FOLLOWERSHIP

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