Servant leadership: meeting the challenges of pastoral and social ministry in the church: an exploratory study

Universidade do Minho Escola de Economia e Gestão Simon Okechukwu Ayogu July 2020 Servant Leadership: Meeting the Challenges of Pastoral and Social Ministry in the Church (An exploratory study) Simon Okechukwu Ayogu Servant Leadership: Meeting the Challenges of Pastoral and Social Ministry in the Church (An exploratory study) UMinho|2020 Simon Okechukwu Ayogu July 2020 Servant Leadership: Meeting the Challenges of Pastoral and Social Ministry in the Church (An exploratory study) Supervisor: Profº Doutor João Leite Ribeiro Master's thesis in Human Resource Management Universidade do Minho Escola de Economia e Gestão ii DIREITOS DE AUTOR E CONDIÇÕES DE UTILIZAÇÃO DO TRABALHO POR TERCEIROS Este é um trabalho académico que pode ser utilizado por terceiros desde que respeitadas as regras e boas práticas internacionalmente aceites, no que concerne aos direitos de autor e direitos conexos. Assim, o presente trabalho pode ser utilizado nos termos previstos na licença abaixo indicada. Caso o utilizador necessite de permissão para poder fazer um uso do trabalho em condições não previstas no licenciamento indicado, deverá contactar o autor, através do RepositóriUM da Universidade do Minho. Atribuição-NãoComercial-CompartilhaIgual CC BY-NC-SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS How excellent O Lord is your loving kindness. Thank you for your many gifts, one of which is bringing this intellectual expedition to a successful end. Obviously, this work would never have been written but for God and for the gift of some human and material resources he readily put at my disposal. To him be given all glory, honour and my undying hymn of praise. I owe immense tribute to the Holy Ghost Congregation Province of Portugal under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Pedro Fernandes C.S.Sp. To my other confreres; I say thank you for your patience and encouragement. My project supervisor, Profº Doutor João Leite Ribeiro has always been handy with suggestions and rectifications. He generously put his time and expertise at the service of this modest work. While I take responsibility for any deficiency this work may contain, I attribute the credit of it all, to his kind dispositions. Many thanks to all those who kindly accepted to be interviewed for the purpose of this work under the abnormal circumstances imposed on us all by the pandemic; COVID-19. Lastly, my heart overflows with profound gratitude to those numerous others, especially the family of Ildefonso, Prof. Lisa Silva and Ekezie, my brother, whose friendship I have shared; and whose support saw me through the final and most difficult stages of this write up. To all those who have contributed to my training known or unknown to me, nobody deserves my thanks more than you do. iv DECLARATION OF INTEGRITY I declare to have acted with integrity in the preparation of this academic work and I confirm that I have not used plagiarism or any form of use undue or falsified information or results in any of the steps leading to its elaboration. I further state that I know and have respected the Code of Ethical Conduct of the University of Minho. v ABSTRACT Servant Leadership: Meeting the Challenges of Pastoral and Social Ministry in the Church (An exploratory study) Servant leaders focus on the needs of followers. Robert K. Greenleaf has maintained that a servant leader is first a servant and implicitly that everybody can lead. By popularizing this age-long principle of leadership, Greenleaf carved a niche for himself and reawakened the conscience of humanity about this sustainable style of leadership. In an egocentric society, aided by a sweeping technological advancement, people are tendentially creating a world in which they are the centre of all attractions; in which they crave the service of all and sundry but think less of what they can give to the other. This work aims at answering the following questions: Is today’s Church still adhering to Jesus’ example of leading by example as in the washing of the feet of his disciples? And, are those served better off for the service, that is; are they better citizens, are they healthier, are they more autonomous and are they freer? Besides an organized literature review, semi-structured interviews were conducted and a pool of responses obtained, that aided the study in no small measure. Though the interviews overly tended towards the relationship between the Church and the practice and application of servant leadership, the reach of the work is more embracing, as the Church was only used as a launching pad to demonstrate, without pretence to superiority over other styles of leadership, that the principles of servant leadership are efficient in charting the course and in the day-to-day running of all human institutions and organizations. From the results obtained from the studies, interviews and the analyses thereof, it was found that though relatively an up-and-coming style of leadership, some interviewees marvelled at the concept of servant leadership. Nevertheless, they agreed as to its efficacy for a successful leadership. It was observed that servant leadership presents a better alternative to all leaders who have understood that gone are the days of the CEO mode of leadership. Keywords: Church, humility, leadership, servant leadership, service. vi RESUMO Liderança Servidora: Ao encontro dos desafios de ministério pastoral e social na Igreja (Um estudo exploratório) Os líderes servidores concentram-se nas necessidades dos seguidores. Robert K. Greenleaf afirmou que um líder servo é primeiro um servo e implicitamente que todos podem liderar. Ao popularizar este antigo princípio de liderança, Greenleaf destacou-se nos estudos da liderança e reavivou a consciência da humanidade sobre este estilo sustentável de liderança. Numa sociedade egocêntrica, ajudada por um avanço tecnológico generalizado, as pessoas tendem a criar um mundo no qual são o centro de todas as atrações, no qual anseiam pelo serviço de todos, mas pensam menos no que o outro podem dar aos outros. Este trabalho vem responder às seguintes questões. Será que a Igreja de hoje continua a aderir ao exemplo de Jesus de liderar pelo exemplo, como na lavagem dos pés dos seus discípulos? E, será que aqueles que são servidos mostram-se melhores, isto é; são melhores cidadãos, são mais saudáveis, são mais autónomos, são mais livres? Para além de uma revisão de literatura organizada, foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas e obtido um conjunto de respostas que ajudaram o estudo em grande medida. Embora as entrevistas tendessem demasiado para a relação entre a igreja e a prática e aplicação da liderança servidora, o alcance é mais abrangente, uma vez que a igreja foi apenas utilizada como plataforma de lançamento para demonstrar, sem pretensões de superioridade sobre outros estilos de liderança, que os princípios da liderança servidora são eficientes no planeamento do funcionamento quotidiano de todas as instituições e organizações humanas. A partir dos resultados obtidos com os estudos, entrevistas e análises dos mesmos, verificou-se que, apesar de um estilo de liderança relativamente promissor, alguns dos entrevistados ficaram maravilhados com o conceito de liderança servidora. No entanto, estavam de acordo quanto à sua eficácia para uma liderança bem sucedida. Observou-se que a liderança servidora apresenta uma alternativa melhor para todos os líderes que já compreenderam que os dias do modo de liderança CEO; já se foram. Palavras-chave: Humildade, igreja, liderança, liderança servidora, serviço. vii CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................1 1.1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.3. QUESTIONS SEEKING ANSWERS ......................................................................................................................... 2 1.4. JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................................................... 2 1.5. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .............................................................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW - THE CONCEPT OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP ..................................................8 2.1. LEADERSHIP ................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.1.1. The Concept of Leadership ................................................................................................................ 8 2.1.2. The evolution of leadership theories ................................................................................................... 9 2.2. THE CONCEPT OF SERVICE .................................................................................................................... 10 2.3. SERVANT LEADERS ............................................................................................................................... 10 2.4. CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP........................................................................................ 11 2.5. THE NOVELTY OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP ................................................................................................... 12 2.6. STUDIES ON SERVANT LEADERSHIP ......................................................................................................... 13 2.6.1. Servant leadership in relation to the Church ................................................................................... 16 2.6.2. Servant leadership in relation to educational institutions ............................................................. 18 2.6.3. Servant leadership in relation to the society ................................................................................... 20 2.6.4. Conceptualizing servant leadership in Portugal ................................................................................. 21 2.6.5. Jesus leadership style: An example of servant leadership ............................................................ 23 2.6.5.1. Vision .........................................................................................................................................................25 2.6.5.2. Inter-personal intelligence ...........................................................................................................................25 2.6.5.3. Non-segregationist ......................................................................................................................................26 2.6.5.4. Teaching ....................................................................................................................................................26 2.6.5.5. Resource provider .......................................................................................................................................26 2.6.5.6. Compassion ...............................................................................................................................................27 2.6.5.7. Delegation with authority .............................................................................................................................27 2.6.5.8. Prayerful ....................................................................................................................................................28 2.6.5.9. Sense of purpose ........................................................................................................................................28 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................... 30 3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................................................................................. 30 3.2. INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION - INTERVIEWS .................................................................................... 30 3.3. METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................................... 31 3.4. CHARACTERIZATION OF THOSE INTERVIEWED .............................................................................................. 32 3.5. INTERVIEW SAMPLE ..................................................................................................................................... 33 3.6. PROCEDURES...................................................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER IV - PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA ............................................................................... 35 4.1. METHODOLOGICAL POSITIONING/PROCEDURES .................................................................................................. 35 4.2. CATEGORY I ................................................................................................................................................ 37 4.3. CATEGORY II ............................................................................................................................................... 44 4.4. CATEGORY III .............................................................................................................................................. 53 4.5. THE FRANCIS EFFECT ................................................................................................................................... 61 4.6. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SERVANT LEADERSHIP AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ......................................... 64 4.7. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND POPE FRANCIS .................................................. 65 CHAPTER V GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................... 67 5.1. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................ 67 5.2. MAIN CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 68 5.4. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH............................................................................................................ 70 5.5. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................................................ 