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Mike Blevins has been a supporter and practitioner of servant leadership since the early 90’s. In his former role as COO of Luminant (the power generation subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings) Mike, with his leadership team, was responsible for establishing a culture of servant leadership at Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant. His and the team’s efforts brought awards and recognition of the facility in safety, production, and a top rating as a nuclear plant.
As we share servant leadership principles, some misinterpret the model of servant leadership as being “soft” in the tools of accountability. We dialogue with Mike about the need for an understanding of how managerial oversight tools are essential to the servant leadership model. In this series of articles, Mike shows how discipline and accountability are seamlessly woven into a “just” or servant-led culture.
Discipline and accountability are bantered around a lot in most organizations. Many people assume that we all have a common understanding of what they mean. Some organizations are very clear about what they mean and others are not.
Even in commercial nuclear power, we don’t have a common definition of these two words. I wouldn’t normally harp on the meaning of two words, but I think the use of those words leads us to take the wrong action…in many cases leading to the wrong results. Those actions cause people to react and believe differently and often differently than we want them to. Then, the cultural dominos begin to fall.
Creating a Just Culture through Servant Leadership
Since 1992, I have been interested in servant leadership and the importance of leaders serving, supporting, and developing others in the organization. My mentors have been servant-leaders who believed in my abilities and wanted to see me succeed. So in the past 20 years, I have looked for leadership tools that support the principles of servant leadership. The idea of a “Just Culture” is one of those concepts that seems to fit with the principles of servant leadership.
Just culture is not a phrase that is readily used in business, except for a few experts and practitioners or those that have a keen interest in culture. I fall into that last category. Just culture is one of those phrases we often have to explain and even defend when we use it. People get defensive if we question if they have a just culture or not. Perhaps this is true of any questions we ask about another person’s organizational culture.
I would imagine that some may think that discipline, accountability and just culture are three words (ok, four) that don’t go together. At least, they don’t go together easily. My goal is to not only convince you that they go together, but also to convince you that discipline and accountability are an essential part of a Just Culture[1] helping to create a workplace where servant leadership is present.
First, is it really worth worrying about? Why strive for a Just Culture of servant-leaders?
Let’s agree on a definition for Just Culture. This is more easily said than done. To my surprise, and frustration, Sidney Dekker never really defines Just Culture in his book, Just Culture. He says that “A just culture protects people’s honest mistakes from being seen as culpable.”
To me, that says what a just culture does, not what it is.
James Reason offers a more specific definition:
“An atmosphere of trust in which people are encouraged (even rewarded) for providing essential safety-related information, but in which they are also clear about where the line must be drawn between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.”
To read his article in its entirety, click below.
“We asked AMCA to help us with our servant leadership development strategy. They did more than nudge us along. They instilled a discipline we needed to hold ourselves accountable and to stay true to our beliefs and values during the hard times, as well as the good. They are not cheerleaders. They are wise sages and counsel, as well as friends.”
