Leadership is achieved through selfless service to your teams and not via command-and-control or using leadership positions as a means to achieving one’s own objectives or growth. Servants often make natural leaders due to their commitment and ability to helping others to become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous and more likely they become servants themselves, which is the same as the role of a leader. If you serve, then you can also lead, and unlike other forms of granted leadership, service is indelible, unable to be taken away so long as you chose to serve (Greenleaf, 1977a).

The only authority deserving allegiance is authority freely and knowingly granted in response and proportion to service by proven and trusted servants (Greenleaf, 1977a)

Software testers are engineers, applying sound methodology to problem-solving, but are also servants, providing invaluable information to their teams, clients and organisation while advocating for testing, quality and risk, making them leaders to their teams. Senior test leaders and managers bring out the best servant leadership in software testers through their own servant leadership; serving their testers so they in turn may be empowered and grow to be better servants and leadership to their teams.

Testers and test managers should always aim to (Greenleaf, 1977a):

• Empower their teams -Testers and don’t just test or manage test teams and testers, but serve their teams through testing or management in a way that allows others to perform better, be happier and be more productive
• Focus on growth and well-being – Testers and test leaders always look to upskill themselves and their team, and to create a positive working environment
• Showing how things can be better – Testers and test leaders really believe in the mission and importance of effective and responsible testing, quality and risk; and continually communicate this to their teams
• Be led via moral consciousness and strong values – Testers and test leaders aren’t just employees working for an organisation and clients, but having an obligation to their teams, society, government and own ideas of what’s good and right, and aren’t afraid to make an ethical decision that goes against any other goals or objectives.
• Be active listeners who say less and do more – Testers and test leaders are expert active listeners, they don’t impose their own ideas of testing, quality and risk to teams, but listen to those around, take note and understand what’s happening, and take appropriate actions when necessary
• Step up to leadership – Testers and test leaders confront the terms of the role and responsibility as leaders, even if not that desired, they make peace with it. Testers and test leaders aren’t passive, silently getting on with what others expect, instead are active participants in making the team, organisation and world a better place

Test leadership through service is threatened by the following, so identify and avoid (Greenleaf, 1977b):

• Fuzzy thinking – Instead testers and test leaders aren’t unsure how to proceed with testing or how to serve your teams
• Closed to other servant leaders or open to non-servant leaders – Instead testers and test leaders allow others in the team or organisation to serve and lead them in turn and do not follow other non-servant leaders as much as those who lead by service themselves
• Opinionated – Instead testers and test leaders are never experts that only critique, offer criticism or challenge ideas of others only
• Inaction – Instead testers and test leaders don’t just research and discuss problems but always ready to take action themselves in service of their teams
• Being hands-off or not wanting to work hard – Instead testers always get their hands dirty in service to their teams, performing tests and communicating important information when necessary, where test leaders and managers aren’t afraid to get their own hands dirty as resource allows
• Externalising problems – Instead testers and test leaders see any and all problems as something personal and internal to themselves to deal with, rather than just existing externally
• Shying away from leadership – Instead testers and test leaders who have the potential to lead through their service won’t shy away from this responsibility

Citations and Further Reading

• Greenleaf, R. (1977) Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. 25th An. Ed., Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, pp. 21-24 (a), 57-59 (b)