70 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 72 viii List of Abbreviations CEO Chief Executive Officer COVID Corona Virus Disease GLOBE Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness Jn John LK Luke MASH Mobile Army Surgical Hospital MBWA Management by Walking Around Mk Mark Mt Matthew TWIST Tesco Week in Store Together 6 Other authors of great interest whose popular assertions wet the scholarly appetite of any committed management scholar are Blanchard & Hodges (2003). According to them, one who strives to be a servant leader “must elevate the growth and development of people from a ‘means’ goal to an ‘end’ goal of equal importance to the product or service mission of the organization. Servant leadership requires a level of intimacy with the needs and aspirations of the people being led that might be beyond the level of intimacy an ego-driven leader is willing to sustain”. They avow that a servant leader should pursue effectiveness and not necessarily success, because; on the one hand, “success can involve accomplishing short-term goals at the long-range detriment of those engaged in creating success, on the other hand, effectiveness accomplishes the long-range growth and development of those involved in producing the desired end as well as the result itself”. Besides doing a conceptual study of previous works on the subject of study, especially those of Greenleaf and other relevant works already on the subject of leadership in general and servant leadership in particular; we will show how servant leadership is antecedent to any worthwhile pastoral and social ministry in the Church. Building on these facts and bringing to discussion some biblical references where Jesus commissions his disciples to serve, we would have established a base for attempting the questions posed by Greenleaf: Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived? (Greenleaf, 1977). Jesus in the gospel of (Mark 9,35), says to his disciples, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all” in response to the argument that ensued, Jesus rebukes them and affirms that the greatest of them shall be servant of all. Jesus here formulates the basis of servant leadership. In his letter to the (Philippians 2,6), Paul writes about Jesus’ self-emptying thus; who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Paul here asks that his disciples and ipso facto, Jesus’ disciples of all times, should live a selfemptying life. These biblical references, combined with Greenleaf’s theories or philosophy of servant leadership, provide us a viable theoretical framework for examining whether the Church has remained faithful to the call of servant leadership. Since the work is proposing some change, it is important to show examples of two Churchmen of our time who show that the desired change is possible. I cite the circumstances of 7 the historic act of Ratzinger’s (Benedict XVI) resignation which shocked the world and left the Church rethinking: However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is. Obviously, though his office is ad vitam , alleging that he no longer possessed the requisite strength to fulfil the necessary duties, he gave a supreme example of a servant leader by considering the flock first. The precedents of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Archbishop of Buenos Aires before becoming Pope, and afterwards, all point to the principles of servant leadership and confirm them as the way the Church should go. The duo of Ratzinger and Bergoglio were brought in at this point to demonstrate that the Church prices servant leadership as abundantly manifested in the last two Churchmen she chose to direct her affairs. Assuredly, Human Resource Management is not lacking in theories, types and philosophies of leadership; but servant leadership, here under study, is chosen to demonstrate that leadership is at its best when it seeks to promote the interests of the followers first and foremost (Greenleaf, 1977; see also Rego, 1998; Rego & Cunha, 2003). So, we will be on the lookout for whichever recognizes leadership as service, where the led are actually given a pride of place in the scheme of things. An arrangement where the classic organizational pyramid is turned upsidedown would best illustrate the intents of this work. Done with the introduction, we shall now examine existing literature to create a foundation based on the points of view of those who before us have undertaken to study servant leadership. 8 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW - THE CONCEPT OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP 2.1. Leadership Over the years, various authors and experts have given their contributions in bequeathing to posterity a tenable concept and practice of leadership via the various philosophies and styles of leadership that have evolved over time. In order to give the topic here in question a good treatment, we are going to undertake a brief exposé of the concept of leadership in general, reflecting traditional philosophies, theories of, and approaches to leadership and then narrow it down to Servant Leadership. This will focus on servant leadership firstly as an up and coming leadership style and secondly as that style that influences and impacts the most in peoples’ lives in general and the Church in particular. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to present a literature review about the topic in question and to take into consideration the meaning, focus and importance of Servant Leadership as an emerging leadership style. 2.1.1. The Concept of Leadership Leadership is a wide-ranging concept in organizational behaviour and Human Resource Management. It is among the most contentious concepts in Human Resource Management because of its importance in the life and sustainability of any organizational setup. Consequently, it has attracted an avalanche of research and postulations (Hoch et al., 2016). Leadership is one of the most comprehensively researched social influence processes in the behavioural sciences. This is because the success or otherwise of all economic, social, political, and organizational systems depend on the effective and efficient guidance of the leader of these systems (de Lacerda, 2015). This suggests that the style of its leader defines an organization. For instance, in a democratic society, the emergence of an autocratic leader might lead to disorderliness and is likely to put the society on the wrong path. As Rabinowitz (2019) opines, the leadership style of a leader can have profound effects on an organization and its staff members and can determine whether the organization is effective or not. According to Stephen and Timothy (2016), leadership is the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of a vision or set of goals. Leadership could generally be seen as the exercise of influence and the giving of direction by someone, formerly or otherwise; over a group of people in a given organizational structure (Yukl, 2006; Northouse, 2010; French & Raven, 1959). 9 In the context and scope of GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness, 2004 and 2007), leadership is the capacity of an individual to influence, motivate and enable others to contribute to the efficacy and success of organizations to which they belong. 2.1.2. The evolution of leadership theories Over time, the traditional practice of leadership and its theoretical underpinnings have evolved and changed considerably, but the need thereof remains constant. Some of the traditional theories of leadership are traceable to and can be grouped under trait, behavioural and contingency. As the name goes, trait theories perceive leadership as innate (Businessballs, 2019) as good leaders are born, not made. It identifies a host of personal characteristics like social status, intelligence and physical attributes that distinguish between leaders and followers. Leaders were thought of as possessing some universal “givens” bequeathed to them at birth. They are believed to possess fixed and inalienable characteristics that can be applied to any given situation. In this theory, one does not become a leader, rather one is a leader The trait theory however, failed to consider the multiple nature of problems faced by leaders and the varying circumstances of those being led. Added to this is the fact that the trait theory is not measurable since the leader is both the game-inventor and chief-player. Behavioural theories, contrary to trait theories, affirm that leadership is a learnable attribute. Here, the emphasis is on what the leader does rather than where he or she comes from or how he or she looks. Both traits and behaviour go a long way in providing leadership necessities to institutions, communities and organizations, but are not exhaustive in problem solving; hence the contingency theories. Contingency theories focus more on situational variables because leadership cannot be stereotyped or defined in terms of creating a modus operandi ideal for every circumstance or situation (McKenzie & Love, 2016). Contingency theories can otherwise be called context theories because they are more dynamic and flexible. It is a style of leadership that allows a particular context of leadership to inform the leader of a more appropriate measure to adopt in a given situation. 10 2.2. The Concept of Service The concept of service would be considered in line with the term servant, at times; interchangeably. One of the major descriptors of servant leadership, which has been portrayed as a core leadership value, is service. This value refers to one’s commitment to an altruistic approach to life (Haslip & Penn, 2020; Centre for participation, 2008). The desire and willingness to sacrifice self interest in the service to others and to make a difference in their lives is the first precept of servant leadership (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006). According to the Longman dictionary of English language and culture (3rd Edition, 2000), a servant is a person who serves someone, rather than controlling their activities. Going by the above, a servant is not a master but an auxiliary that helps to bring out the best in the other. To serve simply means to do useful work for a person, an organization, a Church, a country or all of humanity with the view to help them meet their needs (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020). Those who exhibit this value perform in the interest of the greater good without expectation of reward and praise. Instead, they understand that working hard, sometimes even without recognition, is a necessary ingredient for success. 2.3. Servant leaders Servant leaders make a conscious choice to serve first. In their work, they place the good of the followers over their self-interests. They build strong relationships with others, they are empathic, ethical and lead in ways that serve the greater good of followers, the organization, the community and the society at large (Bennis, 2002). A servant leader has true commitment to his or her followers and predominantly serves the needs of followers, hence providing vision and empowerment, with service being the main activity (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002; Stone et al., 2004; Mahembe & Engelbrecht, 2013). A servant leader’s fundamental desire is to help others first. Servant leadership begins when a leader assumes the position of servant in his or her interactions with followers. Servant leaders are first and foremost servants at heart and are called to a life of service, thus servant leaders choose to lead based on the interest of others, as opposed to self-interest (Russell & Stone, 2002; Patterson, 2003). Servant leaders are therefore follower focused and their main aim is to serve others and fulfil their needs (Parolini et al., 2009 as cited in Lim and Desa, 2013). This simple fact is the key to leader greatness (Greenleaf, 1977). The value of service can be developed by committing one’s 11 self to community service initiatives. In most cases, service could involve the leaders volunteering time to a charitable or non-profit organization that is dedicated to the public good. Volunteering is a great way to cultivate this all-important leadership value (Dolnicar & Randle, 2007). Servant leaders model service through their own behaviour, thus cultivating an organizational culture of service that inspires and motivates followers (Patterson, 2003). Leaders understand that service is the center of servant leadership and they should emulate a service model for the follower in their behaviour, attitudes and values (Russell & Stone, 2002; Winston, 2003). Lyman (2012), states that Greenleaf (1970) in his essay ‘The Servant as Leader’, gave significant weight to the idea that true leadership carries a responsibility to think first about being of service to others. When a leader puts the interests of the followers first, before his or her own self-interests, it brings out the best in the employees who will then exhibit higher levels of organizational commitment. In their study, ‘Servant Leadership: The Exemplifying Behaviours’; Olesia et al. (2014) described servant leadership as a leadership style that transcends self-interest to serve the needs of others by helping them grow professionally and personally and that servant leader’s nature of serving others helps to produce an environment of cohesion, concern and trust as they prioritize other’s needs over their own; see also Mazarei et al. (2013). Leadership opens doors and allows opportunities to be realized. It also allows one to develop dreams. The servant leader sees leadership much in the same way a carpenter sees a hammer. A hammer as an important tool can be used to build; to create; to realize a dream; and with one wrong hit, a very painful thumb results. A wise servant leader needs to be as careful with this power as he would be with that hammer in all his dealings (Nagy, 2013). 2.4. Conceptual development of servant leadership Researchers have evolved some theories of leadership around which studies of leadership revolve. We single out two of these theories, one, because of its relevance in leadership studies and the other, because of the relationship that can be established between it and servant leadership. These theories are: trait and behavioural theories. On the one hand, trait theory proposes that the emergence and effectiveness of leaders could be predicated on personality traits and characteristics. This theory is largely based on the age-long perception that leaders are born not made (Peoplegoal, 2019). Leadership is seen as an 12 innate attribute. One either has it or forgets about it. In other words, this theory is a born to rule perspective to leadership since the leader is seen to have come on board almost effortlessly. On the other hand, another theory of leadership: behaviour theory, posits that leaders are known by what they do. Leaders are made not born. This is the same as saying that leadership can be learnt by teaching, training and observation. Here one can discuss about leadership techniques or best practices. Leadership is consigned to the domain of the intellect, will and practice (Leadership track, 2000). 