Followership Intro & Resources
When cultivating the people within our organizations, we often focus on developing leadership skills. Unfortunately, what's often overlooked is the role of the followers within our teams. As observed by GovLeaders.org, "whether we like to admit it or not, we all play the role of follower much of the time - regardless of our position." So, in the spirit of ongoing improvement, here is a basic introduction to the school of followership, and some useful links if you would like to learn more.
While much can be written about great leaders and the way they interact with their subordinates, less attention is paid to those that help an organization by modifying their upwards behavior. If we each took the time to look at our roles in this upwards context, we might come to some new conclusions. Phillip Meilinger encapsulated the spirit of followership well by saying "don't blame your boss for an unpopular decision or policy; your job is to support, not undermine."
Much of what is said about followership refers to the concept of "leading up", which is often simplified in terms of managing a boss's expectations. In reality, the intent of the "leading up" approach is to consider three key questions (courtesy of John Baldoni):
- What does the leader need?
- What does the team need?
- What can I do to help the leader and the team succeed?
Once you start thinking and acting in terms of these questions, you'll set a more selfless and team-oriented example for your co-workers and your subordinates. If you'd like to read more about followership, here are a few links for you:
If you have any thoughts on the topic, or links to similar resources that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to post them in a comment to this post.
