International Journal of Servant-Leadership
Article Title
Gardening Tips for Servant-Leaders, Part 2
Abstract
Metaphors always produce a kind of one-sided perspective, and imply a particular way of thinking and of seeing. They transfer meaning from a wellunderstood source domain such as "gardening" to a rather complex target domain such as "organizational leadership." Different metaphors of organization have different focuses. While the organization-as-machine metaphor focuses on the functioning of each part, the focus of the organization-asgarden metaphor is the healthy growth of the individual plant/person. In organization theory, it is the servant-leader who focuses on the growth of the individual, and who continuously asks himself the Greenleaf test question, "Do those being served grow as persons?" (Greenleaf, 1980, p. 43). Based on the organization-as-garden metaphor, these final ten gardening tips provide insights from gardening for the practice of servant-leadership, which can be applied in private as well as in organizational communication to get the message of servant-leadership across, and to illustrate the beauty of servant-leadership.