2.5. The novelty of Servant Leadership Though a contemporary construct traceable to the writings of Greenleaf (1970), servant leadership is an ancient notion of leadership. Greenleaf (1970) has credit for reinvigorating the style, naming it as such and attempting to conceptualize it; but not for creating the idea in the first place. For according to Winston and Ryan (2008), the teaching of Confucius is similar in construct to servant leadership; likewise, some of the constructs of servant leadership show up in the Zhou Dynasty (111-249 B.C.) (Hirschy et al., 2014). The concept of servant leadership echoes the messages of Mother Teresa, Moses, Harriet, Tubman, Lao-tzu, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Confucius and many other religious, historic, and current leaders (Keith, 2008). However, by the extensive nature of his message and its impact on humanity, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, undoubtedly could be said to be the greatest proponent of servant leadership. Though He did not use the term servant leadership, as it is used today; the notion and spirit permeate the length and breadth of his teaching as could be gleaned from the beatitudes, (Mt 5,1-12) and his teachings about service and greatness/leadership (Mt 23,11; Mk 10,45; Mt 20,27-28; Mk 9,35; Mt 19, 16-22). Going further, we gather from the writings of St Paul the apostle, Jesus’ stance as a servant leader who though is God took human form to serve the forlorn humanity. A servant is despised, has no rights, disbelieved, does all for the good of others and empties him/herself for the good of others (Phil, 2,4-7; Gl, 5,13). Servant leadership is one of the greenest areas in the enterprise of leadership studies. Much has been studied and documented about other forms and styles of leadership, but not so for servant leadership, even though there is an increasing flow of research in that area. 13 Much of what is known today in the area derives from the modest albeit ground-breaking works, Servant leadership, a journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness (Greenleaf, 1977) but that was followed up by works from many other scholars, including ‘Servant leadership: a theoretical model by Patterson (2003) which involved identifying specifics within Greenleaf’s (1970) servant leadership philosophy; Character and Servant Leadership: ‘Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders’ - the ten characteristics that Spears (2010) established to describe servant leadership; as well as Laub’s (1999) discovery of measuring servant leadership which may have inspired other scholars to explore further the concept. 2.6. Studies on Servant Leadership Some scholars (Hossain and Ebrahim, 2013; Farling , 1999; Laub, 1999; Horsman, 2001; Russell, 2000, 2001) had made efforts to explore and educate the world on this aspect of leadership. A large number of them sourced books and reading materials from the Greenleaf Centre for theory development. While some compared servant leadership to various leadership practices, others admired it and strongly recommend its application in all leadership systems. Several authors including Gooden, (2000); Patterson, (2011); Ford, (1991); Sanders, (1994); etc. had reported acceptance of servant leadership style by all major religions and suggested its close relationship in particular with the Christian way of life and belief. This tends to suggest that servant leadership is supported by all religions. It is indeed imperative to isolate and examine the opinion of people who had written major publications on the subject of discourse. Leadership, according to Kruse, (2013), is the process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal. According to Zeitchik, (2012), leadership involves inspiring others to pursue your vision within the parameters you set, to the extent that it becomes a shared effort, a shared vision, and a shared success. Hossain and Ebrahim, (2013) also described it as the process of use of no coercive influence to direct and coordinate the activities of the members of an organized group toward the accomplishment of group objectives. In all, there stood a common description of a good leader as a steward of the community (van Dierendonck, 2011). Reflecting on Robert K. Greenleaf and servant-leadership (Greenleaf, 1970), Spears (1996) cited in McCarthy (2014), did split the idea of servant leadership into ten characteristics for ease of understanding. 14 “a. Listening: Listening to followers and to one’s inner voice, while also taking time for personal reflection, allows awareness. b. Empathy: Accepting people for who they are, creating a sense of belonging. c. Healing: In this definition, making people feel whole. Often accomplished by providing a sense of meaning and direction. d. Awareness: The ability to view situations more holistically, incorporating multiple stakeholders’ views. e. Persuasion: Motivating people without the use of fear or threats. f. Conceptualization: Being able to separate from the day-to-day tasks to look forward with a vision. g. Foresight: Looking ahead and sensing outcomes before they happen, i.e., intuition. h. Stewardship: Holding something in trust for another, ensuring to serve other’s needs. i. Commitment to the Growth of People: The concept of engaging followers in the decision-making process. j. Building Community: In this case, a servant leader senses the ‘disconnect’ of large centralized organizations and responds by seeking to create a more cohesive community (Spears, 1998)”. Hossain and Ebrahim had conducted a study in 2013 on “Servant leadership: a new paradigm of leadership”. In their study, they hypothesized that servant leadership would be accepted among the employees of business organizations, students and teachers in the educational institute, political or social workers; and that traditional leadership practices could be changed with servant leadership. They also expressed the opinion that servant leadership focuses on the good of everyone and has the ability to change the society. They advocated for a radical change of leadership from traditional leadership style to servant leadership as a new paradigm which may facilitate the growth of leadership horizon in any organization in general. There is a growing academic research on servant leadership with most of the researches focusing mostly on comparing it to other leadership practices (Graham, 1991; Hoch et al., 2018; Peterson et al., 2012; Schaubroeck et al., 2011; Chen et al., 2015; Liden et al., 2014a; Neubert et al., 2016) while some (Winston & Fields, 2015; Liden et al., 2008) focus on the identification of specific characteristics of servant leadership. Among the prominent authors who had written much about servant leadership are Farling (1999), who presented a concept of leadership based on the characteristics of servant leadership frequently noted in the popular press such as vision, influence, credibility, trust, and service. In their study, they argued that empowering followers allows the servant leader to act on his or her 15 embedded values. They strongly argued that servant leaders do find the source of their values in a spiritual base. In his own study of servant leadership, Laub (1999) rather presented specific attributes of the concept of servant leadership through a written, measurable instrument. He attempted to validate the idea of values as the basis for servant leadership. He concluded his study, with the recommendation for additional empirical research for a better understanding of the relationship that exists between values and servant leadership. Horsman (2001) also conducted a study of servant leadership as an emerging model of leadership. In his study, he ultimately identified a relationship between servant leadership and the personal aspects of spirit. In his study, Russell (2000) solely sought to understand the values and attributes of servant leaders. He formulated a hypothesis that the servant leaders possess many personal values which are seen to differ from those of non-servant leaders, stating that these personal values are tied to the attributes of leadership. Through his research, Russell (2001) did provide the evidence of a relationship between values and leadership, while suggesting the need for additional empirical studies to further examine and validate the link. According to Stone et al. (2003), servant leaders are visionaries. They generate high levels of trust, serve as role models, show consideration for others, delegate responsibilities, empower followers, teach, communicate, listen, and influence followers. It is hoped that if leaders imbibe the practice of servant leadership, they will be more successful, effective and productive in their calls. Moreover, a research by van Dierendonck and Patterson, (2015) on “Compassionate Love as a Cornerstone of Servant Leadership: An Integration of Previous Theorizing and Research” built and extended current theorizing by describing the process that introduces compassionate love as a practical translation for the need to serve, which was positioned by Greenleaf (1977) as the core of servant leadership. Their research took a virtues perspective and showed how servant leadership may encourage a more meaningful and optimal human functioning with a strong sense of community to current-day organizations. They proposed that a leader’s propensity for compassionate love will encourage a virtuous attitude in terms of humility, gratitude, forgiveness and altruism. Also, Moll and Kretzschmar, (2017) in their work “An investigation of the suitability of a Servant Leadership model for academic Group Leaders at German universities” sought to investigate the leadership role of academic group leaders in the context of higher education in Germany. It is argued that a servant leadership 22 challenges. Prominent among these is the servant leadership theory of Greenleaf (1977) which regards the servant-leader as the first to serve (Spears, 1993; Stone et al., 2014). It has become a promising leadership style for today’s dynamic environments (Eva et al., 2019) especially as it acts through influence and persuasion, rather than by restricting followers (Franco & Antunes, 2020), thereby, providing a conceptual structure for the new dynamics required for present day leadership. In the past, academic research had paid little attention to evaluate the benefits of servant leadership and its practice in different organizations in Portugal. Recent work by Sousa and van Dierendonck (2017) had given a wider view of the topic in the European Union to which the country belongs. This section therefore aims at considering servant leadership in Portugal, a country whose business sector consists of small and medium-sized enterprises, with a strongly marked family tradition in their development, a great distance from power (Liden, 2012) and a strong tendency to collectivism (van Dierendonck et al., 2017). In the region, servant leadership serves as efficient leadership that has great advantages in predicting the behaviours and attitudes of its employees’ and can be of great use in reforming the construction of a new government oriented towards services (Yan & Xiao, 2016). In Portugal, there is need to study new leadership models, especially ones that are oriented towards the followers with the changes, related to the current young generation in China, that strive to encourage facilitating leadership rather than order-oriented leadership by projecting innovative tasks and prioritizing individual needs - a development which (Franco & Antunes, 2020) see as a good condition that can make work more meaningful while reinforcing their autonomy and empowerment. Replicating in their study, the results from previous studies in other nations with regard to the validity of the measurement of van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011) in Portuguese context, Sousa and van Dierendonck (2014) confirmed that servant leadership is a model that can be applied across countries. They found out that servant leadership strongly affected work engagement in conditions of high uncertainty and reported that servant leadership surveys are valid and reliable in the Portuguese context and language. However, they concluded that culturally biased perceptions of good leadership (Hofstede, 1983, 1993; Wolf, 2006) might differ from what people really experience as good leadership through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. 23 Occasionally, in Portugal, reports on some cases of Organizations associated with orientation towards servant practices in the community are published in the national or local press. Organizations that had servant leaders are identified by reporters via exhaustive interviews as well as a many other available sources. Commendations by the media commands admiration and could stimulate the other leaders and followers to appreciate servant leadership (Franco & Antunes, 2020). Reporting of organizations and leaders that practice servant leadership is very important as it also makes the Portuguese society be aware of their activities. Furthermore, people could begin to see such organizations as ones that remain over time with recognized socio-economic value and may find them as good places to work. In view of this, leaders with the virtues of modesty, social love, visionary spirit towards followers, trust and empowerment exist in Portugal and more of such are needed for enthronement of all-embracing and effective leadership. 2.6.5. Jesus leadership style: An example of servant leadership In many sectors of our society today, it is becoming difficult to experience good leadership. This difficulty is seen in finding the right people to take the mantle of leadership (Nsiah, 2013) in many organizations, institutions and various establishments. In some places, leaders who may lack the proper training and understanding of their roles as leaders do find themselves in such high position. Most times, people go for leadership trainings for the purpose of qualification and higher placement, but not to impact organizational behaviour of the Companies or Organizations that sent them for such trainings (Beer et al., 2016). Such training courses are often seen as ladders to arrive at the top echelon of power in the organization instead of an avenue to deepen the sense and capacity of service. Leaders are expected to exhibit certain qualities. In view of this, leaders have looked up to different individuals as their role models (Nsiah, 2013). Addressing the problem of leadership in our society demands effort and collaboration of scholars in solving problems. In this regard, the leadership model of Jesus Christ, a supreme example of servant leadership is brought to focus. The idea of serving others while leading is believed to have biblical origin as Jesus Christ throughout his ministry had talked about servitude as a virtue for leaders. Christ set a distinct example of servant leadership in Christianity through his idea that by serving others, one can empower them and help them see the way (Luenendonk, 2016). 