together, we and your dental practice will create an environment that is not only positive, but collaborative and exciting, with new changes and growth happening daily.