Susan Marie Melhuish

Wearing a Coat of Many Colours: Archbishop Philip Wilson Practising the Art of Servant Leadership Susan Marie Melhuish

Shorttitle Servant leadership theory provides a model for ethical and effective leadership that focuses on the well-being of others, aims for empowerment, the development of skills and a shared vision for a socially just world. This study explores servant leadership models in current literature and the style of leadership practised by the Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson. The findings are reported underthefour themes of character, relationship, task and process orientation which lead to the subject?s specific model for practising servant leadership. This research offers a unique example of a Catholic Archbishop and his development as a servant leader whose primary objective for leading is to serve others. Further research and investigation on leaders and followers needs to be carried out to provide more practical examples to gain a greater understanding of how servant leadership is practised. Evaluations such as these will challenge leaders in their personal beliefs and organisational cultures inviting a new awareness of essential human values implicit in the servant leadership paradigm.