24 Addressing the elders of the Church, in I Peter 5: 1-4 Peter the apostle also made a pertinent remark on servant leadership which he expected leaders to dwell on (Nsiah, 2013). The Gospel of Mark 10:43-45 gave the clearest examples of Jesus’ model of servant leadership describing Him as a servant leader. Jesus said to His disciples: You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be servant of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Through leading by example, Jesus Christ taught his disciples about servant leadership and its benefits. An excellent example of servant leadership at the time was the act of washing the feet of his disciples during the last super as recorded in the Gospel of John 13: 3-15. A task which in the Jewish tradition was linked to servitude. As great and revered as Jesus is among his followers, He is humble enough to wash their feet, to demonstrate that humility does not take away respect. Moreover, Jesus was not simple showing His humility because the washing of the feet of his disciples has a far more theological meaning and underpinning. In that act, Jesus institutes the sacred priesthood. Washing people’s feet is the essence of the Priesthood of Christ and those who would take after his disciples. What He tells Peter, the head of the apostles, is here very instructive; unless I wash you, you will not have any part in me. Jesus washes us so we can wash others. Jesus serves us in order to empower us with the responsibility and privilege of serving Him in others. As Jesus does this, He enjoins on His followers and would-be followers to take their cue from Him as He affirms: “ You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you”(Jn 13,13). Furthermore, the idea of servitude and leading as an example to the people has survived in many monarchies, as well as other political contexts. If you have ever watched an inauguration speech, you have probably noticed how the person swearing in tends to acknowledge of service to God, country and the people. In the words of Finzel (2000) cited in Nsiah (2013), servant leadership requires us to sit and weep with those who weep within our organizations. It requires getting down and dirty when hard work has to be done. The above shows that servant leadership 25 at times requires that we do those little things like sweeping and cleaning the hall, setting the table for lunch, attending to the needs of others preparing the venue for a meeting, mowing the lawn. Apart from humility, other leadership qualities exhibited by Jesus include: vision, interpersonal intelligence, non-segregationist, teaching, resource provider, compassion, delegation with authority, prayerful and sense of purpose, as exhibited and taught by Jesus, will be discussed briefly here. 2.6.5.1. Vision As God, Jesus Christ exhibited a vision style of leadership in that He foresees the end from the beginning in a characteristic way of perceiving that supersedes mere foresight and supplants sheer imagination. During His encounter with the paralytic brought to Him for healing, He saw the faith of those that brought the man and knew what they wanted and their friend was healed. As it was in the Gospel of Matthew 9:2, Jesus had not had any encounter with the man but was able to know the cause of the paralysis. Vision is a very important quality that a leader is expected to have. It is vision that enables a leader to foresee the end from the beginning and to know what is coming up next. Having vision makes one’s leadership have a specific direction and fosters innovation, progress and development. Nsiah (2013) likens a leader without vision to a ship that moves without particular direction. Therefore, a leader is expected to have good vision and also be able to state same in such a comprehensive way that it will be easy for an organization to transform into reality. 2.6.5.2. Inter-personal intelligence This has to do with one’s ability to recognize or differentiate between people by face and voice; to react appropriately to their needs, to understand their motives, feelings and moods and to appreciate such perspectives with sensitivity and empathy (Inspirational Breakthrough, 20032005). Still in meeting with the paralytic after Jesus had forgiven his sins, as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel 9:4, Jesus was able to read the thoughts of some of the Scribes, who were saying among themselves that He had blasphemed for saying that the paralytic’s sins were forgiven. Inter-personal intelligence is a vital leadership skill required in every organization that desires to grow. It enables a leader to perceive and understand the emotions of employees; their moods, desires and motivations (Nsiah, 2013). When the leader understands the feelings of 26 workers, then he will be able to meet their needs. And when workers’ needs are met, they become satisfied and invariably more productive and protective in the organization. 2.6.5.3. Non-segregationist In His life, Jesus has and is always showing an impartial love for all. He demonstrated this love as is recorded in the gospel according St John, 4: 4-42, by His conversation with a woman of Samaria. In so doing, He destroyed the social and religious barriers between the Jews and the Samaritans. Also, chapter 11 of the same gospel, Jesus was reported to have conversed with Martha of Bethany (Nsiah, 2013). He has modelled a powerful style for all leaders. Our society today and leaders in particular, need to cross these barriers as well. But in our society today, many people still suffer to gain employment in some organizations or remain unemployed on account of their gender, race or tribe. Some recruiters would not employ a woman because she may need to go on maternity leave and other breaks which might negatively affect the productivity in the organization. This is not healthy for a developing world. Our leaders would be acknowledged as good servant leaders if they show greater concern towards providing equal opportunity for all. 2.6.5.4. Teaching Jesus has been acclaimed by scholars as the best teacher in history. He loves children, those who believe in him and those yet to; He loves all people and He wanted to help people learn about God. In the Gospel of Matthew 6: 5-14, Jesus was presented as a great teacher where He taught his disciples how to pray. He also taught them about the golden rule, the law, repentance, new birth, assurance of salvation, the Holy Spirit, forgiveness and love (David and Jonathan, 1998). Acquisition of teaching skills is a necessity of all leaders. Like Christ, leaders should be able to teach their followers whatever they need to know about the role to play for the organization to function properly. Where possible, a leader may seek the services of experts to help speak on certain issues, but he or she is expected once in a while, to show his or her ability to teach those under him or her. 2.6.5.5. Resource provider Another good leadership quality demonstrated by Jesus Christ is his constant response to the needs of others. At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus showed He is a resource provider as 27 found in the Gospel according to John 2:1-11. When they ran out of wine and the mother of Jesus said to Him ‘They have no wine’, even having said that His hour has not yet come, by turning water into wine, He provided what the master of the feast called ‘the good wine’. Jesus demonstrated his leadership skills by providing wine to support the groom to serve the guests. His presence though, as a guest, really helped to save the groom from a looming embarrassment. In this, Jesus had demonstrated that leaders should also be a blessing to all people every time wherever they find themselves (Nsiah, 2013). He also teaches that leaders should be able to handle cases of emergency tactfully by providing the needed support for them whenever such occurs. 2.6.5.6. Compassion Biblical accounts of events and times Jesus had compassion for His people abound. As recorded in John 5: 5-9, when Jesus encountered a man who had been helplessly sick by a pool side for thirty-eight years, He felt great compassion for him and made him take up his bed and walk. Similarly, chapter 6: 5, of the same gospel, Jesus felt compassion for a crowd that gathered to listen to His teaching. He provided the meal and they were fed until they were full and that baskets of leftovers were gathered. Out of compassion, in chapter 9, Jesus made a blind man who had been blind from birth to receive his sight upon encounter with Him. The sisters of Lazarus cried out to Jesus in chapter 11, He had compassion for him and Lazarus was raised from the grave. Jesus performed those miracles so we will also learn to treat others humanely and learn to give others a second chance (Nsiah, 2013). Like Jesus, leaders need compassion in order to treat their followers well. They are expected to let their subordinates feel good about themselves. This will make them more motivated and more productive. 2.6.5.7. Delegation with authority As seen in the Gospel according to Matthew 10, by sending them out to go and proclaim the Good news, Jesus had delegated responsibilities to his disciples. He charged them to baptize anyone who believed in God. He also imbued them with the power to cast out demons and heal the sick. He also gave them authority over evil spirits and power to heal disease. Delegation is an important process in leadership and administration (Nsiah, 2013). Besides minimizing the workload on the leader, it makes for transfer of competence to the 28 followers. In some organizations, leaders do breakdown easily while doing everything by themselves. Leaders should learn to entrust responsibilities to others as Jesus did. It would ensure a better health for the leaders while employee’s productivity would increase. 2.6.5.8. Prayerful Prayer is another great leadership quality of Christ used in overcoming difficult moments. Through prayer, He was able to address the challenges of his ministry. Jesus is always in contact with his father through prayer. In the gospel according to John chapter 17, Jesus was seen praying in the garden of Gethsemane; moments before His arrest. He prayed before every major decision or step in His life and ministry: the temptation, Mt 4, 1-11, before choosing the twelve, 6 12-16, and before raising Lazarus from the dead Jn 11,41-42, to mention but a few. Prayer is very important in the life of any leader. Through prayer, leaders can obtain wisdom and draw more strength to sojourn into life. Prayer clears the mind and improves concentration (Nsiah, 2013). If leaders would learn to connect with God through prayer, they would be able to overcome most of their challenges and maintain a good relationship with their workers thereby creating an environment for greater output. For those who would not pray like Jesus did, one cannot downplay the importance of retreats and moments of meditation and reflection before undertaking any serious venture. In prayers, one not only invokes a supreme Being, one connects and reconnects with self in a way that brings out the best and aligns one with the best practices of one’s endeavors. 2.6.5.9. Sense of purpose A sense of purpose is the motivation that helps you prioritize your life and drives you towards a satisfying future or a set goal. To have a sense of purpose means to learn to commit oneself to accomplish the purpose for which one is chosen to lead (Sense of purpose handout, 2019). Jesus had a great sense of purpose that made him constantly aware that his father had sent Him to bring light to those in darkness and to liberate the captives. This sense of purpose enabled Jesus to endure all the trials and temptations he went through, not deviating even when humanly speaking his patience and strength were put to the test. Having a sense of purpose would make the leader much more disposed to work for the benefit of others. Like our Master Jesus, leaders should learn to commit themselves to the people 29 they are called to serve. By so doing, they will be able to accomplish the purpose of whichever organization they are meant to serve. Servant leadership is not so common outside of religious organizations. Jesus and his followers were thought to be the original examples of servant leaders (Hood, 2013). But in society, among Christians and the non-Christians, servant leaders can be found, such as Martin Luther King, Jr; Nelson Mandela; Mahatma Gandhi; Mother Teresa and Albert Schweitzer who were known for dedicating their lives to serving others. (Miller, 2018). Leaders who possess this Christ-like nature can easily be trusted and respected by their followers and by their show of respect, they in turn get moved to work selflessly for growth and development of their organization. The pattern of leadership demonstrated by Christ is unequalled. Leaders are admonished to persistently pursue and acquire such leadership skills as it is hoped to chart the way for an improved leadership and an all-round organizational growth and sustainable development. 30 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 3.1. Research Design In the study, an exploratory single-case study design will be used to collect qualitative data from semi-structured interviews. A single-case study is organized around a single exemplar and investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-world context (Yin, 2013). A qualitative descriptive approach was chosen for the study as it accommodates smaller sample size. As an interactive approach, it has a flexible structure as the design can be constructed and reconstructed to a greater extent (Maxwell, 2012). It elicits deeper insights into designing, administering, and interpreting assessment and testing while exploring test-takers’ behaviour, perceptions, feelings, and understanding (Rahman, 2017). A qualitative research approach has the ability to understand different people’s voices, meanings and events. So, the source of knowledge in this approach is the meaning of different events (Richardson, 2012). It also has the ability to allow the researchers to discover the participants’ inner experience, and to figure out how meanings are shaped through and in culture (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Some researchers (Rahman, 2017) argued that the approach is time consuming but it offers much benefits. In this way, the present study will enable the researcher to examine the disposition of leaders to practice servant leadership style and determine whether a relationship exists between servant-leadership and high organization performance. Churchmen of varying strata (Bishops, priests and deacons) will be interviewed. Other local authorities including lay Christians and non-Christians alike are also targets for research. Reputable institutions and personalities acknowledged by the majority of the people in the region of Portugal and oversees as highperforming and efficient with large organizational size will as well form the subjects of this study. These few personalities and institutions were chosen to generally represent other organizations which render similar services. The leaders of these high-performing public institutions always believed to achieve outcomes indicative of their ability to effectively handle their subjects (Melchar & Bosco, 2010). 