Servant Leadership in Higher Education

Servant leadership in higher education matters because our institutions are being asked to deliver more while many of the people doing the work are already stretched thin.

Enrollment pressure is real.

Budgets are tight.

Teams are carrying more responsibilities, and leaders often feel as though they need to have every answer while also keeping everyone moving in the same direction.

That pressure can make leadership feel like one more thing to manage.

My recent conversation with Greg Aden, founder of Aden Leadership, offered a refreshingly practical way to look at it.

Greg has spent decades leading and developing people through work in hospitality, financial services, executive coaching, and leadership consulting, and today much of his work centers on communication, accountability, relationships, and servant leadership. 

What struck me throughout our conversation was how often Greg returned to simple human behaviors.

Listen. Stay curious. Honor your word.

Make time for people. Have the conversation you have been avoiding.

Those practices do not require a new leadership platform, a larger budget, or another committee.

They require intention.

And for higher education leaders trying to strengthen their teams while navigating a difficult environment, that is encouraging.

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Servant Leadership in Higher Education Starts With People, Not Performance

Greg made an important distinction early in our conversation.

He has had professional success, and he has broken records and won awards.

But he eventually realized that individual success and leadership are not the same thing.

As he told me:

“Chasing numbers, having success, winning awards is not leadership. It’s just performance.”

That distinction is especially useful in higher education.

We are surrounded by numbers: enrollment goals, application numbers, yield, fundraising totals, retention rates, and other campaign results.

Those numbers matter, and leaders are responsible for them.

But a leader can hit a number without necessarily building a healthy team capable of sustaining those results.

Greg described leadership as helping other people reach those goals.

That changes the focus from “What did I accomplish?” to “What did I help my team accomplish?”

It also requires curiosity.

Greg kept returning to a simple question: Are you genuinely interested in the person sitting across from you?

When leaders stay curious long enough to understand what somebody needs, values, fears, or hopes to accomplish, they gain information that no dashboard can provide.

This reminds me of something I have written about in my own work with higher ed leaders.

Leadership does not require knowing everything.

It requires staying engaged enough to ask better questions, listen to the people who know things you do not, and create the conditions for them to do their best work.

That curiosity is part of what makes servant leadership practical rather than sentimental.

Why Curiosity Matters in Servant Leadership in Higher Education

Greg eventually condensed much of his advice into two words:

“Curiosity and empathy.”

Those words deserve some attention.

Curiosity keeps leaders from assuming they already understand the problem.

Empathy helps them understand the person experiencing it.

Neither means lowering standards.

They give you better information for setting those standards.

Harvard Business Review has explored a similar connection between curiosity, genuine care, and psychological safety within teams.

When leaders know their people well enough to notice when something is wrong and create room for honest conversation, employees are more likely to believe the leader cares about them as people, rather than simply as producers of work. 

That kind of relationship becomes particularly important when the work gets hard.

And higher education has plenty of hard work right now.

“We Don’t Have Time” Is Usually a Leadership Warning Sign

At one point, I asked Greg about something I hear regularly from higher ed leaders.

Their teams are understaffed. Everybody is overwhelmed.

They agree that listening and relationship-building matter, but they cannot imagine where another conversation fits into an already packed calendar.

Greg’s answer was short: “Make time.”

He drew a distinction between taking time and making time.

His recommendation was practical.

Identify the people you need to meet with.

Put that time on the calendar.

Protect it. Honor it.

Relationships rarely become urgent until there is already a problem.

The employee who feels unheard does not always tell you immediately.

The small disagreement between departments may remain manageable for months.

The team member who is struggling with expectations may continue trying to figure it out alone.

By the time those issues become urgent, the conversation usually becomes much more difficult.

Making twenty or thirty minutes available earlier can save hours of frustration later.

And for teams trying to bring more structure to an overwhelming workload, I would also recommend our discussion on Higher Ed Leadership Strategies: Systematize to Optimize.

