Guidance on Servant Leadership and Executive Coaching in building business relatioships

Advertisement

Importance of relationship building and executive coaching:

The terms Relationship building and Servant Leadership go side-by-side for all types of businesses. It may be a corporate firm, a service sector, a tertiary industry or even a home-based industry. The development of a servant leader is very crucial for the success of a firm and this success is not dependent on the size of the firm. Creating your personal brand-servant leadership will progress your relationships with vendors, clients, suppliers and many other people linked to the supply chain. The importance of Business leadership programs and executive coaching in today's competitive world is extremely high and corporate firms are trying to excel in this department to create a competitive advantage for themselves. For that very reason, corporations are now introducing extensive executive coaching and management skills development programs.

Executive coaching

The concept of a servant leader is an old one. If we talk on a religious level, Muhammad (P.B.U.H) and Jesus preached to his disciples about success. Jesus Christ advised the people that if they wished to become successful leaders, they must first learn to become servants. An executive at the telecom firm AT&T, Mr. Robert Greenleaf actually introduced the term while elaborating on the steps of heading and progressing businesses and corporations.

What is a servant leader?
A servant leader can be defined as a person who, present at any position or rank in an organization, progresses in his work by fulfilling the needs and requirements of the team. This article discusses the possibility and creation of such an environment in a home-based business where mostly teams are not present.
An author writes in his article that true leaders are born with special traits. However, according to many theories, leaders can be trained as well. When one commits himself to inspire others and act as role model for them, the basic servant leadership principles is established and followed. The author points out that this person develops personal ethics which identify true values, rather than slippery cover-ups. Today's corporate firms enhance and polish these skills through executive training programs.

Building Business Relationships

While building profitable business relationships, the best place to unveil these qualities is to question the client regarding what they want in a product or a service. If one is aiming to be a servant leader, providing value to the client is the best place to initiate the process. There are times, when the client is confused on what he wants, and looks on to the seller for advice. An SL must make his priority to fully aid him in this process. Like in executive coaching programs, this aid includes providing the customer all the knowledge that he should know be aware of, such as benefits and disadvantages of something or how could he improve his current position by not buying something new. 

Servant Leadership: Examples and Practices

Alliance

It can also be practiced with vendors. Neglecting the pursuit for the lowest price, you can get to know what the vendor actually desires or how he wants to increase his current business position, and then offer him assistance in what you can do. When a vendor requires some exposure, you can suggest showing them the company name as a project partner.

Volunteer Work

Home based businesses have trouble practicing servant leadership, so an alternative for them would be to volunteer to work in a situation that lies outside one's jurisdiction as a professional, but in a non-profit manner. An example could be of an accountant or a doctor volunteering to help organize a charity even for disabled children without receiving any compensation or stipend for it.