3.2. Instruments for data collection - Interviews Due to the purpose of this study, which is to study the Church’s style of leadership and ascertain whether, over the centuries, she is being faithful to the teaching of the Master; qualitative 31 and semi-structured interviews will be conducted. This will be done at an acceptable time and location to enable the researcher to determine whether there are clear indications of servant-leader orientation amongst high-level leaders, especially Church leaders. According to Yin (2013), cited in (Mareus et al., 2019), a very significant source of case study evidence is the interview. The study sample includes top executives and local authorities of reputed institutions namely; the Church, schools, sports, stores and other related organizations. Six strategic-level Church leaders and four subordinates, one subject of each of the other organizations involved in the study will be interviewed. Questions are to be formed based on the servant leader literature to extract responses that will provide in-depth knowledge of the leaders’ interactions with their subjects. Questions such as – ‘‘Who are you?’’ ‘‘Where do you work?’’ ‘‘What do you understand by servant leadership?” “How does the Church implement the tenets of servant leadership?” “How can servant leadership work better in the Church?” can be asked during the interviews. A semi-structured interview was chosen as a means of data collection because it appears to be the method that allows for an in-depth study of behaviours and attitudes while responding to questions. Other forms like the questionnaire method would not offer the opportunity to meet face to face with respondents and be able to phrase or rephrase intended questions to achieve the desired results. Interviews break that impersonal barrier provided by other research methods by offering that interpersonal touch that facilitates learning for both the interviewer and the interviewed. It personally brought me face to face with people with whom I had never had an encounter. In each case, especially with people I had not known, there was a mutual interest to get to know something new resultant from some long conversations that followed some interviews. In the interactions that ensued, besides the pure academic interaction; a desire to cultivate and maintain communication capable of leading to lasting amity arose. 3.3. Method of data collection The responses from respondents will be recorded and later interpreted by three raters to determine common topics in the discussion (Melchar and Bosco, 2010). These common topics will be categorized by each rater and the result compared to the characteristics of servant leaders as provided by the literature (Russell and Stone, 2002; Spears, 1995). The collection of data will continue until saturation occurs. Data saturation is said to occur when repetition of the data has 38 Tarallo (2018) defined servant leadership as a leadership concept in which leaders are serving instead of commanding, showing humility instead of brandishing authority, and always looking to enhance the development of their staff and members in ways that unlock potential, creativity and sense of purpose. As described by Sendjaya et al. (2008), the servant leaders are spiritually motivated to develop quality relationships, build community, seek feedback in making decisions, reach consensus and focus on personal development of employees (Tanno & Banner, 2018). They do so by, “providing spiritual guidance for the people to come closer to God. It also encourages fellowship with others” (LR3). Another interviewee adds: It is not the big building that makes the Church. It’s the individuals. When we care for their spiritual growth…, what of their bodily growth, what about their temporal growth? Those poor ones are important and like Christ said, we have them among us and we care for them. This is when they can listen to whatever spiritual sermon you may want to give because if someone is hungry…, a hungry man is an angry man (LR3) . They also demonstrate egalitarian relationships with employees, discover ways to help, participate in community service projects, and give back to the community (Spears, 2010). As LR2 submits about his group in the Church, “our group, which is the Group of Jesus… is organized and it is organizing itself to bake cakes, to pack cakes and to deal with other situations in order to be able to give to the communities that are in need, to give to the families that are in need”. Also describing the relation of servant leadership to society, Boone and Makhani (2012) found that servant leadership can be an effective style to influence an organization toward achieving their goals provided the leader possesses the necessary attitudes. According to one of my interviewees, This expression ‘servant leadership’ thus combined describes a style of leadership in which the leader is in an attitude that is not one of superabundance, that is not one of superiority or authoritarianism. But in an attitude that he is able to see, to be, to respect and to integrate” (RCP2). In the same token, it is understood as the “the invitation to understand that the work you do, the life you live is not lived for yourself. It is lived for the others” (LR4). Citing Jesus as the best example of a servant leader, an interviewee thinks that: 39 “Perhaps, the best example one can have is in fact the very person of Jesus. In fact, He was a leader, a leader in the sense that He gathered around him, both a group that He formed and that collaborated with Him, and also the crowds that came looking for Him” (RCB2). He conceives servant leadership as a form of leadership that is purely selfless. He sees servant leadership as a form of leadership whereby the leader does not use his position for his own benefit or to defend his own interests or as a purely personal strategy and does not do anything for the sake of himself but always for others. In line with this, LR6 declares, “my dream is of a future Church with a different purpose. That we do not have to ever lose the vision to make us believe and help others”. In his perspective, servant leadership involves one being always in service, “to the weakest, with time, the sick, the poor, those that society had abandoned. So, it was a leadership not to gather things for oneself, but a leadership that was in the service of the good of others” (RCB2). In his words, servant leadership is an expression that will also be used by all those who throughout centuries and also today have been in charge of, or at least, those who are entrusted with pastoral responsibilities, must also recognize themselves in this very person of Jesus. His expression vividly captures the position of Greenleaf (1970) in his essay on servant leadership and is also in line with remarks in the previous literature review where servant leadership was discussed by Eva et al. (2019); see also (Franco & Antunes, 2020), as an other-oriented approach to leadership which is manifested through prioritizing of follower individual needs and interests and outward reorienting of their concern for self towards concern for others within the organization and the larger community. An interviewee conceives the word servant leadership as a practical word. He further stated that servant leadership, “is that type of leadership which has a conscience” (RCB3), (and indeed stated in the very tradition of the Church) in which, what interests everyone must be decided by all and executed in interaction starting from the various moments of which the work agenda is made, following up on the processes up until what is decided is implemented. According to him, our lives have meaning only to the extent that we strive to imitate Jesus Christ himself in this aspect, (who has placed before us the greatest example of servant leadership in the image of foot washing in which he shows us how he himself serves the Church) and the great saints who are models having lived out in their lives the injunctions of Jesus Christ. His response tends to corroborate the ideas of Greenleaf (1977) in his essay on servant leadership and also with the remarks in the literature review, where, Servant leadership was discussed as a 40 value-based leadership (Yukl, 2009), an approach that puts the people at the very top and the leader at the bottom, charged with serving the employees above him. An interview excerpt corroborates the idea thus: There are still many marks of a very well-structured Church, very hierarchical in some way a pyramid, but this crisis that we are experiencing now in fact forces us to make this experience of the inverted pyramid which highlights the lay-faithful more than the bishops and priests. This implies a conversion, a profound one at that, from a mentality to the Gospel, which is why Pope Francis insists that there is no reform of the Church without conversion to the Gospel” (RCB3). It was also stated that the idea and main focus of servant leadership is usually on spiritual values and the service of others (Greenleaf 1977; Mitroff and Denton 1999; Reave 2005), as can also be seen from the excerpt “…a leadership that was in the service of the good of others” (RCB2). Servant leaders are known to lead by example and foster self-awareness while promoting sets of behaviours that are meant for the greater good of society (Beazley & Gemmill 2006; Fairholm & Gronan 2015; Spears 1995), as corroborated by one of the interviewees: “By the way I carry myself and participate in the Church, people will see me as a Christ-model leader to follow. So, by that, they know Christians lead by examples”, and upheld by yet another; “if the future will be better, then we need people who will be ready to lead by examples because what you don’t have you don’t give” (LR7). Greenleaf (1970) remarked that there is an established relationship between servant leadership and leader commitment. Citing Jesus as the epitome of servant leadership, precisely quoting where Jesus tells us that the greatest amongst you must be ready to serve and he himself embodies that, both in speech and in action, when he states, that he, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. (Mt 20,28) RCP1 thinks that servant leadership is, “a form of leadership in which the leader understands that he or she is a servant as well”. While accepting that at times, leadership somehow, intoxicates, he opined that the few who have been able live as above should be applauded because according to him, not every leader understands that they are a servant. 41 His assertion agrees with that of Greenleaf (1970) where he stated the leader is expected to be the servant first. This also in agreement with our literature review where it was stated that Jesus performed a task which in the Jewish tradition was linked to servitude (Luenendonk, 2016). As great and revered as Jesus is among his followers, He is humble enough to wash their feet, to demonstrate that humility does not take away respect, Jesus washes us so we can wash others. Jesus serves us in order to empower us with the responsibility and privilege of serving Him in others. In his own understanding, one interviewee thinks that servant leadership as a concept or leadership practice, is basically; “the invitation to understand that the work one does, the life one lives is not lived for oneself but it is lived for others” (LR4.) This is in line with the opinion of yet another interviewee that servant leadership involves serving and catering for the welfare of those around us. According to her, servant leadership is, “a style of leadership that is committed to helping others by establishing meeting points/balance between different positions or points of view (LR1). The above submissions have some links with the essay of Greenleaf (1970) and tend to re-echo the literature review where it was succinctly put that servant leadership is the concept of leadership where the leader serves the interest of others and that servant leadership is expected to begin when a leader assumes the position of servant in his or her interactions with followers. The text also noted that a servant leader’s fundamental desire is to first help others. In the text, Bennis (2002) submitted that servant leaders make a conscious choice to serve first. In their work, they place the good of the followers over their self-interests. While building strong relationships with others, they are empathic, ethical and lead in ways that serve the greater good of followers, the organization, the community and the society at large as commented on by one of my interviewees, You have to be an empathic person; therefore, you are capable of feeling… To feel the other, to feel the joys of others, to feel the pain of others. So, there it is, one making room for the other. And, finally, I don't think I have the pretension to say everything here either. But it has to be someone who lives for others, who also directs his life towards others (RCP2). In addition, a servant leader has true commitment to his or her followers and predominantly serves the needs of followers, hence providing vision and empowerment, with 42 service being the main activity (Sendjaya & Sarros, 2002; Stone et al. 2003; Mahembe & Engelbrecht, 2013). As can be seen from the following excerpt, “so, I think finally, commitment to peoples’ growth. Yes, I have mentioned that too, that the Church is committed. They meet the peoples’ demand like Jesus did” (LR3). To the question of what is service, an interviewee submits that, “service refers to efforts made to help organizations achieve the purposes for which they exist” (RCB1). Service is to promote the purpose of the organization. Likening the society to a family structure, he added that it goes through that psychological balance that will make people individually and collectively as a family feel happy. His response follows the path of definition of service in the literature review where it was explained as the act of assuming the state of servant. Service involves the act of doing useful work for a person, an organization, a Church, a country or entire humanity with the view to help them meet their needs (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020). This excerpt also lends credence to the above, “Service is the giving or filling someone's need” (RA1). Those who exhibit this value perform in the interest of the greater good without expectation of reward and praise. Instead, they understand that working hard, sometimes even without recognition, is a necessary ingredient for success. As it was found in the text, according to Longman dictionary of English language and culture (3rd Edition, 2000), a servant is a person who serves someone, rather than controlling their activities. Going by the above, a servant is not a master but an auxiliary that helps to bring out the best in the other. Also, an interviewee thinks that service is giving of