Servant Leadership Essay

Richard has various self-developed management styles and skills that have led to his success in his Virgin Company (Branson 69). Branson believed that a competent leader must be a person that cares about other people's success for him or her to succeed. In his approach to people management, he advocates for employees having the time and support they need, which set them and your company up for success in the long term. The billionaire chair of the Virgin Group has been able to put into practice his philosophy of caring about people especially his employees and the results reflect on his extensive business. Richard Branson loves his employees and gives them total respect. He has envisioned a company culture where employees have the freedom to express themselves and their ideas freely.

As a Servant leader, he invests in helping employees improve as human beings, not just as professionals (Roberts 42). Branson believes in a business where people are expected to not only work hard but also enjoy themselves. He values the autonomy of his employees because he knows that satisfied employees will not transfer or leave their positions at the company. Also, he does not micromanage his workers as he shares that this can lead to low employee morale, high staff turnover and reduction of productivity. The servant leadership establishes the type of atmosphere that promotes both personal and professional advancement. It gives the workers an ability to offer input in crucial decision making when appropriate. As a result, this approach facilitates a healthy corporate culture in which trust, commitment, and engagement can thrive.

The leadership style emphasizes on leaders being facilitators rather than micromanaging the employees. Studies have shown that micromanaging is an unhealthy leadership style that ends up hurting employees and the company (Marturano and Gosling 36). Accepting and recognizing the special and unique spirit of every employee is vital to the success of a company. A servant leader must assume the good intentions of their workers and not reject them, even when forced to repudiate their behavior or performance. They should lead with a deep committed to both the personal and professional growth of every individual within their organization. Also ensuring staff well-being and welfare is a significant consideration for servant leaders. For the benefit of the business, the leaders should seek to identify a means for building community among those who work within the company and also maintain a good relationship with the customers and shareholders.

Servant leadership is also about sharing, allowing employees the opportunity to participate and giving credit when it's due. Some workers get motivated by incentives, and Virgin have acknowledged this by providing discretionary bonuses for high-performance employees in some situations. Branson's commitment to his worker's welfare gets underscored in his parental leave policy, which allows moms and dads to split between them 50 weeks of leave, 37 of them paid. He believes that giving the workers freedom to be independent results in business reaping positive rewards. His philosophy of taking care of his employees proves him to be a servant leader, and he asserts that by caring for the people result in them reciprocating by taking care of the business. In 1994 Production of the Virgin Cola drink was in my view an excessive risk-taking which resulted in painful losses because the production of the soft drink stopped in 2012 after the US soft drink giants fought back.

Also, servant leaders mentor and coach their teams' members to work together productively, but they also focus on individual needs. Without balancing the needs of the group with the preferences of individuals, however, one could overemphasize the needs or contribution of a single member. When employees believe their manager will step in to take care of any needs they have as Branson's company does, they are more tempted to exert less effort in working to offer quality results and put less effort into resolving issues or conflicts. Servant leadership may lead to demotivation of employees, and it can be similar to that of a parent-child case in which the parent bails the child out of trouble by continually stepping into to fix issues.