HUMILITY IN DELIVERY OF SERVICE By MARY MORRIS

Humility is a disposition to be humble or a lack of false pride. And Service is the work done by one person or group that benefit another.

Many Leaders recognize humility as an important human virtue. However, there is scant research on a possible relationship between a leader’s humility and those who they serve’ emotional labour. The current study, based on strong-situation hypothesis, posits that within the service community, leader’s humility could determine and facilitate followers’ deep acting and turnover. Moreover, the mediating effect of deep acting is moderated by followers’ perceptions of the organization’s members-oriented climate. The study is based on self-reported and archival data of some frontline followers at a community in a constituency in Nigeria. The results generally support the hypotheses. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are also discussed.

The place of Humility in the workplace at large and service delivery, in particular, cannot be overemphasized. A workplace is a place where many interests meet and as such a possibility of exhibiting some degree of sense of importance (which leads to pride) cannot always be avoided. People may be forced to show how educated they are, how important and well placed they are, how much knowledge they have and even how highly regarded they are in society. Such and many more result in daily conflicts among service providers and customers as well as among employees. This is where Humility comes in as the only antidote for those conflicts.

 

Recently, the social work profession has begun adopting cultural humility into frameworks for service delivery and practice. Most cultural humility rhetoric focuses on interpersonal, individual micro practice social work in terms of worker/client relationships and culturally appropriate intervention procedures. However, social work posits cultural humility as a strong self-reflection tool for the worker. Most importantly, it encourages social workers to realize their own power, privilege and prejudices, and be willing to accept that acquired education and credentials alone are insufficient to address social inequality. As such, this reflective practice enables social workers to understand that the client is an expert in their own lives and that it is not the role of the worker to lean on their own understanding. In short, clients are the authority, not their service providers when it comes to lived experiences. Those who practice cultural humility view their clients as capable and work to understand their worldview and any oppression or discrimination that they may have experienced as well.

In terms of the workplace of a social worker, supervisors should try to help workers to; Normalize not knowing. Supervisors and managers should aim to instil in staff the understanding that it is not only okay to not know—it is a necessary condition for growth, central to the practice of cultural humility and good social work practice.

Create a culture-based client self-assessment tool. Workers need to offer clients a mechanism by which they can be seen and heard—an instrument such as this affords that opportunity. While clients have the right to refuse to complete it, practitioners can nonetheless remain vigilant and true in the practice of cultural humility.

In-service: A cultural self-identification workshop. Supervisors or program managers can lead an in-service style conversation where staff members self-report how they differ from the cultural stereotypes others may believe about them.

Cultural humility is a tool that can be utilized by both macro (community organizing, social policy, evaluation, management) and micro (therapy, interpersonal) to better connect with individuals and communities as well as to gain more insight into personal biases and identities. Cultural humility can lead to both personal and professional growth of a social worker.

Research suggests that humble people are more generous and helpful and humble leaders may engage employees more and help teams be more integrated. Humble leaders aren't meek or unable to make tough decisions—in fact, we see humility as the midpoint between the two extremes of arrogance and lack of self-esteem. Again, humility in service delivery means being able to ask for help when we need it. Each member has their own role and we can’t always be at the helm of affairs, this attitude alone will give everyone a sense of belonging and drive PRODUCTIVITY. Humility is essential to growing professionally in a world that is evolving towards a flatter hierarchy.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Mary Morris

OS/19C/1426