Integrating Servant Leadership into the Fabric of NAPCRG

The values of NAPCRG have been built upon participatory processes. The document, “Responsible Research with Communities: Participatory Research in Primary Care,”¹ together with the recommendations for NAPCRG, was adopted as organizational policy, by the NAPCRG Board of Directors and membership at the NAPCRG Annual Meeting on November 6, 1998, in Montreal. This document was amended in 2014 and published in 2017 entitled “Engaging with Communities, Engaging with Patients: Amendment to the NAPCRG 1998 Policy Statement on Ethical Research with Communities.”² These policy statements offer considerable insights into integrating participatory processes into practice and its subsequent benefits.

Building on these values and processes, servant leadership can be broadly defined as a desire by leaders to motivate, guide, offer hope and provide a caring experience by establishing a quality relationship with those with whom you work and/or volunteer.³ In addition to this, relational equity is: “something that is carefully cultivated and preserved by those who desire to influence others”; crucial for the retention of members over time; and the establishment of trust between members.⁴ Thus, servant leadership frequently uses authentic engagement/participatory processes that are broadly defined as “engaging in the development of a creative team with the team.”⁵

Qualities of servant leadership are often identified as: showing up; deep or compassionate listening; authentic engagement; reflective practice/humility which leads to service or a commitment to help others to meet their goals and overcome challenges.⁶ The model below (Figure 1) has been adapted given the nature of NAPCRG’s work which engages patient-partners/community members, health care clinicians, researchers and decision makers in research, education and practice in primary care.

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Figure 1.

NAPCRG’s model of servant leadership.

Autry⁷ indicated that the concepts of servant leadership were:

• Caring for people and being a resource

• Being present with people and building a community

• Letting go of the “I phenomenon” and working with the “we phenomenon”

• Creating a place in which people can engage in meaningful work

• Being present and paying attention not only to the words but also to the person(s)

In the constructs of servant leadership are found: ethical behaviors which are dedicated toward the growth and welfare of the peoples; and, concern for all members of the team.⁸ Thus, the characteristics of a leader as a servant are being: authentic; vulnerable; accepting/non-judgmental; present; and useful.⁷ Every leader must possess and demonstrate good management knowledge and skills.⁷ Given that authentic power comes from the people, the more power that is given away to others, the more that is available to facilitate moving the organization forward in a meaningful way.⁷

Over this past year, the Executive Committee which includes elected members (Past President, President, President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer), the Executive Director and Staff, have worked diligently to integrate servant leadership back into the fabric of NAPCRG. It is where we came from but seemed to have gotten lost over time.

We encourage you to reflect upon your answers to the following two questions and consider what you could do to support the new endeavors in and with NAPCRG:

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