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2. Keep Two-Way Communication Open

Servant leaders excel at making the voices and opinions of others feel heard. This means you can’t succeed with just a top-down
communication approach, where all updates and instructions come from you as the business owner. You also need to make sure
employees can contribute to the conversation.
Perhaps this takes the shape of a weekly “all hands” meeting where each employee has a moment to bring up their workload and any
associated challenges. Or perhaps it’s a recurring one-on-one check in every week or month to align with your key team members.
Most importantly, these conversations should offer an opportunity for employees to provide honest feedback. Employees should feel
their concerns and questions are heard—and they should have confidence that you’ll do something about them. You never know when
an employee will have an insight or idea that transforms one of your processes or your entire business model for the better.
3. Encourage Professional Development

As mentioned previously, servant leaders aren’t obsessed with being the one and only leader.
They also want to provide their team members with a path to leadership and growth as well. In
surveying, there are logical paths to advancement that you can encourage, such as education and
certifications that will take an employee closer to their career goals, or by enabling your team to
attend professional conferences.

Sometimes, passing on your own expertise and mentorship can be powerful in itself. Brandon
Montero, a senior survey manager at Okland Construction in Arizona, likened mentoring to the
factor that can help your employees truly thrive, versus just get by.

“We could picture a plant just coming up in a patch of dry dirt, all by itself,” he said. “On its own, maybe it’ll thrive. Maybe it’s going to
make it, depending on the conditions. Or could we add water regularly? Could we add nutrients regularly? Sure, it could grow on its own,
but could it really thrive?”
The more we invest in mentorship and professional development, the more we equip the next generation of surveyors for lasting
success.
4. Care About People on a Personal Level
Caring about your employees goes beyond providing them with a steady paycheck and giving them tools to succeed on the job. The best
bosses also show an interest in employees on a personal level.
If an employee is struggling at work, chances are there are external causes, such as the health of a family member or a financial hardship.
When you are in tune with employees on a big-picture level, you can better support them and learn their lasting loyalty and trust.

Today’s workforce wants to feel valued and have an element of being autonomous. Consider providing flexibility so that employees can
better manage work-life balance. Why not let employees head home from the job site, and email their data back to the office via VPN?
As long as you get the results that you need, it may be less critical that all work happens from the confines of the office.

You’d also be surprised what employees will share with you if you give them an opportunity to open up. For example, one surveyor
noticed he had an employee struggling to get to work on time every morning. It turns out that his family only had one car. He solved the
problem by letting the employee use a company truck. It took an incredible burden off of the employee, and showed that his employer
truly cared.

5. Lead by Example
Most importantly, being a good servant leader means identifying the type of business owner you want to be and then leading by
example.

During a business crisis or recession, what attitude and outlook do you want to share with your team? If a team member is struggling
due to personal reasons, what level of compassion and empathy do you want to convey?
Encourage your team to follow your lead in putting others first. Don’t be the type of leader that says one thing in a company mission
statement or employee handbook, but then they turn out to be empty words.
Make an effort to live out your philosophy where everyone can see.

1. https://www.greenleaf.org/products-page/servant-leader-download/#:~:text=Powerful%2C%20poetic%20and%20practical.,in%20the%20
quality%20of%20society.
2. https://hbr.org/2018/01/why-people-really-quit-their-jobs
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/05/26/why-servant-leadership-is-more-important-than-
ever/?sh=68eb51f82861

4. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/422764

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