OnTheClock

Parenting is the most fundamental of leadership tasks.  Those of us who have tried it know full well that it is a consuming and continual process.  In effect, parents are always "on the clock."  We don't have the option of checking our responsibilities at the door and taking some time off from parenting.

Same goes for servant leaders.  Our obligations, commitments, and responsibility never go away - whether we are "in the building" or not.  Servant leaders know also (just as in parenting) that our thought processes are continually on the job - even when we are in the shower, at the ball game, in church, or even asleep.

The most effective servant leaders I know manage this on-the-clock-ed-ness by committing themselves to the development and support of those who work with them.  They understand that the fundamental responsibility of leadership is to build relationships, strengthen culture, craft optimal conditions, develop next-generation leaders, listen, and learn.  

Effective servant leaders understand that organizations are made 
of stuff, 
of processes, and 
of people.  
The preeminent element in that triad is the PEOPLE.

Effective leaders never go "off the clock."  They can't.