Servant leadership amidst crisis

When a major disaster, like Typhoon Yolanda, devastates a community, it will take time before the national government can undertake the necessary response. It is during this period, especially the first 24 to 48 hours, after the event, that the local leaders must exercise the necessary leadership.

I can understand that many local officials and their families were themselves victims of the calamity. I can sympathize even with the local city official who decided to fly her children out of her devastated community as soon as she had the opportunity. And I suppose the Leyte mayor who was picked up by his children and was flown out of town by helicopter should be considered lucky.

But I also sympathize with P-Noy when, during his televised speech, he declared a state of national calamity and asked for everyone’s understanding. Among the things he said was, “There were also a number of local governments that because of the extent of the destruction, were paralyzed, because among those who fell victim to the storm were their own personnel and officials.”

During these trying times, it must be difficult to be a local leader. Unfortunately, this will not be the last time a major devastation will come to our shores. We must accept the reality of climate change.

Local communities must obviously be more prepared. But there will be times when even the best of preparation will not be enough.

What is the most appropriate form of leadership for our community leaders next time a major tragedy occurs in their communities? I suggest they can consider the concept of Servant Leadership.

The phrase was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. He wrote:

“The servant-leader is servant first. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve “first.” Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive to acquire material possessions.”

Greenleaf further states: “The leader-first and the servant-leader types are two extreme types...The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served...While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the top of the pyramid. The servant-leader shares power and puts the need of others first.”

In the practice of servant leadership, there are certain principles that our community leaders may want to remember.

Among the principles of servant leadership are empathy, healing, persuasion, listening, foresight, stewardship and accepting the responsibility for serving the need of others.

Servant leadership is certainly ideal. But it is difficult and not for everyone.

Aside from the leadership at the local level, another topic that will continue to be debated is looting. This phenomenon is unusual in the Philippines. There have been many reports of looting in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Haiti. So it is not just hunger that turns people into looters.

It is difficult to discuss the morality of looting.  The law is clear that even the starving are not justified in stealing bread.

On the other hand, others seem to consider that there are three levels of looting. On the first level, stealing food to survive is accepted by many.

On the second level is the stealing of other items like appliances, clothes and toys. I can still remember the scenes of supermarkets being looted in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as a perfect example of this.

And finally, there are instances of looting that actually turn into riots and cause violence and mayhem such as what was seen during the rioting in the United Kingdom in 2011 which lasted for days. Many of the looters came from the middle class. The violence during the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 also comes to mind.

One of the most unusual in the recent history of disasters was the decision made by Chilean president Michele Bachelet after the earthquake in 2010. She condemned the looting, imposed curfews, and sent in 14,000 troops. But she also asked the nation’s grocers to give away food and necessities. After a few days, the looting subsided.

As a footnote to the incident in Chile and Haiti, let me quote an excerpt from an article by the Associated Press: “Nonetheless, a pattern that now is a cliché of disaster journalism broke out there as well. Early reports of people raiding markets for food and diapers were followed by pictures of people carrying TVs and dishwashers off into a city with no electricity. Intact stores were broken into.”

Almost every disruption in the social order, whether man-made or natural, has triggered looting somewhere. It is hard to predict when looting will erupt and when it will not.

Looting can start spontaneously and criminal elements will always take advantage. How quickly it is stopped depends on the swiftness and severity of the response. This is the best argument for using force decisively.

But there is one scene very Filipino: The long lines of people at bus terminals wanting to go to the devastated areas, to either bring food and look for lost relatives or both. This Filipino core value of family above self is the very foundation of our culture and what makes us rise above even the most crippling circumstances.

I also hope that the value of others above self will not only be reawakened but remain firm in the hearts of our public servants. With these values, the resiliency of the Filipino will always prevail.

Email: elfrencruz@gmal.com