Systems and relationships are not competing leadership priorities.

Good systems can actually create the space leaders need to spend more meaningful time with their people.

Accountability Has to Begin With Alignment

One of the most beneficial parts of my conversation with Greg centered on accountability.

Gallup recently identified creating accountability as the lowest-rated of seven core leadership competencies among the leaders and managers it surveyed.

Less than half of leaders described themselves as outstanding or exceptional at creating accountability.

That is a significant problem.

But Greg suggested we may sometimes begin in the wrong place.

“Accountability is not possible unless there’s alignment.”

That line stuck with me.

Leaders often want accountability after something has gone wrong.

A deadline was missed.

A project failed.

Someone did not meet expectations.

Then we start asking who is responsible.

Greg argues that the more useful conversation happens earlier.

• Were we actually aligned?
• Did everyone understand what success looked like?
• Did we agree on who was responsible?
• Did we agree on the deadline?
• Did the other person actually commit to doing it?

Gallup’s own recommendations point in a similar direction.

The organization emphasizes clear expectations, regular coaching, priority-setting, recognition, and consistent conversations rather than treating accountability as something reserved for moments of correction.

That turns accountability into a normal part of the working relationship.

And that brings us to one of Greg’s most practical ideas.

Move From Expectations to Agreements

Greg draws a sharp distinction between expectations and agreements.

A leader can tell somebody what they expect.

They can send an email.

They can announce a deadline.

They can point at the task and assume everyone understands.

Greg does not consider that an agreement.

As he explained:

“Until the human being on the other end… says, ‘I will’ or ‘I won’t,’ you do not have an agreement.”

There is a lot of wisdom in that for higher education teams.

Consider how many projects begin with statements such as these:

“Marketing will take care of that.”

“Admissions should have those numbers next week.”

“We need the faculty to send this information by Friday.”

“That page needs to be updated before the event.”

Those statements sound clear to the person saying them. But has somebody actually agreed to own the work?

Have they agreed to the timeline?

Have you surfaced the other priorities competing for their attention?

Have you defined what “done” means?

Those conversations take a few minutes.

They can prevent weeks of misunderstanding.

Greg summed it up this way:

“Agreement is where the relationships are solid.”

There is another side to this for leaders.

You have to keep your own agreements.

If you expect everyone at the meeting at 8:30 and routinely arrive at 9:15, your behavior communicates more than any leadership memo will.

Your team notices the standards you apply to yourself.

That is why Greg connects accountability so strongly with integrity.

Leadership starts with honoring your own word.

Servant Leadership Still Requires Courageous Conversations

Servant leadership sometimes gets confused with being agreeable.

I admitted to Greg that earlier in my own career, I occasionally confused humility with being nice.

Avoiding an uncomfortable conversation could feel gracious in the moment.

Usually, it just delayed the problem.

Greg made a helpful distinction between being nice and being kind.

Kindness does not require pretending everything is fine.

Sometimes kindness means caring enough about the person and the relationship to address something directly.

That takes courage.

It also takes preparation.

Greg teaches leaders to think carefully about difficult conversations before they happen.

• Who is this person?
• Why does this relationship matter?
• Why does this topic matter?
• Where should the conversation happen?
• How would you like the conversation to end?

He told me:

“If you say I’m important and you don’t show up prepared, you can’t convince me I am important.”

That sentence may be one of the most practical leadership lessons from the entire episode.

We often prepare extensively for presentations to boards, presidents, donors, or outside partners.

Yet we sometimes walk into a difficult conversation with an employee five minutes late, phone in hand, with no idea how we want the conversation to go.

Preparation communicates respect.

It also keeps a difficult conversation from becoming a reactive one.

A conversation with one of our previous guests on The Higher Ed Marketer about higher ed change management, trust, and servant leadership touches on the same tension.

Servant leadership still requires vision and courage, including the willingness to enter hard conversations rather than avoid them. 