oneself; giving also naturally with talents, time, availability, material goods, spiritual goods, “it is above all a giving in the manner of dying to give life” (RCB3). His response draws from the teachings of the Church one of which is to try to live and love in the way of Christ. This also finds expression in the previous literature as cited above. In his own response, RCP1 explained that service is a kind of work that requires passion and commitment. While trying to differentiate service from every other form of work, he opined that, “in service, one does not serve with the aim to get remuneration for it but in professions and other kinds of work, people can engage in them for physical financial gains they have”. He added also that some people may have several reasons for serving. His response agrees with the idea of LR3 who had defined service as help rendered to meet the needs of others. According to him, “such help should be selfless and would aim at the good of the others rather than the selfish end of the giver”. Their responses are in line with the remarks in the section of the previous literature cited above (Miller, 2018). And as echoed by Barbuto “the 43 desire and willingness to sacrifice self interest in the service to others and to make a difference in their lives is the first precept of servant leadership” (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006). To the question on what the characteristics of a servant leader are, an interviewee outlines some traits which he expects to see in a servant leader which he also believes could make one a good leader. They include: ability to embrace dialogue, empathy, reconciliation, listening, simplicity, prudence. He perceives a servant leader as a leader who is capable of dialogue. One who takes dialogue very seriously to an extent that decisions are in fact shared decisions based on values and having a horizon for the common good. The first word that occurs to me is someone who is capable of dialogue. And who takes dialogue very seriously…, if I am allowed, even in an academic environment to use an expression like this..., I always have this image, I certainly read it somewhere, it is like a good mattress, which must be firm and pliable. To manage to reconcile on the one hand the firmness that a person in times of difficulty requires a course that is maintained, but at the same time there is malleability of listening” (RCB3). An interviewee opines that a servant leader should: Actually, have an identified cause or probably a mission. So, there is that sense of mission, sense of urgency to pursue, identifying a mission, a cause to pursue and it goes with passion it goes with commitment”. He continues, “the servant leader has to persevere in order to face the challenges of course. The understanding of the kind or essences of mission, passion and commitment, I talk of patience and perseverance, and then with regards to those that he leads or she leads, we talk of humility, compassion that is empathy and a listening ear (RCP1). While dwelling largely on the importance of an exemplary lifestyle, in her response, LR1 submits that “a servant leader must be attentive, committed, reconciliatory, balanced, enthusiastic, challenging, and authentic and ready to lead by example” (LR1). The words of the LR2 are similar because he too expects “a servant leader to have a great deal of humility with a very great dose of humanity. He should be able to see in the behaviour of others, what their weak points are, their faults, to be able to help them grow” (LR2). At this point, the first part of the interview, we are dealing with concepts and not yet their applicability or operationalization. The interviewees, each one drawing from their own exposition and personal experience attempted an explanation of the nature of servant leadership, service and 44 what makes up a servant leader. They all seem to agree that servant leadership is style of leadership where the follower has a pride of place in the scheme of things with exemplary life as a trademark. This calls to mind female leadership. In the Church, right from the incipient moments, women have played very important leadership roles. Though these roles are seldom remembered, they are, nevertheless, very important in the Church’s leadership narrative. Women such as Mary Magdalene, who is only remembered for her sins, was actually one of the staunch followers of Jesus Christ. Mary the mother of Jesus, Martha the sister of Lazarus, among others, played significant leadership roles in the early Christian Communities. More recently we have the eternal example of leadership on a global scale by such women as mother Teresa of Calcutta who is not just a great for being a nun, a founder and venerated as a saint but greater in the giant leadership strides exemplified by her love for humanity. One of her favorite quotes says it all; “it is not about how much you do, but how much love you put into what you do that counts”. By 2013, the charitable organization she had set up, the Missionaries of Charity, had spread to 700 missions in 130 countries, providing soup kitchens, centers for family assistance, orphanages, schools, hospitals and homes for people with diseases such as leprosy, AIDS and tuberculosis. They also agree that a servant leader should be adorned with such comely characteristics such as, honesty, humility and patience etc. A leader without a follower is somebody that is just taking a walk” (LR7). “Now, from the point of view of characteristics, I think it has to be a humble person..., one who is in an attitude of permanent learning. Not an owner of the truth and the know-it-all, who knows everything… And so, besides being humble, you must also know how to listen to others. To be able to learn from them and with them giving others what all others deserve and need: space, place, turn, voice and attention (RCP2). 4.3. Category II To the question, to what extent does the Church today make people grow, interviewees without pretexts to cheap criticisms at times directed to the Church, affirm that, though the time has come and gone when the Church and her pastoral and preaching activities dictated the mode of life and greatly influenced how people thought and lived, the Church has continued to be a forerunner in the defense of the human person as the bearer of God's image and likeness. There 45 is a dignity and attendant freedom that flow from this image of God in man. “Freedom as capacity, to hold hands with the other in order to achieve good ends for all” (RCB1). Another has this to say: The contemporary Church is a Church that in the last 50 years has undergone a profound renewal. And one of the most striking aspects of that renewal is precisely the fact that, being a Christian or Christianity is tendentially less a cultural or social Christianity, that is, by tradition, but it is increasingly a Christianity of personal choice. This is very important, because it means that, more and more being Christian is a life choice, an option, that is, it results from the consciousness of each one to assume one’s faith (RCB2). They believe that despite some of the shortcomings, the Church remains a force for good in the world in terms of supporting the people to grow. The Church, through the establishment of Catholic schools, provides education as a source of enlightenment, civilization and development of the people. According (RCP1), “growth cannot come about without education”. In this way, the Church contributes to raise morally sound citizens. This agrees with the remarks in the literature review where servant leaders were referred to as being follower oriented with the main goal of serving others and fulfilling their needs (Parolini et al., 2009) see also: (Lim & Desa, 2013). This simple fact, according to Greenleaf (1977), is the key to leader greatness. Going by the above, since the Church is involved in such tasks; the Church can also be regarded as a servant leader. Furthermore, both the catechesis and preaching today are not only respectful of this freedom, but also stimulate and engender it. The Church today is among the most widespread institutions present in the world that seek to value the real autonomy of the person understood in the perspective of freedom. In carrying out this formation function, my interviewee is not oblivious of the fact that the Church is not perfect in doing this since it can be argued that, admittedly, some priests are still stuck with the perspective of the past; though they are exceptions, not the majority. For: If the Catholic Church or the whole Church wants to really readjust, adjust to turn up in response to the demand of the modern world, that’s not bad. Whether we are responding or reacting, the most important thing is that there is something, there is a movement, upward movement (RCB1). Therefore, the Church makes people grow by its teaching, from catechesis to those formative pastoral activities, meetings, action groups and even homilies. This Church is directly 46 and at times indirectly driving education initiatives. The Church today is liberating; and growth is only possible when we are free. RCP1, submitted that, despite some of the shortcomings, whether as an institution or also as individual members of the Church, the Church remains a force for good. Overall, it, the Church, is a force for good in the contemporary world. It has always been a force for good despite some scandals and quite a number of negative things but, one could say that the Church still remains and can still be seen as a force to be reckoned with in the world. He makes copious references to the subject of Catholic education in the United States of America and Canada where Catholic education is a field of study of its own. The numberless schools, colleges and universities found all over the world that are founded by the Catholic Church attest to the fact the Church today makes people grow. He adds, “What is growth? Education. Growth cannot come about without education and that’s the Catholic Church despite some shortcomings it may have” (RCP1). In the words of LR3, the Church of today makes people grow spiritually and materially by performing her statutory duties. As a teacher, the Church is involved in providing spiritual guidance, fostering unity and encouraging communal or mutual integration of its members – that is fellowship with others and making people come closer to God. He believes that the Church has been consistent in this task. This agrees with the literature as cited above according to (Liden , 2014), “As servant leaders provide followers with emotional healing and positive work experiences in support of their growth and success the followers may be affectively and normatively committed to the servant leader. An interviewee buttresses this idea thus: “That is a way also to make the Church grow to make the people grow. Also, such the Church encourages people to pray and to work. When the Church continues to do that” (LR3). According to LR4, the Church makes people grow but not always directly. “Talking about the Church creating occasions for growth. That’s essentially what I was trying to make. That is, whether or not the Church is doing this intentionally, I don’t say this to suggest that the Church is not intentional about this” (LR4). He thinks of the idea of the Church creating the context or environment and occasions for the people to grow. And in that regard, he thinks that Christian communities create occasions for people to come together and to encounter themselves and then practice fellow-service and love. He also thinks the Church has always been involved with education, with charity and so many other things that I think are occasions for people to encounter themselves, in a supportive 47 environment, learn from themselves, learn from one another and grow in that regard. He adds, “Perhaps, it might be accurate to think of priorities, right? The Church without question, creates the occasions, creates the circumstances, creates its schemes that enable growth” (LR4). So, from that perspective, the Church creates wonderful occasions for peoples’ growth. This expression of my interviewee finds echo in the review in chapter two (Liden et al., 2014b). When people encounter one another and learn from one another and share, there is growth inherent in those encounters. He thinks it is also even more powerful to say this, most peoples’ encounters within these occasions that the Church creates are from the cradle. So, when people begin as little children to encounter one another in the context of religious spaces, a sense of growth is nurtured, a process of growth which could result in creating good citizens. He acknowledges the idea of the Church creating the context or environment and occasions for the people to grow. He believes that the idea of the Church existing is not only to worship, but also creating a Church community. He further stated that he also thinks that the Church has always been involved with education, character formation, charity and so many other things that are occasions for people to encounter themselves, learn from themselves, learn from one another and grow in that regard. In his words, “from that perspective, I think the Church creates wonderful occasions for that” (LR4). My interviewee however, goes on to affirm that the Church has moved a bit far away from that and in terms of remaining committed to peoples’ growth as human beings. The Church needs to buckle up; says he. The Church creates occasions for growth but may be found wanting in terms of making that a guiding principle for what the Church does. He avows that he has “a lot of reasons to think that the growth is not orderly. People are having these experiences they are not necessarily the cause but, it is not going to be easy because all the opportunities are not there” (LR4). However, LR1 argues that today’s Church is not making some people grow. In her words, “from my perspective, today's Church is not greatly influencing people's growth, especially young people. It will be necessary to come up with strategies that capture the interest of this age group to help them grow”. To do this, young people should be called to be part of the Church, and they should see themselves as part of it. To the question, does today’s Church, in her leaders show herself to be a servant leader? RCB2 referred to the de-clericalization of the Church especially since the Vatican II Council by encouraging the lay faithful to hold offices that before were the exclusive preserve of the clergy. He 54 teachings of Christ (Catholic Answers, 2016). By so doing, they ultimately exercise normative influence rather than economic or remunerative power. The idea and main focus of servant leadership is usually on spiritual values and the service of others (Greenleaf 1977; Mitroff and Denton 1999; Reave 2005). Servant leaders are known to lead by example and foster self-awareness while promoting sets of behaviours that