Servant Leadership: It Really is Trauma-Informed

Abstract

In the previous chapter, I introduced trauma-informed care as an approach to organisational change and a shift in culture to recognise that many employees and people attending services have past trauma experiences. In this chapter, I recast servant leadership (SL) as a trauma-informed leadership model that naturally operationalises some of the principles discussed in the TIA literature. The first section of this chapter addresses the societal need for a more ethical and moral leadership approach, before briefly outlining the prevalence of trauma experienced by service users and employees. The next section provides an overview and definition of SL in a general sense, before articulating a trauma-informed model of SL and its characteristics. Finally, some of the outcomes associated with SL are discussed with a key focus on how this approach operationalises the principle of psychological safety, trust and empowerment found in trauma-informed approaches, as they relate to employees.

Citation

Mahon, D. (2022), "Servant Leadership: It Really is Trauma-Informed", Trauma-Responsive Organisations: The Trauma Ecology Model, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 25-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-429-120221003