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Want to create a thriving culture? Focus on the employee experience. There’s an entire leadership philosophy around putting employees first. It’s called servant leadership.

Servant Leadership

It’s been around for thousands of years, but Robert Greenleaf coined the term. He defined it as this:

“A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by 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 as highly as possible.”

(from the Robert K. Greenleaf Servant Leadership Organization)

This places corporate leadership as the anchor on bottom, serving everyone else forming the top layers above. In this model, employees are then the most important people in the organization, on the front lines, supported by resources and decisions from leadership.

If your organization practices servant-leadership, or any other conceptual leadership framework, how do you show candidates how it works in practice?

Real employee stories best illustrate abstract concepts like this one.

We heard this story from Rebecca at Sonoco about how leadership supports her. It’s also a great example of servant leadership in practice.

Bringing abstract cultural concepts to life

You can support lots of other abstract concepts with stories. This is also true for cultural values, statements like “we are a diverse and inclusive environment,” and more.

Take a look at your recruitment marketing and employer branding content. Candidates are trying to translate jargon and abstract phrases into meaningful glimpses into what their life could be like if they joined your organization. Make it easy for them by using real employee stories that illustrate culture.