Empowerment: a motivational concept focused on
enabling people and encouraging personal development
(Conger 2000). Empowerment aims at fostering
a pro-active, self-confident attitude among followers
and gives them a sense of personal power. Empowering
leadership behavior includes aspects like
encouraging self-directed decision making, information
sharing, and coaching for innovative performance
(Konczak et al. 2000). The servant leader’s
belief in the intrinsic value of each individual is the
central issue in empowerment; it is all about recognition,
acknowledgment, and the realization of each
person’s abilities and what the person can still learn
(Greenleaf 1998).