For the past two years, uncertainty has been the only certain thing. The rapidly evolving nature of the pandemic meant that circumstances changed day-to-day, requiring companies to be agile in order to remain successful.
For workforce development programs, the pandemic changed not only the work environment for which we were preparing jobseekers, but how we worked and led. Specifically, this article will examine how we had to deepen and expand the practice of servant leadership – which focuses on what leaders can do to serve others – during the pandemic. Servant leadership allowed us to better engage our employees as we shifted to virtual communities and was leveraged to develop strategic foresight, which has allowed us to remain successful in the midst of uncertain times.
Servant leadership
Servant leadership was coined by Robert Greenleaf in the book The Servant as Leader in 1970. Greenleaf suggested that the best leaders put others first, focusing on the well-being of employees. Today, servant leadership is practised as an equitable and inclusive leadership model and has been theorized as a tool on the road to recovery during bouts of economic downturn (Brewer, 2010).
At their core, workforce development organizations are a human service, making servant leadership, which focuses on supporting employees through collaboration and distributed authority, even more important.
It focuses on four key tenets:
- service to others
- holistic approach to work
- promoting a sense of community
- sharing of power in decision-making
During the pandemic, NPower Canada’s senior leadership deepened our commitment to servant leadership and these four key tenets.
Service to others means that the primary motivation of the leader is to first help others. I strive to empower individuals at NPower Canada, and ensure they have access to the resources needed to grow personally and professionally. At NPower Canada, servant leadership has led to tremendous growth of individual employees. In 2021 alone, 26% of our staff received an internal promotion.
Promoting a sense of community had additional challenges during the pandemic, and we wanted to ensure candidates remained connected to the organization in a virtual environment. This has involved organizing more frequent all-staff meetings and inviting guest speakers to facilitate discussions on topics like mental health and wellness at work. Myself and our COO have also held meet-and-greets with all new hires and have scheduled 1:1 virtual coffee chats with staff on Friday afternoons to connect individually as well as in groups. NPower Canada has also leveraged technology platforms like Asana and Blackboard to facilitate greater collaboration within and across teams.
Sharing of power in decision making requires leaders to disperse power and be flexible in organizational structures. By placing trust and responsibility in staff at all levels of the organization, employees become more deeply connected with their organization’s mission. At NPower Canada, we have engaged cross-functional teams of staff in the strategic planning process, whereby all staff have helped shape our strategy to launch greater numbers of jobseekers into meaningful careers.
A holistic approach to work is a more personal, integrated valuation of the individual. Servant leadership fosters “feelings of belongingness and uniqueness among diverse employees” (Gotsis and Grimany 2016). Employees who feel that their personal beliefs are aligned with their organization’s values have increased social well-being.
Servant leadership & employee well-being
Servant leadership has the potential to “create a positive organizational culture, produce socially responsible organizations, and cultivate engaged employees” (Berger, 2014). These aspects are crucial to social well-being, which according to a report researching Canadians’ well-being in the workplace (conducted by Humanity, a strategic creative agency, and Sidekick, a strategy consultancy firm) enables success in the workplace.
Social well-being of employees has been proven to bolster performance and has become a key area of focus during the pandemic, when many employees have felt disconnected or isolated from their work. The bottom-up approach of servant leadership allows employees at all levels to feel valued and heard.
In January 2022, NPower Canada undertook research into employee well-being in partnership with Humanity. After surveying 103 employees, we found that we scored 77% on social well-being, compared to other organizations surveyed who scored an average of 31%. Additionally, 90% of employees surveyed feel passionate and connected to our mission, made possible through initiatives like our virtual program graduation ceremonies, which celebrate the achievements of our jobseekers, the dedication of our staff and the generous support of our partners, along with our inclusive strategic planning process and greater investment in collaborative technology.
Servant leadership and strategic foresight
Prior to the pandemic, being innovative and future-focused were key aspects of servant leadership that enabled success. For workforce development programs, this was especially true, as organizations had to ensure they were preparing jobseekers for the future of work and responding to market trends.
Yet, during the pandemic, organizations needed to slow down and be more considerate, without sacrificing the service we offer our clients. The ability to forecast the future of work changed drastically due to radical uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, which required a shift from forecasting to strategic foresight.
According to a report by the Future Skills Centre, strategic foresight challenges assumptions and implicit biases to explore what the future may hold and understand how the present relates to it. Strategic foresight requires organizations to identify the key drivers, trends and megatrends of the economy. It can be made possible through servant leadership, which considers opinions from all levels of the organization to compile enough information to gain a big-picture view of the future.
At NPower Canada, the shift to strategic foresight during the pandemic meant that we consulted with representatives from staff at all levels in the organization before testing new initiatives and programs. We also collaborated with all staff for their input on the strategic plans through consultations, and dug for broader perspectives on how an initiative might change the overall organization, not just their role. In doing so, we were better able to challenge mental models and avoid implicit bias in our strategic foresight and planning.
Leadership in the ‘new normal’
In the post-pandemic era of work, adaptability and flexibility enabled by servant leadership must be a core priority for leaders. A report by the Leadership Circle that examined how leadership has been influenced by the pandemic found that adapting, communicating and adjusting are key to success and growth. Leaders should continue to cultivate their skills to empower others and increase employee engagement, which can help counter the disruptive change brought on by economic fluctuations, develop future leaders within the organization, and create an attractive work environment and culture, to recruit talent and reduce turnover.
