Followership Followership 1 Definition of topic 3 Business Case: Why is followership an important concept for leaders? 3 Past and current tends 6 An example related to a specific company 8 Definition of topic The concept of followership has existed for decades, but only in relatively recent times has the idea received more attention. The dictionary definition of the word “followership” is “the capacity or willingness to support a leader”. In his 1988 book, The Power of Followership, noted followership scholar Robert E. Kelly found this to be lacking. He described followership as “people who act with intelligence, independence, courage and a strong sense of ethics”. This more accurately describes the most preferred characteristics of a good follower. The meaning of what it is to be a follower has evolved over the years. It has changed from a “do what you are told and do not question” to a much more participatory environment in many, but not all, organizations. Business Case: Why is followership an important concept for leaders? Followership is an important concept for leaders to understand because without a solid base of followers, a leader is nothing. Followers are people who support and obey the wishes of a leader. Even if an organization has the greatest leader in the history of leaders, the organization can still fail without the development of its members. Followers are the individuals who make the organization function. Identifying and improving their skills will help bolster the organization. The continuing push for efficiency in all aspects of business is another valuable aspect of the importance of followership (Kelley). When people work together more efficiently, it saves time and m... ... middle of paper ... ... input. FedEx also is very interested in promoting from within. 92% of current managers have moved up through the company. This shows a dedication to improving the skills of followers and their success. This also proves to the employees that working hard to possess the characteristics of Kelley’s “exemplary follower” pays off with promotions and increased salaries. FedEx obviously believes that the best followers make the best leaders. FedEx CEO Fred Smith has also shown that he is a team player by cutting his own salary by 20% during a cost reduction exercise in 2009. This reinforces his follower’s faith in him, and puts a positive face on the business. Smith’s use of followership development has not gone unnoticed. FedEx has been named one of FORTUNE’s Top 100 Companies to work for 12 out of the last 13 years (Risher).
Southwest airlines is one of the most widely respected companies among those profiled by Firms of Endearment. They are recognized for having one of the best corporate cultures, which is emphatically encouraged from the top down. Southwest’s model clearly exemplifies the concept of servant leadership, and we will elaborate on how this creates a firm of endearment.
Darwin Smith, chief executive officer (CEO) of Kimberly-Clark from 1971 until his retirement in 1991 has been identified by Jim Collins in his number 1 best seller Good to Great as “a Level 5 leader—an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will” (p. 38) . Collins (2011) goes on to explain that the focus of Level 5 leaders is not on themselves or their egos, but rather on the building great companies. Darwin Smith earned his Level 5 designitaion by taking a company that during the twenty-year period (1951 – 1971) prior to his assuming the reins of Kimberly-Clark had under-performed the market by some
Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that augments the lives of individuals, builds better organizations, and creates a more just and caring world, they put the team first, and themselves second (MindTools, 2015). Servant leaders are able to demonstrate their traits through interaction with followers and other leaders within the organization. The characteristics of servant leaders include their commitment to the growth of people, stewardship, and building community, and provide leaders with the opportunity to experience change and to invite followers to change (Savage-Austin & Honeycutt 2011). Servant leadership encourages leaders and followers to ‘raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’, and set their leadership focus: follower’s first, organizations second, their own needs last (Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). The servant leader focuses on the needs of others to include team members.
It seems self-evident that one cannot be a leader unless he or she has followers; put differently, one cannot hold a leadership role unless others are prepared to hold followership roles. These roles are more or less symbiotic - done effectively, each role can support and benefit the other. Nevertheless, the term “follower” has acquired a negative connotation, and leadership is generally considered to be the pinnacle to which we should all strive in our working lives, if not our personal lives as well. However, thanks to the work of authors such as Robert E. Kinney, who introduced the concept of followership, the characteristics, roles and paths of followers now receive increased attention. Kinney’s groundbreaking article, “In Praise of Followers”, appears along with the work of other authors on followership in The Leaders Companion.
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.
...odology through which leaders oppose the organization of followers. There is no motivation to accept that leaders stand up to this organization short of what followers do, other than in light of the "naturalization" of scholarly sees on the imperviousness to change that see it as a sensation that only influences followers (Imprint and Goldberg, 1999). At the point when one takes a gander at the leadership process from the devotee's side, one may get an alternate picture. At last, followers' engagement with leadership movements is not so much positive for organizations. Activity and impact can actually be utilized to attain objectives that are not authorized by the organization and counter those that are. In this respect, there is no contrast between leadership pushed by leaders and impact pushed by followers: each one can generate either great or terrible results.
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. Great followership is a reflection of great leadership. In this, the follower is just as important as the leader in the relationship. Many great leaders have asserted that a leader with even a modicum of understanding of what drives their subordinates can take their organization to previously undreamt-of heights in creativity and productivity. Collins does not disabuse us of this notion, he does however add that the follower is indispensable agent in this interplay between leader and follower.
Kellerman’s theories examine followers not as subordinates, but as co-participants in leadership (Ekundayo, Damhoeri, & Ekundayo, 2010). Thus she focuses as much on the followers as the leadership it is trying to unlock. She sees followers as defined by their level of engagement extending from isolationists to diehards (Kellerman, 2007). By defining these followers, according to Kellerman, leaders can quickly determine the nature of the leader-follower relationship. This provides leaders with information on how much or little their followers are invested in the organization they are involved.
According to Tom Grant, Ford’s manager of Executive Programs, and Leadership Development Center “Accelerating the growth of future leaders is the focus of Ford Motor Company’s New Business Leader (NBL) program, which reaches some 2,000 managers around the world each year.” This program is designed to drive change in Ford Motor Company. Ford believes that they can shape the future of the program by impacting the leaders they send through their NBL program today. This is truly a forward thinking move by Ford; it gives th...
Phil Carroll, former CEO of U.S. Shell (SOC, the American arm of Royal Dutch Shell) believed in the importance of the servant-leader model of leadership. In the early 1990’s, when this new leadership model was introduced, it shook the foundations of a company that had known success for many years using a more traditional authoritarian model of leadership. He wanted to completely transform the company into an organization that could continue to expand, and make a profit doing so. The company needed to tap into the resource it had (and still does) right under its nose – its employees! Mr. Carroll wanted the culture of the company to be transformed into a model of self-directed leaders who share knowledge amongst each other, creating an environment of continuos improvement. According to the American Management Association “Phil Carroll has led Shell Oil Company toward a significant transformation of its corporate culture. It is comprised of a new vision, a new business model, a new system of governance, a new concept of leadership, and the use of learning...
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
Maxwell, (2013) explains how the first level of leadership is positional. Followers, who view leaders at this level are motivated by compliance measures, rather than inspiration or desire. The mindset of the follower is that, their job to do what is directed of them, so they obey. Fear and coercion are often motivators for followers at level one. Maxwell, (2013) further explains that, at this level, leaders receive the least amount of the follower’s energy, effort, and mind.
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
The fourth characteristic is being open to new ideas. Strong followers give input and contribute, but they also realize that good ideas can come from others as well. Listening to what others have to say can be extremely beneficial to the team as a whole. It is important for followers to listen with their ears and their mind.