A Leader Cannot Ask for Accountability They Refuse to Model

Greg challenged leaders to look in the mirror, literally if necessary, and ask whether they are showing up as the version of themselves they expect others to follow.

That can be uncomfortable.

But it is necessary.

Teams learn culture by watching leaders.

If leaders regularly miss deadlines, teams learn that deadlines are flexible.

If leaders interrupt people, teams learn that listening is optional.

If leaders refuse to admit mistakes, teams learn that protecting yourself matters more than learning.

If leaders apologize quickly, clarify misunderstandings, and repair broken agreements, teams learn that accountability is normal.

Greg described integrity this way:

“Honor your word.”

And when you fail to do that, clean it up.

Do not wait two weeks hoping everyone forgets.

Acknowledge it.

Apologize.

Reset the agreement.

That is leadership people can trust.

For another perspective on creating this kind of trust within enrollment and marketing teams, see Five Ways to Build Trust Within Higher Ed Enrollment.

That article explores the balance between giving people ownership, remaining available for support, and holding colleagues accountable without micromanaging them.

Your Title Does Not Make You a Leader

Greg has spent much of his career coaching executives and leadership teams, after years in hospitality and corporate leadership roles. 

That experience has left him fairly skeptical of leadership built around titles.

As he put it during our conversation:

“Leading is a verb. It’s an action.”

That is a good reminder for higher education because we have a lot of titles.

President.

Provost.

Vice president.

Dean.

Director.

Chair.

Chief this or that.

Titles communicate responsibility and organizational structure. They do not automatically create trust.

People ultimately experience our leadership through what we do.

• Do we listen?
• Do we follow through?
• Do we prepare?
• Do we admit mistakes?
• Do we make room for other people to contribute?
• Do we treat people with dignity when pressure rises?

That last question may matter most.

Greg began our conversation by reflecting on the recent loss of a friend and former colleague.

The lesson he carried away was simple: people remember how you treated them.

By the end of the episode, he returned to that idea.

Titles eventually fade.

What sticks with people is how you showed up.

Start With Curiosity, Empathy, and One Better Conversation

There are plenty of leadership frameworks available to higher education.

Many are useful.

But I appreciated that Greg’s advice did not require a complicated new system.

Write down two words:

Curiosity.

Empathy.

Then bring them into your next team conversation.

Ask another question before giving your answer.

Clarify an agreement instead of assuming an expectation was understood.

Protect time with someone on your team who needs your attention.

Prepare for the conversation you have been postponing.

And when you get something wrong, own it quickly.

Those may sound like small leadership habits.

Over time, small habits become culture.

For institutions dealing with enrollment pressure, constrained budgets, changing technology, and tired teams, culture matters enormously.

You need people who trust one another enough to speak candidly, make commitments, solve problems, and keep moving toward the mission together.

Servant leadership gives leaders a practical way to build that kind of environment.

You can hear my full conversation with Greg Aden on this episode of The Higher Ed Marketer podcast, “Servant Leadership: Why Leaders Who Serve Their Teams Get Better Results.”

Greg also offers leadership coaching and training through Aden Leadership, including resources focused on courageous conversations. His guest materials identify communication, accountability, and stronger relationships as central areas of his work.

Build a Stronger Team Around Your Mission

Leadership challenges rarely stay isolated from marketing and enrollment.

Misalignment eventually shows up in missed deadlines, inconsistent messaging, duplicated work, frustrated staff, and strategies that never quite make it from the meeting room into execution.

That is why Caylor Solutions offers Custom Team Training and Consulting Services for higher education teams.

Our team training is built around the institution in front of us, rather than a generic workshop.

We can help marketing, enrollment, and communications teams strengthen their processes, build shared understanding, develop practical skills, and create clearer alignment around the work that supports the institution’s mission. 

If your team is working hard but struggling with alignment, capacity, or execution, we would be glad to help you work through it together.

Let’s talk about what stronger alignment could look like for your team.

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Featured image via adenleadership.com
Other images via chatgpt