Servant leadership as a natural model for social work practice

Servant leadership, first introduced by Robert K. Greenleaf, offers an ethics-oriented framework for leadership that prioritizes trust, empathy, empowerment, and service as central to organizational effectiveness. This leadership model provides helpful guidance for social work leadership practice. Strongly aligned with the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics and related theories of human behavior, systems, and empowerment, the paper draws from several disciplines and cites empirical research that supports the place of servant leadership in social work practice. The discussion elucidates research gaps, particularly in social work practice. Future studies should employ longitudinal approaches to examine systemic outcomes. Congruent with the values embraced by the social work community, this model of relationship-driven leadership is a promising addition to the organizational toolkit of social agencies.