At the 2025 American Evaluation Association conference, my colleague Dr. Mandy Smith from Abacus Technologies and I explored how servant leadership principles align with the five AEA evaluator competency domains. Our presentation highlighted the ways in which servant leadership can support evaluation practice and strengthen team effectiveness.
What is Servant Leadership?
Servant leadership, a concept introduced by Robert Greenleaf in 1977, inverts traditional hierarchical power dynamics. Rather than leaders standing at the top directing others, servant leaders focus on service to others to support team and organizational well-being. This approach, which emphasizes trust, open communication, and teamwork, enables teams to work effectively toward shared goals.
Servant leadership rests on four core characteristics:
- Empowerment and autonomy – Creating environments in which team members have agency and decision-making power
- Collaborative and inclusive environment – Building trust through open communication and working toward shared goals
- Stewardship and responsibility – Supporting team members’ well-being and professional development
- Commitment to growth and improvement – Fostering learning through mentoring and training; treating failures as opportunities
Servant Leadership Across the AEA Competency Domains
We aligned the four characteristics of servant leadership to the five AEA evaluator competency domains: professional practice, methodology, context, planning and management, and interpersonal. Our findings were based on a review of literature and also drew on survey responses from evaluation practitioners about the leadership qualities they value.
Professional Practice
The professional practice domain encompasses program evaluation standards, AEA guiding principles, and cultural competency. Servant leadership manifests as stewardship and responsibility. Leaders ensure rigorous technical practice, model ethical behavior, clarify priorities, and maintain transparent communication and decision-making processes. Servant leaders ensure that the technical aspects of the team’s work, data collection and analysis, for example, align with professional standards.
Survey respondents emphasized how important it is for leaders to be familiar with industry standards and actively engage with the professional community. Servant leaders extend this professional growth with their team by establishing shared study practices and team professional learning experiences. One survey respondent wrote that evaluation team leaders should not just “get the work done and stop,” but should make a plan to share the work with the broader professional community to support evaluation utility and continuous learning.
Methodology
Methodology, the second evaluator competency domain, refers to applying rigorous, appropriate, and systematic inquiry to evaluation studies The leader sets high expectations for rigor and creates a respectful environment that allows team members to feel comfortable discussing methodological practices and concerns. Servant leadership in the methodology domain aligns with empowerment and autonomy. Leaders foster environments that support and build confidence for rigorous inquiry. Empowering the team to make methodological decisions sparks creativity and drives innovation.
Survey respondents confirmed the importance of leading with mutual respect, maintaining competence in methodology and analytic methods, and committing to continuous skill development and learning.
Context
Understanding evaluation circumstances, perspectives, settings, and stakeholders requires a collaborative and inclusive environment. Servant leaders actively engage diverse stakeholders, respect cultural factors, and foster trust across systems to create contextually relevant and ethically sound evaluations. Clear and timely communication supports these efforts.
Survey participants stressed the importance of leaders demonstrating cultural competency, reflecting on practice, and attending carefully to stakeholder needs and the potential impact of the evaluation study.
Planning and Management
In the area of planning and management, the practical and business aspects of completing evaluations, servant leadership again emphasizes stewardship and responsibility. Leaders ensure evaluations are executed effectively within resource and time constraints, that operational decisions reflect shared values and ethical commitments, and that study utility is maximized.
Survey respondents valued attention to planning, scope, study details, timelines, and internal deadlines. They also noted how important is is for leaders to communicate clearly and offer regular check-ins to help the team meet expectations.
Interpersonal
The interpersonal domain encompasses interactions, communication, conflict resolution, trust, and cultural competence. This domain naturally aligns with creating a collaborative and inclusive environment. By prioritizing strong interpersonal connections, leaders create spaces where stakeholders feel heard and valued.
Survey feedback emphasized leaders’ emotional intelligence, active listening and reflection to cultivate trust, mentorship to help team members grow, and demonstrating respect and trust in team members.
Three Takeaways for Evaluation Team Leaders
Servant leadership offers a powerful framework for evaluation team leaders seeking to enhance both team dynamics and evaluation quality. By inverting traditional power structures and focusing on empowerment, collaboration, stewardship, and growth, we can create evaluation teams that are effective and also fulfilling places to work.
The alignment between servant leadership principles and the AEA competency domains demonstrates that servant leaders can create conditions for rigorous, ethical, culturally responsive evaluation practice that serves stakeholders and generates meaningful impact. We offer three practical recommendations for evaluation team leaders:
Lead with integrity and stewardship
- Develop a clear ethics protocol for your team and revisit it throughout the evaluation
- Model transparency and openly discuss potential ethical dilemmas and decision-making processes
- Monitor resource use to ensure fairness and accountability in budget and time allocation
Prioritize relationships and context
- Conduct thorough stakeholder mapping
- Connect regularly with stakeholders, including team members, throughout the evaluation process
- Practice active listening to understand needs and concerns
Empower technical excellence
- Delegate decisions and let team members take ownership of their work
- Provide access to training and resources for advanced methods and tools
- Celebrate innovative approaches and creative solutions
Interested in exploring leadership in evaluation further? We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Connect with us to continue the conversation.