It is necessary to analyze the leadership characteristics actively used at St. John the Compassionate Mission.
- Listening. Father Roberto Ubertino listened to his followers and helped them grow through his work in the community, volunteering, and helping others. In other words, his superiors always listened to his subjects and tried to meet their needs.
- Empathy. The bosses tried to get into the position of the workers by analyzing and understanding specific difficulties and taking into account the human factor. This helped to achieve a high level of cooperation between paid staff, volunteers, and superiors.
- Healing. Father Roberto’s willingness to take risks if it meant helping more people showed that he was committed to following his ideal of servant leadership for his community.
- Awareness. Father Roberto tried to control the organization’s work without pressure (Northouse, 2021). Father Roberto Ubertino pursued the goals of the Mission regardless of the circumstances: even when he was starting out with a small budget and other problems.
- Persuasion. Father Roberto strove for SJCM to remain flexible and capable of change if necessary instead of being stagnant and bureaucratic.
- Conceptualization. The people the organization served were the focus of the Mission, and building community was a significant part of the process (Northouse, 2021). Therefore, the conceptualization of the organization was very clear and organic, with specific goals.
- Foresight. As a conscious leader, he understood the need to find a worthy successor so that the team would not fall apart without his leadership (Northouse, 2021). He saw how other similar organizations often struggled after their leaders left.
- Stewardship. Rather than simply walking away, Father Roberto showed a sense of responsibility to ensure that future leaders would provide the community with everything it needed.
- Commitment to the growth of people. From volunteers to leadership groups, community members prioritized the Mission idea that it is not the poor who learn from them, but they learn from those in need. As Father Roberto envisioned, SJCM was created to help people cope with addiction, violence, and other problems through community support that would foster self-esteem and strength.
- Building community. Many volunteers and even full-time workers were once visitors who sought help at SJCM during difficult times. And after helping them, they created a community in which each individual was sufficiently developed professionally and morally, and directly dependent on peers. Taken together, this created a fully functioning society within the Mission.
In conclusion, these leadership principles are valued by the management team because it has become the rule for every manager to adhere to them. Paid staff also values these principles because they promote the well-being of employees by creating a comfortable and effective team environment. The same applies to volunteers and community members since all principles together contribute to a positive atmosphere of development, as mentioned above, and provide opportunities for redemption.
Reference
Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.