A leader alone cannot accomplish a goal or vision by oneself. There is a built in assumption in our society that everybody should strive to be a leader. That’s where the fame and fortune are—with the leaders. “You can get a PhD in organizational leadership, but you can’t even get a bachelor’s in followership.” (Mercer) Why should an organization focus on followership as much as leadership?
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines followership as “the capacity or willingness to follow a leader”. Over the last several years, there’s been a huge interest in leadership. However, former HP Executive Vice President, Vyomesh Joshi, shared that the key to being a great leader is not about leadership but instead the real attribute is followership and that potential leaders should always ask themselves “Why would anyone want to follow me?” (Peterson)
There is a dynamic mutual benefit and support between the leader and the follower. Because of certain changes in culture and technology, followership is becoming more and more important. They both need each other. Leadership and followership cannot work without the other. In the late 20th century, Robert Kelley, Ira Challef and Rodger Adair reexamined leadership. Each of these scholars had focused their attention to the development and structure of followership in 3 different models.
Robert Kelley estimates that leaders on average contribute no more than 20% to the success of an organization, while so-called followers are responsible for the remaining 80%. (Bryne) His Followership Model describes the followers into five different categories: passive followers, conformist followers, alienated followers, pragmatist followers, and exemplary followers. These followers are required to see t...
... middle of paper ...
...eadership and followership is decidedly useful, productive and profitable in today’s workplace.
Works Cited
Mercer, Don. "Followership: the Corollary to Leadership." toddnielsen.com. N.p., 20 March 2012. Web. 16 Feb 2014.
Spalding, Tim. "Followership is as Important as Leadership." Knockalla Consulting. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb 2014.
Peterson, Gary. "Leadership 310: The Four Principles of 'Followership'." Forbes. N.p., 23 April 2013. Web. 17 Feb 2014.
Bryne, John. "Management's New Gurus." Bloomberg Businessweek. N.p., 30 Aug 1992. Web. 17 Feb 2014.
Cooley, Michael . "Jimmy Collins." Creative Followership. , 07 May 2013. Web. 17 Feb 2014.
Burlingham, Bo. "The Re-Education of Jim Collins." Inc: the Playbook. N.p., Oct 2013. Web. 17 Feb 2014.
Jurack, James. "Followership: When Leadership Is Not Enough ." Birchwood Consulting. N.p., Nov 2006. Web. 17 Feb 2014.
Thousands of years ago, leadership, authority, structure, and rules were the basis of the Bible and Hammurabi’s Code. These set in stone that era’s belief in a reward-based system to incentivize people to work, and obey. You followed the rules, you were rewarded; you didn’t, and you were punished. During the classical era of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates, great leaders were educated and experienced in strategic planning, goal setting, critical thinking, and having great communication to their followers, who in turn became great leaders themselves. During this era, we begin to see the nuances of an integral part of transformational leadership: the impact your followers can have on your individual success as a leader. Plato said that
Pierce, Jon L. and John W. Newstrom (2011) 6th edition. Leaders and the Leadership Process.
Kelley, R.E. (1992). Followership. In Goethals, G.R., Sorenson, G.J. & Burns, J.M. (Eds.). (2008). Encyclopedia of leadership (pp. 504-513). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Küpers, W. (2007). Perspectives on Integrating Leadership and Followership. Retrieved 4 22, 2014, from International Journal of Leadership Studies: http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol2iss3/kupers/kupers.htm
In this book, the authors Tom Rath and Barry Conchie examine the question “What are the keys to being an effective leader?” To answer this question they had a team that reviewed data collected from Gallup polls. The data came from interviews from 20,000 senior leaders, over a million teams and more than fifty years of Gallup Polls of the most admired leaders in the world. The authors then had the team do a study of more than 10,000 followers to find out why they follow the influential leaders in their life.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B., (2007). The leadership challenge, (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Reicher, S., Haslam, S., & Hopkins, N. (2005). Social identity and the dynamics of leadership: Leaders and followers as collaborative agents in the transformation of social reality. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 547-568. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.06.007
There have been countless books, lectures, and and trainings, and retreats constructed around the idea of cultivating leadership in an individual. However, cultivating individuals’ ability to follow great leadership has received far less attention. Who are these people leading if each person within an organization is being trained to be a leader? The word follower has negative connotations, evoking the images of a weak, uncreative, milquetoast personality. However, Jimmy Collins, in his book, “Creative Followership: In the Shadow of Greatness”, suggests that the ability to be led brings as much creativity, consciousness, and indeed leadership to an organization or team as the leader himself.
Leadership can be traced back to many ideologies over the history of time. There have been individuals that have achieved great success and accomplishments through inspiring others to believe and follow their leadership. This paper will explain some of the theories that philosophically explain how those great people inspired others to believe in their vision and goals.
Satterlee Anita. (2013), Organizational Management and Leadership: A Christian Perspective. 2Ed. Synergistics International Inc. Raleigh, NC
Ivey Business Journal. (n.d.). Followership: the other side of leadership. Retrieved January 14, 2014 from http:iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/leadership/followership-the-other-side-of-leadership#.UtbFeaFMHIU
This theory shapes followers into future leaders by providing them a freedom to control their behavior, elevates followers’ concerns from physical to psychological needs, and inspires subordinates to consider a group rather than self-interests and communicates designed outcomes to let subordinates perceive changes as wealth while. Transforming leadership has an elevating effect on both sides, leader and the led, because it improves the level of conduct and human interaction.
Another author that has investigated the followership topic but asserts a few qualifications between her work and others is Kellerman. She characterizes her work as more descriptive than prescriptive as she considers there must be such a variety of variables impacting the followers behaviors that it is hard to be instructive. According to Kellerman (2008), there are two conceivable definitions about followers: “Followers can be defined by their rank: They are subordinates who have less power, authority, and influence then do their superiors”. And “followers can also be defined by their behavior: they go along with what someone else wants and intends”. Kellerman (2008) uses rank and behavior as determinants to characterize followers, focusing
Northouse, P. (2010). Leadership: Theory and practice (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
One of the most important components of leadership is the leader. A leader is responsible for his or her followers and the overall goal of the group or organization. Leaders are the people held accountable or everything that happens, good or bad. On the other hand, the second major component of leadership is the followers. Without followers, a leader would be worthless. Followers make up the backbone of a leader because they are the masses that get goals accomplished. A leader is just one person, but the number of followers is countless. In order to be an effective follower, there are a countless number of characteristics that allow a follower to be the best they can be. Five of these characteristics include a positive attitude, communication skills, being part of the process, being open to new ideas, and patience.