All
leaders are followers in the way that they serve to lead by example and
participate in a variety of activities. The followers are usually the most
important members of the unit since the leader needs them to get things done.
1. Followership
Definition:
Followership
can be defined as the willingness to cooperate in working towards the
accomplishment of the group mission, to demonstrate a high degree of teamwork
and to build cohesion among the group. It is the capacity of an individual to
actively follow a leader.
“Followers
of character and commitment acting to support the needs and goals of the team.”
Leaders
learn to follow before they start leading. Good leaders emerge from the ranks
of able followers. Leadership and followership is two sides of same coin and
most of the time we follow.
2. 10
Rules of Good Followership.
a.
Don’t blame your
boss for an unpopular decision or policy; your job is to support, not
undermine.
b.
Fight with your
boss if necessary; but do it in private, avoid embarrassing situations,
and never reveal to others what was discussed.
(Note: Fight means: using
the chances of expressing what you have during the discussion of a problem
before a decision is made)
c.
Make the
decision, then run it past the boss; use your initiative.
d.
Accept
responsibility whenever it is offered.
e.
Tell the truth and
don’t quibble; your boss will be giving advice up the chain of command based on
what you said.
f.
Do your
homework; give your boss all the information needed to make a decision;
anticipate possible questions.
g.
When making a
recommendation, remember who will probably have to implement it.
h.
Keep your boss
informed of what’s going on in the unit; people will be reluctant to tell him
or her problems and successes. You should do it for them, and assume someone
else will tell the boss about yours.
i.
If you see a problem,
fix it. Don’t worry about who would have gotten the blame or who now gets the
praise.
j.
Put in more than
an honest day’s work, but don’t ever forget the needs of your family. If they
are unhappy, you will be too, and your job performance will suffer accordingly.
3. 5
reasons why followers are willing to follow a leader.
a.
Fear
of retribution: "If I do
not follow, I may lose my job!"
Following out of fear is not so much following as being tugged
along at the end of a rope. The leader in such cases is using coercive push
methods that will work only as long as the follower sees no other choice. Fear
is not the tool of effective leaders (and certainly not ethical leaders). At
best, fear-based approaches gain weak commitment and need constant attention
lest the follower freezes or flees.
b.
Blind hope:
"We must do something. I hope this works!"
Here, the follower is desperate for some solution, and what the
leader is offering is either the only option they see or the best of a
relatively weak set of choices. The follower is thus not so much following out
of agreement but from a lack of alternatives. Leaders should watch out for
hopeful followers, who are likely either to be disappointed and disillusioned
when less than a perfect outcome ensues, or who will jump ship and follow
others if they give them more hope.
c.
Faith in Leader:
"What a great person. If anyone knows the answer, they do!"
In this situation, the follower is blind to the solution but is
following because they have such faith in the leader, they believe that they
will, by some magic or genius, provide the answer to the follower's needs.
Again, there is significant hope in this motivation and could lead to
disappointment, but at least there is more commitment to the leader, and
failure is more likely to lead to the follower accepting situational
explanations rather than point the finger at inadequacies in the leader's
capabilities.
d.
Intellectual
agreement: "What a good idea. That makes real
sense."
Here, the follower understands the logic of the argument that the
leader is putting forward and hence is following the rationale rather than the
leader as a person, who they may respect but are not blindly following. This
level of followership is typical of educated people who need to understand the
reasons why things happen. They may also have emotional commitment, but it
typically comes on after rational buy-in has occurred.
e.
Buying the
vision: "What a brilliant idea. I don't care who
thought of it."
When people buy a vision, they are emotionally closing on a view of
the future that is appealing to them in some way and pulls them forward. They
are not following the leader and the logic of how they will get to the vision
is something they are happy to put off to a later date. Visions are much talked
about in the leadership literature, and can be remarkably effective at
motivating people, but only if they can be sustained over a period of time. It
is one thing to have a vision and it is another to keep going during the
difficult days that are typical of the journey there.
4. Followership
Styles
a.
Alienated
followers
Alienated followers are
deep and independent thinkers who do not willingly commit to any leader.
b.
Passive
followers
Passive followers do as
they are told but do not think critically and are not particularly active
participants.
c.
Conformist
followers
Conformists are more
participative than passive followers, but do not provide particular challenge.
d.
Pragmatic
followers
Pragmatic followers are
middling in their independence, engagement, and general contribution.
e.
Exemplary
followers
Exemplary followers are
ideal in almost all ways, excelling at all tasks, engaging strongly with the
group and providing intelligent yet sensitive support and challenge to the
leader.
Figure 1: 4-Dimentional Followership
Model