are meant for the greater good of society (Beazley & Gemmill 2006; Fairholm & Gronan 2015; Spears 1995). In a very direct manner, LR1 relates that she dreams of a younger Church with ceremonies more suited to the general profile of the people. An interviewee dreams of a Church where the local pastors are closer to the people to be more able to influence them. In his words “my hope for the Church of the future is that we begin to have newer and more elastic spaces or opportunities for anyone in Church leadership, whether priest or not to just engage with the people more directly - smell how they smell, taste how they taste and so on. And perhaps, the world could happen to truly become Christian” (LR4). He believes the Church has the ability to transform the face of the earth if it must review a bit of its interest in hierarchy. Also, according to RA1, there is need for a future Church with a different purpose. As an atheist, he thinks that people do not have to ever lose the vision to make us believe in and help others. In his words, “the Church does a whole lot of things that I do not understand and to which I do not agree but in all fairness, the Church’s work benefits the world at this moment” (RA1). He is convinced that if one day, everybody has a good socio-economic life, if everyone can eke out a living, then there will be no need for the Church. And he declares that it’s not possible. But in his words, he maintains that if one grows in a society that believes that if one has something that one does not need and someone else needs this, one has to help people by giving or helping to get that and we don’t need the Church for that to happen. In future, we do not need the Church; says he. Responding to the demand for concrete proposals for the Church, RCB1 proposes a continuous formation of the lay people in the Church. His response is, in line with those of RCB3 who had proposed a reform of the Church through conversion that is achievable by the prioritizing/centralizing the word of God. According to him, the reform can only happen if there is conversion. In his own words, “As Pope Francis said from the beginning when he spoke of the reform of the Church, he always said "the reform only happens if there is conversion". 55 Therefore, the priority of the priorities that we are having in the archdiocese itself, currently following our archbishop, is the centrality of the word of God. To know, to live, to put the Gospel into practice. That is, to find ourselves all at this higher level. This is a work for many years, but it is already in progress”. This also agrees with the proposal of RCP1 who had quite wished that the Church would jettison the authoritarian model of leadership of the medieval ages and opt for more fashionable models of leadership that the modern world requires. A situation where the priests are the nicest class of people, dedicated to service and serving with humility, and the parishioners are not taken for granted. He proposes the change which according to him, has become necessary and overdue owing to the nature of the modern world. However, he expresses the hope that such change will happen in the African Church. He was of the opinion that if the Church does not want to change, the demands of the world would force her to change. As he puts it; “I think it will also happen in the African Church. Even if we don’t want to change, the demands of the modern world could force us to change” (RCP1). LR1 proposes an integration of activities of the leaders of the Church. In her words; “Integrating activities for those who are leading the Church. The Church should promote more nonworship activities to appeal to more people. Good communication between those in charge and the people. The Church could create more Work/reflection groups”. Her response is in line with that of LR5 who proposes that the places of worship should be made more attractive to the worshipers. In his words, it is important to “make the places of worship pleasant, attractive and comfortable for more people to come in” LR3 proposes that the Church embraces an intra dialogue, what he termed an inter-Christian dialogue as a means to foster unity among Christians irrespective of their individual Christian denominations. To the question on their thoughts about the future of servant leadership in the Church, RCB3 thinks that there is a future for servant leadership in the Church but the Church still has a long way to go for her to actually be relevant in the contemporary society. He believes the Church can touch more lives and carry out her activities through using the modern means of communication. He also hopes that if our leaders are living the life of service, it will have a great impact on the lives of many families. This agrees with RCP2 who believes that there is a future if the Church leaders imitate Pope Francis’ way of leadership. The present Pope has given a great encouragement and a great example to all the leaders of the Church, to all believers and non-believers alike, he said. 56 The response of LR1 was hinged on Church leadership. She believes that a servant-oriented leadership would be needful for the advancement of the Church. In her words; “the Church will advance further if her leadership is servant-oriented. In this way, it becomes conciliatory and open to all the fringes of the population”. Her response agrees with the submission of LR2 who hinted that servant leadership has a future in the Church as the leaders are becoming closer and nicer to the people. Citing the present Pope as a powerful example of a servant leader, he believes that a leader who is willing to serve has a greater positive influence on the people under his care. I think we are actually moving towards a more servant-oriented leadership in the Church than it used to be. I think the mentalities are catching up and the leaders are somehow becoming closer to the people. If I really see the example of a person who is willing to serve and is willing to be with me and talk to me and sacrifice himself for me, I will also do it for others because that's the way (LR2). LR3 in his response pointed out that the future of servant leadership in the Church is clear especially when the present-day Church leaders begin to emulate the good ones they have among them, citing the exemplary leadership of Pope saint John Paul II, Pope Francis as well as other revered Church leaders. According to him: The future of servant leadership in the Church is clear. It has been well led by the former Pope, Pope John Paul II; the present Pope, and the other leaders. So, for me, there is a bright future for servant leadership in the Church if only, on one condition; if the leaders will not shy away from whatever the circumstance and preach the suffering Christ; live by example; be able to say to the parishioners, look, this is wrong or right. If not, the Catholic Church would not have been able to correct itself. That’s one of the duties of the Church”. His response rightfully blends with the thoughts of LR4 who though claims that the Church had lost its way, maintains that this concept of leadership is very much alive in the Church perceives servant leadership as the message of Christianity. He opines that this concept of leadership only has a strong prospect of being the life-blood of the Church. Drawing form experience as an ex-seminarian, he suggests that servant leadership will have a brighter future in the Church if there is transformation or alteration in the priestly formation system. In his words, “I cannot imagine anything else so alive and viable than servant leadership in the life of the Church”. I imagine what transformations would happen if there was a way to alter the process of preparing Catholic priests. He noted that one seminary can be different from another, and the level of commitment you can draw from an individual to be in the place you 57 actually have the ability to engage personally with others and with God can be influenced by hierarchies and these other factors. LR6 agrees that this concept of leadership has a future in the Church as she observed many Church leaders are changing their ways to making the people know that they are also part of the Church and that they too can lead. This also is in line with the thought of LR7 that the servant leadership in the Church is going forward. To the question of how servant leadership can work better in the Church than it does presently, RCB3 directly submits that the Church leaders should learn how to computerize their system as much as possible. In his words: There is one concrete thing that comes into focus now in this time that we are living that is, in fact, learning how to use the computerized means of communication. The Church should strive to make that something habitual. His reaction tends to agree with that of RCB2. According to him, the Church could do better if the leaders are free from political and social leadership and other forms of worldly influences. Citing the usage of the mass communication media by the Church for information dissemination, he stressed further that the leaders should not allow themselves and the Church to be negatively influenced by the changing world. In his own response, RCB1 is of the opinion that one of the ways servant leadership could work better in the Church is for the Church to be continually asking herself if she is actually being a servant to the people and trying not to straw from the right track. According to him, the Church should preach more and channel its work towards conversion stressing that the Church should be able to convert in service. In his words, the Church needs to imbibe the attitude of conversion, and to answer the question, how can the Church function better in this line of servant leadership? By continually asking herself whether she is actually being servant. His position is in line with the thought of RCP2 who stated that in the future Church, servant leadership can work better if people, especially leaders, are all able to convert daily to the message of the Gospel. In his words: Servant leadership can work better especially when every Christian takes cognizance that in a certain way, in the Church all the baptized are leaders and therefore no one can exclude oneself from this mission of being a leader, and therefore being a leader in this perspective of Jesus as a typical servant leader. But now it is true that to be more like Jesus we constantly need to convert to Jesus. And this permanent conversion is a requirement of the Gospel, so we 58 cannot forget that. So, servant leadership can work better in the Church if we are all able to convert daily to the Gospel (R CP2 ). In the opinion of the RCP1, advocates for readjustment or upward movement in the manner things are done in the Church to accommodate the modern Christians. In his words, “if the Catholic Church or the whole Church wants to really readjust, adjust to turn up in response to the demand of the modern world, that’s not bad. Whether we are responding or reacting, the most important thing is that there is something, there is a movement, upward movement”. According to LR1, servant leadership can work better in the Church when it can create a space for balance, meeting and acceptance of various points of view. In so doing, it would be possible for the Church to attract the attention of a large number of people. In his own response, LR2 avows that the Church has to follow what he termed a shared leadership system- (a leadership that not only leads people, and convinces them, and leads them to behave differently, but also shares that leadership with others, letting them know that they can as well be leaders themselves). The Church should strive to introduce more disciplines/courses in the seminaries for gone are the days when a priest can afford to be ignorant. He inquired whether we do leadership courses in the seminary thus: “Let me ask you a concrete question. Do you have any leadership course in the seminary curriculum?” to which I answered in the affirmative, alluding that that might not have been the case in the past. The views of LR6 also supports this position, “And there will be the servant leadership espoused by the Church and proposed to the society at large as a genuine style of leadership. In the olden days, people went to the seminary to escape from the harsh realities of life. Today the priest lives with all kinds of demands on his person that make an all-encompassing formation for him indispensable”. He concluded that the Church also needs to train lay people for capable leadership. In his words: The kind of leadership that the Church has to follow is shared leadership. And what do I understand by shared leadership? It's a leadership that not only leads people, and convinces them, and leads them to behave differently, but also shares that leadership with others. Now that we have agreed that it is important to train people for capable leadership, for real and not substitutive leadership; I think that training people, be they lay people or the clergy, is indispensable. 59 In his response, LR3 submits that Church leaders, especially the lay leaders who find themselves in positions of leadership, should demonstrate service by the way they live as their lives serve as examples for their followers. In his own words, if as a parishioner, I am given a position in the Church, I will live by example. I will show them by the way I live my life. By the way I carry myself and participate in the Church, people will see me as a Christ-model leader to follow. So, by that, they know, Christians lead by examples. Leaving for mass early; participating in the work that I am given; diligently carrying out the duties and showing the people that this is the way, the tendency is that what we have been speaking about since morning would have already been realized and I am happy to teach this. And I think that this is the way forward. LR7 also suggests that the servant leadership would work better in the Church if the leaders tried more to improve the lives of the followers. This could be in the form of mentoring especially for the youth, she said. Citing the examples of Apostles Peter and Paul, LR5 opines that servant leadership can work better if the leaders adapt to the needs of their followers. His position is in line with the opinion of LR6 who believes that servant leadership can work better in the Church should leaders of the Church – the clergy emulate the service-oriented nature of the Spiritan Congregation which she thinks does influence the Church in a great way. Generally, those interviewed showed enough preparedness to engage with the questions and the viewpoints were not always agreeable. As is expected, the clergy, three bishops and two priests who were interviewed, most of whom are versed in both sacred and secular sciences; seemed more consistent and cautious in the submissions about the past, the present and the future of the Church. In my view, this did not compromise objectivity since they were aware the research is purely for academic reasons. The lay people, some of whom are my parishioners tended to be freer. Without throwing caution to the winds, they engaged constructively in the interview in the hope that the outcome will be productive and will add value to the way things are done by the Church and especially the way, the laity is perceived. Since some of them were ranking office holders and business managers, they brought in their professional experiences which as one of them rightly pointed out can help the Church auto-evaluate. I concur with this perspective because the Church, whose leadership is here, under study is made up of people and this further justifies this modest attempt at shedding a methodical light into the life and purpose of the Church. 