Daikin Comfort Technologies North America

Mike Kaser

Mike Kaser has been on a Servant Leadership journey for many years. What that truly means and more importantly, how to apply it and make a difference in the lives of our employees, has really come into focus in the last two years. 

Through this article Kaser emphasizes on servant leadership as a people-first approach, improving employee well-being, fostering collaboration and driving impactful operational enhancement.

What is Servant Leadership and how can you apply it in the workplace?

Servant Leadership is a set of principles that can best be summarized as doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. We’ve all heard many times that people don’t leave jobs; they leave bosses. So, lead people the way you want to be led using three key servant leadership principles:

1. Empathy and compassion-Truly serve your people. Recognize that everyone is going through something. Learn to go deeper with your people, whether they are on the front lines or working at a desk.  Walk the production floor every day, multiple times, if necessary. Make connections, talk to folks and delve deeper by asking a few more questions to see how they are really doing. People will share their issues and more importantly, learn how you can truly help. It may be a kind word or addressing a workplace issue.

2. Put your team before yourself. Always make yourself available and have frequent one-on-ones that encourage open and honest dialogue. Coach people on what they are doing well and what they need to improve upon honestly. Let the team take credit when things are good and take the blame when things go wrong. If you keep your teams focused on the right things, coach them up and foster an environment of success, there will be plenty of credit to go around.

“We’ve all heard many times that people don’t leave jobs; they leave bosses. So, lead people the way you want to be led.”

3. Hold your team accountable. Servant Leadership doesn’t mean Mr. Rogers-style leadership. Clarify objectives, break down the barriers to them and hold people accountable for performance.  People are ok with accountability as long as it’s fair and honest.

We have used these Servant Leadership principles in the creation of the Works Team, a diverse group of hourly and salaried employees who meet weekly with a focus on serving our people. Various sub teams focus on different areas of need with the goal of creating a meaningful workplace where we genuinely care about each other. We’ve identified people who are going through issues, including those who are sick or just going through some other personal difficulties.  

The team takes action to help those in need by identifying internal and external resources we can refer people to. We send cards with encouraging messages signed by our team and communicate to others who sometimes support them by donating for smaller needs.  

In terms of accountability, the Works Team’s most important objective is to identify those with a personal need by encouraging better personal relations. We maintain a database to track issues and ensure the team follows up on each item.

By encouraging more personal communication between all our employees, the Works Team has helped discover ideas for improvements throughout our facility, ranging from improved break areas to installation of lower-cost water bottle vending machines for the summer months and installation of additional overhead fans to improve air flow and reduce temperatures.

The team has grown from six people when it started two years ago to more than 150 people. We’ve impacted more than 700 employees, many families, made numerous improvements to the facility and have sponsored several food and toy drives. 

The team is still growing and it’s truly the most engaged team I’ve been a part of in my 33-year manufacturing career.

 It’s a great example of putting servant leadership into action and exemplifies how gratifying and rewarding it can be of service to your people.