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  • 8/17/2019 Followership - University of Kentucky

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    EXTENSION

    Ag amily and C Youth Dev ommunity and Leadership Development

    COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE   Y C

    Te botom line is thisagood leader knows how toidentify and get the best outof his or her followers.

     I believe that everyone needs to be a follower many times in life. Followers areessentially the drive behind most groups. It is the power of ALL that accom- plishes much, but one person can change the direction of that power. O f en followers have the clearest sight of all involved.

    Laura A. Bennet

    Eff ective leadership requires good followers. Followers can be embodiedin many ways: employees, constituents, stakeholders, or just individuals

     who believe in a cause. Leadership cannot occur without the leader-fol-lower relationship; even so, ofen followers are considered less important.

     A primary purpose behind this publication is to illustrate how indispens-able good followers are to a good leader. To do this we will lay out the

     basics of followership, introduce the leader-follower loop, confer on whyindividuals follow and nally discuss two key aspects of good follower-shipessential qualities and the importance of leader/follower collabo-ration. Te botom line is thisa good leader knows how to identify andget the best out of his or her followers.

    The Basics of Followership

     As with other terms w ithin the English language, of

    en the term “follow-er” is perceived with a negative connotation. Many individuals feel that being a follower is second best to being a leader, that “playing second d-dle” is not as important as being in a leadership position, or that follow-ing means that you aren’t as intelligent or successful as the person in theleadership position. Perceptions can be intensely personal (which means

     we may not be able to change your mind), but we are here to tell you that being a follower is just as important and necessary as playing a leadershiprole. Ofen, those who end up as leaders initially serve in followershippositions. Tis publication is meant to help remove the negative connota-tion behind being labeled a follower, and to provide the rationale behind

    the importance of learning to be a good follower.Fundamentally, followership can be dened as the capacity or will-ingness to follow a leader. As we have discussed in prior publications,leadership is partial ly dened by being a group phenomenon whichultimately means a leader cannot lead without followers. Terefore, nomater what a follower is called, followers are just as fundamental to theleadership equation as leadersthey just serve a diff erent purpose.

    ELK1-205

     Translating Leadership Theory into Practice

    Followership Kristina G. Ricket s, Community and Leadership Development 

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    2

    Reasons to Follow 

    But why do individuals decide to follow certain leaders? Tere are manyreasons to follow. Below are  ve diverse rationales that followers tend touse when deciding to follow a leader. As you read through them, you willnote that some are negative and some are positive. Regardless of whether

     you are a leader seeking to understand followers, or a follower trying tounderstand oneself, it is a smart practice to understand the why of fol-lowership.

     ▶ Fear of Retribution“If I do not follow, I may lose my job!” Follow-ing out of fear isn’t as much following as it is using a coercive typeof power.Te leader in this case only continues being successful (inmaintaining followers) as long as the follower sees no other option.Not a tool of eff ective (and ethical) leaders.

     ▶ Blind Hope“We must do something, and I hope this works!” In thissituation, the follower is desperate for some solution and is probablyonly following due to a lack of alternatives. Leaders should watch outfor followers like these, as they are l ikely to ee and follow others who

    give them more hope. ▶ Faith in Leader“W hat a great person. If anyone knows the answer,

    they do!” Here, the follower is blind to the solution but follows becausethey have put faith in the leader. Leaders should also be wary of theseindividuals, as they believe that by some magic or genius, the leader

     will provide the answer to the follower’s needs. Disappointment is in-evitable, and no leader is perfect.

     ▶ Intellectual Agreement“W hat a good idea, that certainly makessense!” Logic guides this rationale, and the follower understands thelogic of the argument the leader is puting forward. Tis type of follow-

    ership is common for educated individuals who need to comprehend why things happen.

     ▶ Buying the Vision What a brilliant idea, I don’t care who thought ofit!” When followers buy a vision, they are emotionally identifying witha view of the future that appeals to them in some way. Tey are not

     just following a leader or logic; they are focused on the idea of movingtoward the shared goals of a group or organization. Tis is a very usefulrationale for leaders to work toward, but only if it can be sustained overa period of time.

