No matter what position we hold in a unit, we will do more following than leading throughout our military career. Leadership is not something that is done exclusively by the leaders, it is leaders and followers working together to accomplish the mission. In so instances followers may be more important to leadership, at getting things done, than leaders. Being a follower teaches us how to be aware of the needs of other people, just like leaders, followers learn to read people and understand what motivates them and what negatively impact them.
Good, skilled followers are able to nurture good leadership, by unnoticeably helping keep a good leader stay on track. It is a lost art in our dog eat dog world, when it seems like everyone is just looking
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A good follower will support a leader when he or she is on the right path “taking the hard right over the easy left”, and have the courage to let the leader know when she or he is taking that easy left, meaning doing something unethical, or making choices the will potentially harm the unit and the overall morale of the Soldier. Just like leaders a good follower will think for themselves, complete assignments/tasks with confidence, are self-motivated, and are self-starters. You know when a good follower is on the path to being a good leader, you want hear him or her say, “that’s not my job,” but pitch in and helps out where needed, you know “get in the trenches” and do what needs to be done to accomplish the mission. Being a good follower is similar in ways of being a good leader. Just like a good leader, a good follower is engaged, paying attention to detail, actively listening, having the courage to speak up when something’s seems wrong and support his or her leaders and leadership. All in all a good follower is on the path to being a good leader, who understands how to work with people to bring out the best in them. Competence, self-motivated, intelligence, active listening are some of the same traits a good followers possesses just like a good leader. Moreover, leaders, regardless of their level, also need to at some point be a good
Leaders are meant to bring up loyal followers who can assume the lead if they are called to do so. A major driving force for leadership is a mutually agreed upon goal. This allows a smoother relationship between all parties involved because they are all working towards the same outcome. Leadership is not a position; it is a way one conducts himself. With that being said, there are times when a leader needs to function as a follower. A leader must be able to adjust accordingly to different situations, and be whatever is called for in the moment. Leaders and Followers feed off of each
In the military we look for leadership in different forms from many people starting from the Private to the Commander of the unit. Leadership will build the trust of a unit through positive moral or it could break a unit with low morale. Leadership as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals (Robbins & Judge, 2009). I as Soldier I get to observed leaders at their job and
An effective leader is a person who is capable of making others follow him. A person who leads people becomes a leader. The quality of life of followers depends upon the quality of leader they have, so, it becomes important for a leader to be effective. Leaders possess certain traits that can be defined as relatively coherent and integrated patterns of personal characteristics, reflecting a range of individual differe...
Being a good leader comes with having “heroic” traits. While there are some traits that hinder one’s performance, there are some such as being courageous, having perseverance, being patient, and having wisdom. One can’t be a leader without having any of these traits. Other qualities a leader has are staying with their teammates through everything, having mental and physical strength, and being able to quickly adapt to new situations for their own and their friend’s safety. A good leader will do everything they can to help everyone, even if it means putting themselves in a bad situation.
Leaders are characterized by their traits. These are sought by their followers. The followers look for honesty, integrity, compassion, drive, determination and a vast array of other traits, which set a leader out from the crowd. Being treated fairly and with empowerment can make admirers follow a leader into almost any situation.
Great followership is a reflection of great
To understand how a good person can be a good leader there has to be reference on what qualities a good person and a good leader have. There are many ways to describe a good person such as they are honest, do what is right, and being confident. A good person does things like help people when they are down and use manners just out of the kindness of their heart. Being a good person is a special thing that many people look for in others.
Therefore the leader must look at ways to get the follower to be on board with the views and ideologies of the organization. With that in mind, leaders must set the right example to move the employee from point A to B. Leaders must embrace the term of being a role model and while they may feel that they are incompetent and lack the experience of a seasoned leader. They must envision themselves as the role model to deflect the perception by the follower they are worthy of following. The follower perception of the leader as a worthy role model is conceptually different than the standard behavior that a leader may demonstrate (Organ et al., 2006) Thus the leader must set the tone through leading by personal example which facilitates the social learning process (Manz & Sims, 1981). (Yaffe & Kark, 2011) Leaders can build trust within the organization so that employees would not question or complain about the leaders decision and trust that even though they may be young, it is in the best interest of
Loyalty in the Military is very important both to your country and to the men around you. As a leader in the military you should have loyalty to those below you. They should know that you would do anything for them as long as they are squared away. You as a leader should have confidence in your abilities as a leader to have inspired loyalty in your men towards you. Dedication to the missions, tasks and the organization you belong to. Motivation and more importantly self motivation is an important value. Anyone can be externally motivated but true motivation comes from within. I value those who have a fire burning inside of them to press on and succeed purely on their own. If someone demonstrates that they never quit on themselves and can motivate themselves to keep going then they are the kind of person who will never quit on you either. Lastly Pride, you should have pride in everything you do, if you don 't then it wasn 't worth doing or it wasn 't the right thing to do in the first place. In regards to Military service I believe that is the most honorable thing one can ever do and is most certainly something you should be proud of. I can only speak for myself but I know that seeing a leader that was loyalty to me and demonstrated the worthiness of loyalty, dedicated to to a cause greater than just himself, self motivated and proud to be that way; would be a leader that I would follow to the
Some leaders have to develop major skills like “time management, prioritization, strategic thinking, decision-making, and getting up to speed with the job—to be more effective at work” (Mitchell). For many leaders developing this skill is very hard and will face many obstacles. A leader has to also have the skill and talent to be able to inspire others which is never an easy thing to do especially when the have to inspire others and guarantee they are happy with what they are doing and in the process motivated them to work smarter. In team leadership a leader has to be able to take the task of helping other and give them guidance around the
The most important concept to me from the Leadership and Followership module was the use of a deliberate development plan. A deliberate development plan is a way of assessing an Airman’s developmental needs and creating a detailed path to attain those goals. According to the AFI 36-2618 The Enlisted Force Structure Non Commissioned Officers (NCO’s) must “Lead and develop subordinates and exercise effective followership in mission accomplishment”. In order to execute this charge one must be able to identify a subordinate’s strengths and weaknesses, create a plan to improve upon weaknesses, and be able to monitor progress. It is important to set both goals for development and potential future roles.
The Army spends a great deal of time making followers into leaders and leaders into followers by utilizing several levels of training throughout their military career. This training allows a Soldier to perfect the knowledge and skills required to be an effective leader in every aspect of their job. ...
An effective leader adapts changes and communicates his vision to his followers until the followers believe in that vision as their own
Throughout my life I have encountered the chance to experience position of being a leader. Being part of groups in university for class presentations, being the organizing secretary of my campus fellowship, being a youth leader in my church and the church admin, also being part of a family. Leaders are charismatic, inspirational and trust worthy. I have gained some important qualities of being a good leader through these experiences. Most of the valuable leadership’s characteristics that I obtained and strengthened are: learn to become a better leader every day, how to be a team player, to be a better listener, to be an effective communicator, to have more patience, not afraid of constructive criticism, to be outspoken, and to be a problem solver. Even though I have gained a lot, I still have more things to learn to become a better leader such as being more assertive, being more disciplined, becoming a better public speaker, and learn how to be realistic and not too optimistic. You are a leader if someone else choses to follow you.
The last characteristic an effective follower should possess is patience. There are times when people must relax and wait for events or time to pass regardless of whether they are a leader or a follower. On the other hand, there will also be times when people should push and not be satisfied with the status quo. Critical thinking is an important part of being both a good follower and a good leader.