Senewiratne, S A
Sendjaya, S
Gunasekara, A

The uncertainties and turmoil exacerbated by the pandemic have taken a toll on many leaders, particularly those who always try to prioritise the needs of others above their own. As servant leaders meet the needs of others and cope with excessive demands, they often neglect their own wellbeing, and may experience depletion and languishing. The current study aims to investigate experiences of physical and mental depletion in leaders who display servant leadership behaviours, to understand how these experiences can be minimised, and prevent languishing and further impacts on wellbeing. Physical depletion refers to the physical symptoms of becoming exhausted, and mental depletion occurs when an individual can no longer focus due to experience a loss in concentration and mental fatigue that impacts their ability to work effectively. Research has shown individuals can keep working when they are physically depleted, but this motivation tends to decrease as they begin to experience mental depletion. While much has been written on the two types of depletion, prior studies have not established how physical depletion may lead to mental depletion, or examined how it can lead to experiences of languishing in servant leaders.
Data were collected from two studies using experimental design via crowdsourcing on MTurk (Study 1) and experience sampling methodology (ESM) among executive-level employees at a tea company based in Sri Lanka (Study 2). By focusing on leader-related outcomes, this research deviates from the preoccupation of leadership research on leader effects on followers and organisational outcomes. The findings from both studies suggest that leaders who display servant leadership behaviours will experience physical depletion, leading to mental depletion and languishing if they do not take time to look after their own wellbeing. However, personal resources may help these leaders to prevent depletion and languishing. Thus, this research contributes to enhancing understanding of leader self-care, leader depletion and servant leadership, as well as the practice of servant leadership and minimising languishing. Through this presentation, the goal is to increase further awareness of servant leadership and the impacts of prioritising servant leader wellbeing.

At the conclusion of this event, attendees will be able to:

- Recognise and understand associations and experiences of physical depletion, mental depletion and languishing to help reduce these experiences

- Understand the detrimental impacts of servant leaders becoming depleted, which leads to them withdrawing from their preferred leadership behaviours

- Gain knowledge on the presence of personal resources that can help to overcome experiences of physical depletion, mental depletion and languishing, so the negative impacts of these experiences can be reduced