     Al l leaders may experience these rationales by diff erent individuals andat diff erent times during their period of leadership. Te goal is to worktoward the desired rationale for the largest number of followers possible;if you notice that things are not working, you can address this using thesame components found within the leader-follower loopnoticing, diag-nosing, and adjusting.

    FEAR OF RETRIBUTION

    BLIND HOPE

    FAITH IN LEADER

    INTELLECTUAL AGREEMENT

    BUYING THE VISION

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    3

    Followership and Respect 

     When an indiv idual decides to become a follower, theyconsider both the leader and the solution the leaderis off ering.Te resulting style of followership can beillustrated through the grid below:

     

    Respect for the Solution

    Respect forthe Leader Stong Weak Neutral

    StrongPowerful

    Buy-inBlind Faith

    WaitandSee

    Weak BlindHope

    OutrightOpposition

    Neutral Wait and See

     When the leader is respected, he or she is able to makeproposals that followers wil l take seriously. Even if thefollower isn’t completely convinced by the argumentsthe leader is making, with strong respect for the leaderthe follower will more likely accept the solution beingoff ered (blind faith). If the leader isn’t respected, indi-

     viduals wi ll follow only with no other obvious choices.

     When the solution is respected, then respect for theleader is still signicant but not as important. It should

     be noted that if the leader is not respected, the fol-

    lowers may doubt in the ability of the leader to makeappropriate choices. Blind hope is what ultimately hap-pens when followers cross their ngers and hope theleader won’t make any mistakes. Ideally both the leaderand solution are respected, in which case followers will“buy into” the leader and the solution. Alternatively,if followers have no respect for either the leader or thesoluntion, then outright opposition will most likelydevelop.

    The Leader-Follower LoopLeaders who want to create true followers do not juststand in front of a group or organization and demandthat individuals follow them.Tey understand the giveand take of the leader-follower relationship and knowhow to work most eff ectively within this relationship.

    Tus, the leader-follower relationship can be e

    ff ectivelyillustrated as a loop. Followers notice what their leaders

    say and do. (Tis is why no mater under which context you lead, being a strong role model is important.) Ifthe leader does something that concerns the follow-ers, they may not only begin to talk among themselves,

     but this can ultimately lead to changes in behavior. Aneff ective leader will go through three diff erent stepsnoticing, diagnosing, and adjusting. Specically, oncethe leader notices followers are not as inclined to followor act as they once were, he or she will move on to

    guring out why (diagnosing the problem). Why hasthere been a shif in follower behavior, and how hasmy (the leader’s) behavior aff ected their (the follow-ers’) behavior? Finally, once the leader understands

     what is going on and why it happened, they then adjusttheir behavior appropriately. Tis constant interaction

     between the follower and leader is called the leader-fol-lower loop, and is an ongoing interplay in which eachclosely monitors the other and responds accordingly.

    The Leader-Follower Loop

        d     i   a

     g nos i n  g    

    a    d       

        j        u s  t   i      n   g           n      o     t

         i       c       i     n

          g      

      F O LLO W  E   R   

      L     E        A  D  E 

       R   

      F    O    L    L     O       W     E     R

               L       E

          A     D     E    R

     

       

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    4

    Essential Qualities of Good FollowersLike eff ective leaders, successful followers tend to ex-hibit specic traits or qualities. Te following qualitieshave been found to be the most signicant qualitiesexhibited by successful followers:

     ▶ Self management

    Tinking for oneself, especially when working without close supervision. Need to be able to prove you can work well without leadership supervision.Could lead to increased responsibility (perhapseven a future leadership position).

    Exhibiting strong self-efficacy, or feeling condentin being able to successfully execute the tasks youhave been assigned.

     ▶ Commitment

    Illustrating to your leader that you are commited

    to something beyond yourself–ideally the leader’sor organization’s vision and mission.

    “Buying into” and being motivated to excel in yourposition. Much of this has to do with how eff ective

     your leader is in communicating and providingfactors that will ultimately motivate you (his con-stituent).