60 Some of the lay people differed significantly from the clergy in their postulations as is the case of RA, who utterly affirms that the Church is out of sync with the tides and times. As I prodded on, he reluctantly excused Pope Francis who is washing the feet of the world in the public glare. The first category of questions sought to educate us as to the meaning, nature and importance of the terms under discussion, namely, servant leadership and related terms such as: service, servant and leadership. As was indicated in the literature review, “a major strength of servant leadership is that it makes satisfaction of others its priority while emphasizing on collaboration, trust, empathy, and ethical use of power with an overall dedication to work for the benefit of others” (Rahayani, 2019). The second category questions sought to find out how the Church today relates to Jesus Christ’s style of leadership. In asking whether the Church today is making people grow and if she applies the ten characteristics associated with servant leadership, attention is being drawn to the thesis questions, namely: 1. Is today’s Church still adhering to Jesus’ example of leading by example? 2. Are those served better off for the service, that is; are they better citizens, are they healthier, are they more autonomous and are they freer? According to Joo et al. (2018), those parishioners who perceived higher levels of servant leadership from their priests tended to commit more to the priests (i.e., leader) and to the Church (i.e., organization). This implies that the Church today, both the leaders and the led, is increasingly aware of the need to adhere to Jesus’ injunctions, knowing that it is a liberating endeavor. Predicated on the gains of a greater understanding of servant leadership and how the Church is living it today, the third category projects into the nature of leadership expected from the Church in the future. Spears (2009) suggested that should the Church leaders imbibe the aspect of servant leadership, they could be more eager to serve followers and have empathy and listening ear and be best mediators drawing followers to God. That is the future of the Church in two words: empathy and listening ear. Pope Francis has shown in innumerable ways that the Church is on track and should continue to tow the path of conversion. It is the attitude that has to be more present in the life and mind of the Church. This concern or attitude will accompany us throughout history. The Church should not to stray from the path. We can imagine the Church as railroad tracks. If the Church gets off the rails, there's disaster. If the train derails, the consequences could be telling and it could kill the passengers. So, the idea of following this perspective of service is the rails of the Church. The 61 Church should constantly ask herself whether she is actually being servant. That is what Pope Francis is doing remarkable well. At this point, it would be relevant to discuss the Francis effect. 4.5. The Francis Effect From the moment the argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio stepped out of the Vatican balcony as Pope Francis, on the 13th of March 2013 refusing to stand on the habitual elevated platform to address the people, history was made in multiple senses. Everything, in terms of how the Church is perceived from without, changed. He changed the narrative. Beginning with his choice of name modelled after a saint who chose poverty over the cascading wealth at his disposal, the apparel, the greeting can as well be said to be non-starter for a just elected pope, and what more, when he bowed and asked the mammoth crowd to pray for him. Though it would neither be necessary nor possible to list all he has said and done in his seven-year papacy, I will refer to a few that really show him as attentive to the signs of the time and to the deep yearnings of a significant part of his flock. Pope Francis has remarkably decomplicated the process of marriage annulment. He interfered with the way things were being done at the top echelon of power in the Vatican making processes less onerous. Francis did not change any doctrine as many are wont to say. But, yes, there was a change on emphasis, there was a change of attitude and language. All these sent the signal that it is no longer business as usual. An epitome of a servant leader has taken the reins of power in the Church. Since then till date, his life and policies provide abiding strategies that can assist leaders become more effective. In his book, Lead with Humility: 12 leadership lessons from Pope Francis (Krames, 2015), a non-Christian, selected a few iconic statements which he developed in his book, Lead with Humility, to show the pontiff as a world class leader not merely by virtue of his election and the position he occupies as pope; but for the difference his papacy is bringing to humanity. In the first chapter, lead with humility, he shows that the Pope believes that authentic humility is key to changing the world. This attitude can be gleaned from his homily on assumption of office six days after election. The Pope citing the example of St Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, invites: Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people 62 and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect! In chapter two, smell like your flock, (Krames, 2015), takes on a tour of what the then Jorge Mario Bergoglio lived and did as auxiliary bishop and later as archbishop of the city where he was born. His proximity to the slums of his city of Buenos Aires would draw attention and endear him to so many. While referring to two similar acronyms, TWIST and MBWA, (Krames, 2015) showed Pope Francis as the leader/pastor who knows his flock. TWIST (Tesco Week in Store Together) is a program that TESCO uses to make his managers and group heads work, at times, as normal shop attendants. This way, the men at the top will have first-hand information on the goings-on in shops. This has made TESCO one of the largest retail companies in Europe. MBWA (Management by Walking Around) was popularized by Tom Peters, in his famous work (In Search of Excellence). This consists in a manner of leadership characterized by strolling around and conversing with the workers in order to appreciate firsthand, the problems of the company. Renowned business owners like Bill Hewlett, David Packard and Steve Jobs applied this method in bequeathing the world those giant business legacies like Apple and computers. In chapter three, (Krames, 2015), treats the who am I to judge of Pope Francis. On his return flight from Buenos Aires in July 2013, he responded to some questions about the gay lobby in the Vatican. While affirming that he does not judge anyone, he teaches us how to evaluate circumstances first and foremost and to always look out for the good of and good in the person being evaluated. Don’t change – reinvent is the title of chapter four of this work in which the author brings to light the posture the Pope has adopted in confronting marital cases. He, the Pope believes that, while not jettisoning the general guiding principles, the couples in each case should be heard; since each case is unique. References were also made to reformation and transformation as veritable means of making administrative and organizational machineries more efficient. He talks about, making inclusion a top priority. Here he addresses such issues as running on an inclusive mode of governing and this was exemplified in the Pope who has not relented in reinvigorating the college of cardinals with younger and open-minded people. He talks about the importance of carrying everyone along since for people to execute a policy well, they have to know it and not merely being used in the hands of some elitist group. 63 Chapter nine dwells on running your organization like a field hospital. In his unique way of perceiving the Church, he thinks of her as MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital). The Pope believes that today’s Church should have the capacity to meet people at their points of need, at the battlegrounds of their lives. He implies by this that the Church is not a hotel for the healthy but a hospital for the sick and needy. The Church has to heal wounds, thereafter, we can attend to other issues. In the final chapter of his book, (Krames, 2015), handles the issue of paying attention to noncustomers. Religion, race and sexual orientations have drawn many lines in the psyche of humanity. The Pope thinks that this is wrong as he aims to bring all humanity to Christ, the aforementioned dividing lines notwithstanding. The Pope thinks the Church should maintain an open door to enable straying or new members easy access. The Church has to go out and learn from such unconventional sources like the markets, that is where everybody goes. These outward tendencies also imply the efficient use of some technological resources to reach those whose world and worldview are limited by the use they make of such means. While all the popes of the 21st century could be said to have been internet savvy, perhaps none has reached the targeted audience, which is believers and potential believers like Pope Francis. (Krames, 2015), thinks that the Pope may have taken his cue from Peter Drucker, who himself perceives the world not like a static place but like an ever-changing landscape. The latter, thinks of the marketplace as populated by clients and potential clients. Without downplaying the effects of the papacy of the last two beloved popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, one must acknowledge that Pope Francis has brought so many people back to the Church and has converted so many to the Catholic faith. Pope Francis was singled out to show what the Church is out for and since he occupies a singular position, it would be easier to see the Church at work through him. Seven out of the twelve lessons were used here to demonstrate that the deeds and words of the pontiff are valid strategies for leadership in all human institutions. It is also evident that all twelve lessons agree with the ten characteristics associated with servant leadership. Though divine in origin and essence, the Church as an institution is subject to organizational behaviours, bound by rules of conduct and is expected to be a model of ethics. Every human institution devoid of these three elements is headed for chaos. Therefore, the Church can tell her story from a purely academic, organizational and contingency point of view. 70 This work, however, suffers some limitations due to the scarcity of time available to the researcher given that the researcher is in a full-time employment, a fact that made this research take a bit longer. The work is also limited by the type of audience interviewed. It had quite a reasonable number of interviewees but could have been more diverse in terms of gender and people who are unconnected to the researcher and who are more likely not to share his views. Be that as it may, efforts were made to diversify the interview pool. Another notable limitative factor was COVID-19. The interviews were conducted in the full heat of the pandemic. Six out of the thirteen interviews were conducted via teleconference, the interactions during the interviews could have been more informative but for the barriers imposed by social distancing. This, coupled with the incipient level of the researcher in research and interview modalities, may have deprived this work of some luster. 5.4. Suggestions for further research All the efforts and time put into this notwithstanding, it is far from being exhaustive both in approach and content. As a clue for further research, it is suggested that the study can be broken down into more details like, the impact of servant leadership in a given SME where it is believed to have been practiced. This may be more useful in proposing this style of leadership as workable. This would give it a more practical bend and not still leave some quarters of the population wondering if this seemingly incongruent match of words – servant leadership – is feasible. Servant leadership exists but is thought to be unconventional at some quarters. By the same token, there are other forms and styles of leadership which are thought to be unconventional as well but indeed are a powerful and often missed out-on form of leadership. Women and the youth are still believed, by many to be ill-equipped for leadership positions. This is not only a lie but robs humanity, maybe, of its best in leadership positions. So further research in servant leadership can blossom in this direction. 5.5. Final considerations Servant leadership is not a myth. It exists. It is not merely a good ensemble of words or terms, it is essentially a necessity. Jesus Christ, the founder of one of the greatest human organization, the Church; used it and lived by it. Struggling institutions or organizations can take a cue from the characteristics of servant leadership and encounter growth in their business 71 endeavors. Enthralled by the gains of servant leadership characteristics, Robert K. Greenleaf, himself not a Christian, went on to popularize this style of leadership. A servant leader first and foremost, leads with the heart. He must be open-minded. He cannot be self-serving by any standard and should be one who gives and receives feedback. This topic was birthed around the personality of Jesus Christ who is the first servant leader. The intention was to show that there is no disparity between the sacred and the secular, the godly and the ungodly, the clients and potential clients. If any disparity exists, it is time. This is the way Jesus understands his disciples. He gives time. Therefore, servant leadership is possible and attainable the same way that one can become a disciple after drifting for long. Though servant leadership is traceable to Jesus Christ and therefore more easily identifiable in the Church it is here being proposed as a style of leadership capable of delivering positive results in any given human organization. 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