S.E.R.V.E represents all elements of our organizational culture; the expectation of our leaders to be Driven, Kind, Humble, and Bold. These leadership elements are less about tasks or tangible work-products, and more about the intangible essentials. It’s less of the “what” and more of the “why”; why we chose public service, and why we chose to lead others. Let’s break it down:
Servant Leadership
Like many organizations, our leadership model was inspired by the essay written by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970: The Servant as Leader. A servant leader is a person who puts the team before themselves. Their focus is primarily on the growth and wellbeing of those they serve, be it employees or the community. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by the one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps people develop and perform at their best.
Emotional Intelligence
Put simply, this means the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions, as well as an awareness of the emotions of others. Daniel Goleman came up with 12 critical elements of emotional intelligence. We won’t bore you with the whole list, but a few of them are self-awareness, achievement orientation, empathy, mentorship, and teamwork. We want leaders who possess a high “EQ”, and are regularly practicing to improve the EQ of their teams. Unlike IQ, which doesn’t change much over your lifetime, your EQ, how much emotional intelligence you possess, can go up with practice or go down with atrophy… like a muscle.
Respect and Inclusion
We already mentioned this one, but leaders should support an environment of inclusion every day among their teams. This means more than just hiring people who look different, it means valuing unique perspectives, opinions, and ideas, even when they differ from someone else’s or the majority. Maybe even more because they differ from the majority or the consensus. Our leaders should lean into differing points of view. So welcome the weirdos! Give the misfits a voice. We’re all weirdos and misfits at some point and in some circles, after all.
Vulnerability and Psychological Safety
This one can be uncomfortable to talk about. If you get a little nervous when you see words like “vulnerability”, don’t worry. We all do. Being uncomfortable with the idea of being vulnerable, or being our true, authentic selves, is natural. We’re big fans of Brene Brown and her book, Dare to Lead. One of her many great quotes is; “Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; it’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and it’s practicing your values, not just professing them.” Man! All the feels, right?! Remember those four values we showed you a few pages back? Humble and Kind means we are vulnerable leaders and we create a place of psychological safety.
EDGE & Innovation (Employees Driving Gilbert Excellence)
Yes, we mentioned EDGE earlier, but it’s important that our leaders encourage and ignite innovative ideas through empowering and believing in their teams. If you like to lead in a world where the team takes your marching orders and doesn’t rock the boat, you might not be happy at the Town of Gilbert. Our EDGE mindset means we believe that the front lines are closest to the citizen, and therefore they know how to deliver our lines of service in the best ways possible, and they best know what’s NOT working. And we welcome their thoughts and ideas!
Purposeful Leadership: 
Purposeful Leadership