     ▶ Competence and focus

    Building your competence (mastering relevantskills) and focus for maximum impact. Again, this

    could lead to future increases in assigned respon-sibilities or, at the very least, eff ective developmentof the collaborative relationship between leaderand follower.

    Taking a proactive approach to betering yourselfand consistently improving within your position.

     ▶ Courage

     Acting not as a “yes man” but as an individual whooff ers independent, critical thinking.

    Having the nerve to ght for what you believe is

    right, no mater the consequences.Tis behavior, while at times difficult, is ofen rewarded in the end.

    Overall, each of these qualities are not only importantto being a successful follower, but are also salient toeff ective leadership. Upon consideration, this makessense. Generally, the more you learn about an organiza-tion or situation, the more eff ective you can be whenparticipating in making leadership decisions. And what

     beter way to gain this experience than serving in a fol-

    lowership capacity within your group or organization?

    The Importance of Collaboration

    (between Leaders and Followers)Fortunately, changing opinions on leadership has alsomeant changing opinions regarding the importance offollowership. As the atitude that a variety of leadershipstyles are important and necessary for eff ective leader-ship has emerged (as opposed to the opinion the bestleader is a very top-down, directive style of leader) so

    has the recognition that without constituents, a leaderis useless. Even more importantly, leadership is muchmore about an eff ective relationship than it is the su-perior skills or traits of the leader alone.Terefore, it isimportant that the leader and followers work togetherto achieve organizational goalsor collaborate for suc-cess. At the end of the day, it is necessary for both lead-ers and followers to be close allies and work together toget things done.

    Today’s organizations are evolving into federations ofnetworks, clusters, cross-functional teams…almost

    anything but pyramids with their obsolete “TOPdown”leadership. Te new leader will encourage healthy

    dissent and values those followers courageousenough to say no.

     Warren Bennis

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    STEP OUT & APPLY

    Take a moment and bring to mind a group or organization in which you are currently a follower. What is the rea-son you are a follower within this group? (Consider the Reasons to Follow section above.)

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

    Continue to think of the same group. What do you think is the “reason to follow” for the majority of followers?

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

    (Assume that you didn’t choose one of the last two reasonsIntellectual Agreement or Buying the Vision.) If you were the leader of this group, what would you do to get followers to “Buy the Vision?”

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________  ____________________________________________________________________________ 

    Reviewing the Essential Qualities of Good Followers section above, what are the top two qualities you feel youexhibit most ofen? With each quality, provide an example of how you have exhibited this quality in the last sixmonths.

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________  ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     Are there qualities I can improve on? Choose the quality you feel needs the most improvement, and write belowspecics on how you will improve upon it.

    Quality: _____________________________________________________________________  Plans for Improvement: ___________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

     ____________________________________________________________________________ 

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    References & Background ReadingChanging Minds.org. (2009). Followership. Retrieved

    March 6, 2009 at htp://changingminds.org/disci-plines/leadership/followership/followership.htm.

    Dubrin, A. J. (2007). Leadership: Research ndings, practice and skills. New York, NY: Houghton

    Miffl

    in Company.Nahavandi, A. (2006). Te art and science of leadership.

    Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

    Merriam Webster. (2008). Retrieved March 5, 2009 athtp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/followership.

    Educational programs of Kentucky Cooperative Extension serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work,Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, M. Scott Smith, Director of Cooperative Extension Service, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Lexing-ton, and Kentucky State University, Frankfort. Copyright © 2009 for materials developed by University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension. This publication may be reproduced in portions or its entiretyfor educational or nonprot purposes only. Permitted users shall give credit to the author(s) and include this copyright notice. Publications are also available on the World Wide Web at www.ca.uky.edu.

    Issued 4-2009

    http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/followership/followership.htmhttp://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/followership/followership.htmhttp://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/followership/followership.htmhttp://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/followership/followership.htmhttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/followershiphttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/followershiphttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/followershiphttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/followershiphttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/followershiphttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/followershiphttp://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/followership/followership.htmhttp://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/followership/followership.htm