Dr Paul Farmer was a physician who dedicated his life to providing health care to impoverished
people (1). The advancement in health care delivery for communities in need was a product of Dr
Farmer’s adoption of a servant leadership style. Of the ten central characteristics that comprise
servant leadership (2), listening and building community were particularly vital to Dr Farmer’s
success.
The success of a service is contingent on the demand for that service, and Dr Farmer determined
what was in demand by first listening to the community. For example, in assisting the people the
hydro-electric dam project in Haiti displaced, Dr Farmer first conducted a needs assessment by
talking to those affected (2). Communication between servant leaders and followers is an interactive
process, and Dr Farmer’s ability to speak Haitian Creole and French enabled him to effectively
engage in this process by overcoming any language barriers that generally contribute to an
incomplete understanding of patients’ situations and poor patient assessment (3). Establishing
common ground through language also helped build the necessary trust with his patients to allow
them to feel safe to freely communicate their needs because his efforts demonstrated a commitment
to listen, understand and interact (4). Finally, Dr Farmer’s resultant actions were demonstrative of his
recognition that listening involved being receptive to what others have to say, as he immediately made
a plan to establish a clinic in response to the request for a hospital that came out of the initial needs
assessment.
The needs assessment then paved the way for the development of intervention. Whether it was when
starting out with few volunteers and little funds or fast forward to managing thousands of employees
across different clinics across the world, Dr Farmer was able to build community through his ability
to take the notion of social justice and turn it into real work on the ground. Dr Farmer united volunteers
who shared a common goal of re-building the communities that were displaced by the dam project,
and his work in listening to the community’s needs first helped foster the sense of safety, trust and
openness from which the community flourished. Dr Farmer was then able to maintain the community
through his ability to stay strong during, and find resolutions to, challenges that threatened the
community, such as lack of funding or governmental resistance (5). However, Dr Farmer did not work
alone as his promotion for the education and involvement of individuals not only had the effect of
encouraging individuals to be more engaged in the community because of a sense of belonging, but it
also built their community to such a degree such that they were able to meet their own needs and the
needs of others (as his organisation Partners in Health has sent Prevention and Access to Care
Treatment teams around the United States to provide support to other community health programs
(2).
In conclusion, Dr Farmer was a servant leader who listened to the needs of others first. He was
receptive to those needs by building a community of people who were united by a common goal to
address those needs. Today, that community lives on and thrives because of the maintained
commitment to listen and respond to the needs of the community and the individuals within it.
References
(1) Kos P, Davidson K (Directors). Bending the Arc. Film Platform; 2017. Accessed 19 August 2023. Available from:
https://search-alexanderstreet-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work
%7C5075391?account_id=10910
(2) Northouse PG. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 8th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. 2018. Accessed 18
August 2023. Available from: https://nibmehub.com/opac-service/pdf/read/Leadership_%20Theory%20and
%20Practice-%207th%20Edition.pdf
(3) de Moissac D, Bowen S. Impact of language barriers on quality of care and patient safety for official language
minority Francophones in Canada. J Patient Experience. 2019; 6(1):24-32. Accessed 21 August 2023. Available
from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2374373518769008
(4) Saleem F, Zhang YZ, Gopinath C, Adeel A. Impact of servant leadership on performance: The mediating role of
affective and cognitive trust. SAGE Open. 2020; 10(1). Accessed 21 August 2023. Available from:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2158244019900562
(5) Tran DQ, Spears LC. Servant-leadership and community: Humanistic perspectives from pope John XXIII and Robert
K. Greenleaf. Humanist Manag J. 2020; 5. 117-131. Accessed 21 August 2023. Available from:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41463-020-00089-4
people (1). The advancement in health care delivery for communities in need was a product of Dr
Farmer’s adoption of a servant leadership style. Of the ten central characteristics that comprise
servant leadership (2), listening and building community were particularly vital to Dr Farmer’s
success.
The success of a service is contingent on the demand for that service, and Dr Farmer determined
what was in demand by first listening to the community. For example, in assisting the people the
hydro-electric dam project in Haiti displaced, Dr Farmer first conducted a needs assessment by
talking to those affected (2). Communication between servant leaders and followers is an interactive
process, and Dr Farmer’s ability to speak Haitian Creole and French enabled him to effectively
engage in this process by overcoming any language barriers that generally contribute to an
incomplete understanding of patients’ situations and poor patient assessment (3). Establishing
common ground through language also helped build the necessary trust with his patients to allow
them to feel safe to freely communicate their needs because his efforts demonstrated a commitment
to listen, understand and interact (4). Finally, Dr Farmer’s resultant actions were demonstrative of his
recognition that listening involved being receptive to what others have to say, as he immediately made
a plan to establish a clinic in response to the request for a hospital that came out of the initial needs
assessment.
The needs assessment then paved the way for the development of intervention. Whether it was when
starting out with few volunteers and little funds or fast forward to managing thousands of employees
across different clinics across the world, Dr Farmer was able to build community through his ability
to take the notion of social justice and turn it into real work on the ground. Dr Farmer united volunteers
who shared a common goal of re-building the communities that were displaced by the dam project,
and his work in listening to the community’s needs first helped foster the sense of safety, trust and
openness from which the community flourished. Dr Farmer was then able to maintain the community
through his ability to stay strong during, and find resolutions to, challenges that threatened the
community, such as lack of funding or governmental resistance (5). However, Dr Farmer did not work
alone as his promotion for the education and involvement of individuals not only had the effect of
encouraging individuals to be more engaged in the community because of a sense of belonging, but it
also built their community to such a degree such that they were able to meet their own needs and the
needs of others (as his organisation Partners in Health has sent Prevention and Access to Care
Treatment teams around the United States to provide support to other community health programs
(2).
In conclusion, Dr Farmer was a servant leader who listened to the needs of others first. He was
receptive to those needs by building a community of people who were united by a common goal to
address those needs. Today, that community lives on and thrives because of the maintained
commitment to listen and respond to the needs of the community and the individuals within it.
References
(1) Kos P, Davidson K (Directors). Bending the Arc. Film Platform; 2017. Accessed 19 August 2023. Available from:
https://search-alexanderstreet-com.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work
%7C5075391?account_id=10910
(2) Northouse PG. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 8th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. 2018. Accessed 18
August 2023. Available from: https://nibmehub.com/opac-service/pdf/read/Leadership_%20Theory%20and
%20Practice-%207th%20Edition.pdf
(3) de Moissac D, Bowen S. Impact of language barriers on quality of care and patient safety for official language
minority Francophones in Canada. J Patient Experience. 2019; 6(1):24-32. Accessed 21 August 2023. Available
from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2374373518769008
(4) Saleem F, Zhang YZ, Gopinath C, Adeel A. Impact of servant leadership on performance: The mediating role of
affective and cognitive trust. SAGE Open. 2020; 10(1). Accessed 21 August 2023. Available from:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2158244019900562
(5) Tran DQ, Spears LC. Servant-leadership and community: Humanistic perspectives from pope John XXIII and Robert
K. Greenleaf. Humanist Manag J. 2020; 5. 117-131. Accessed 21 August 2023. Available from:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s41463-020-00089-4
