YAFO Institute, in its last edition of the 2023 Scholar’s Series, has organised a webinar on the theme “Impactful Leadership in a Dynamic World: Unleashing the Power of Servant Leaders” to enhance awareness of how individuals, groups, and organisations can discover the crucial characteristics and actions of servant leaders and how instances from everyday life demonstrate these qualities.
In the crowning edition of this year’s Scholar’s Series, the President of the YAFO Institute, Nathaniel Dwamena, hosted Professor Enoch Opoku Antwi, an author, lecturer, and consultant, at the launch of his book “Servant Leaders”.
Commenting on his book, Prof. Antwi asserted that the hallmark of a “servant leader” is their commitment to employee growth and development.
He explained that, as a leader, one cannot be around all the time to take actions as it demands; hence, according to him, nurturing people who can fill in the gap in their absence proves how worthy of a leader one is in discharging your role.
“As a leader, you need to delegate. As I delegate to the other leaders to travel for events on my behalf, when you do that as a leader, you empower the others to buy into the vision you are pursuing”, he said.
In expounding his focus on the theme using specific nuggets from his book “Servant Leadership”, he contended that leaders must have foresight and that without foresight, vision would be lacking. He attributed the absence of vision in Ghana to the cause of poverty in the country.
He linked this statement with how governments embark on their own projects while abandoning the projects of previous governments.
“The vision needs to be for the country, not the party,” he buttressed.
Prof. Antwi noted that a leader must see far from what the employee sees; that leadership is about your character in action.
“As a leader, you create a vision, and then the people who are inspired by the vision advertise it for you to reach the level you need. One person follows, then it follows on and on. With leadership, a lot of ridicule will come, especially from people who do not understand your vision. The moment you believe in your vision as a leader, a lot of people will come your way; believing in your vision goes a long way towards affecting others who later join your movement”, he stated.
On why servant leadership is lacking in Ghana, he said, contrary to the state of affairs in the West, Ghanaians are socialised from infancy to not express their opinion when an elderly person is speaking; this has in the long round made the youth to be laid back in voicing out their worries. He mentioned social media activism and public protests as some platforms where the youth can champion their cause.
He charged not only leaders in the secular economy but also church leaders to be part of the servant leadership agenda.
The webinar also outlined compelling case studies regarding how Africans and Westerners regard effective leadership. In his series of submissions, Prof. Antwi said western leaders have a maintenance culture on issues pertaining to their environment; they are quick fixers; they do not wait for an issue to escalate before they take action, which is quite contrary to the African situation.
“Courage makes virtues possible; power should be used to serve people. No matter where you find yourself, you can use that as an opportunity to create impact. Critical thinking and brainstorming with employees are qualities a servant leader must possess,” he added.
