Followership

The idea for Followership is not new.  John Gardner talks about The Role of Followers in On Leadership where he talks about the relationship between leaders and followers.  He says that “Leaders are almost never as much in charge as they are pictured to be, followers almost never as submissive as one might imagine…pressure and influence flow both ways…”. (p. 23)  Max DePree in Leadership Jazz talks about the “fragility of leadership”; what we can learn by walking in the shoes of a follower.  And W. Brad Johnson and Greg P. Harper in Becoming A Leader the Annapolis Way say that “…leadership hinges on followership” and that “…no one rises to lead effectively without first learning to follow”. (p. 49)  What I’d like to talk about is here is the art or skill of following.  To prepare us and to underscore the importance of Followership, I’ll note a simple statement by Max DePree: “Followers really determine how successful a leader will be”.  (Leadership Jazz, p. 23)

The first thought that comes to me is trust.  Trust needs to exist between a leader and a follower for anything effective to occur.  The acceptance of ideas, thoughts, a leader’s goals and where he or she may be headed is connected by trust.  Without this common bond, there is an unnatural hesitation between anything that occurs between leaders and followers.  Max DePree talks about trust in the context of Participative Management when he says “Effective influencing and understanding spring largely from healthy relationships among the members of the group”. (Leadership Is An Art, p. 25)  And in respect to a leader’s “vision”, John Maxwell concludes “People buy into the leader before they buy into the leader‘s vision.  Cultivate trust.”  (Developing the Leader Within You, p. 154)  Trust is the personal “glue” in leader-follower relationships.

The second thought that comes to mind is that a leader has certain expectations of followers that arise out of needs and rights of both followers and leaders.  These expectations can be defined through a series of questions we can ask ourselves, and of the person we follow.  The key question to ask yourself would be, what value do I add?  Which is defined by the following questions:  do I have the right attitude; do I solve problems or create them; how do I deal with errors, problems, or mistakes; how do I deal with change?  What follows the first personal question is: what do I owe the person I follow, which is defined by the following series: do I have a clear understanding of goals, expectations, and responsibilities of the person I follow; do I know how to be successful?  (Success is a journey of achieving one thing and using that as a stepping-stone to achieve something else; learning from failure.  See Developing, p. 120)  Now let’s consider the questions of the person we follow.  The first question would be: have you considered what it would be like to be in my shoes?  The key question here: will you keep the promises you make?  Defined by: what can I expect from you; can I achieve my own goals by following you; will I reach my potential by working for you; can I entrust my future to you; have you bothered to prepare yourself for leadership; are you ready to be ruthlessly honest; do you have the self-confidence and trust to let me do the job; what do you believe? (See discussion in of these questions in Max DePree’s Leadership Jazz, p. 24)     

Care & Feeding (C & F) plays an important part in Followership.  For yourself, the mental, spiritual, and physical centers need to be aligned for the "well being" of the work you are attempting to accomplish.  If you are not taking care of yourself in any of these areas, your work will suffer.  This has a lot to do with attitude.  John Maxwell puts it like this, “Our attitudes determine what we see and how we handle our feelings.” (Developing the Leader Within You, p. 99).  Think also of this: develop as much as possible.  By this I mean to “ C & F” your potential and your character.  For "potential", know “what’s next” for the job you will hold, i.e. your military and professional requirments.  For your "character", build a disciplined lifestyle by "becoming character driven instead of emotion driven"; consciously perform the duties you don't enjoy as much as the duties you do enjoy.  (See discussion in Developing, pp. 176-178.)  "Developing your potential" also benefits by asking questions to clarify understanding, meaning, and learning new things.  You especially need to be mindful of the goals for the person you follow: do you know what’s expected of them and what their responsibilities are?  Giving it the "mindfulness onceover", do you know the answers to these questions for yourself?  For the leader you follow, Care & Feeding is just as important.  We need to ask them the very same question they ask us: How are you?  We need to be just as concerned about their “attitude health”, and “personal centers”, as much as ours.  Furthermore, we need to consider the impact of our actions upon the person we work for.  You can think of this in terms of “shifting your paradigm” into their world.  If we can consider the impact of our work, the centers of well being, develop ourselves, ask key questions, and be concerned about welfare, we are truly developing the Care & Feeding skill of followership. 

The final thought in Followership deals with legacy.  Ask yourself this question: What is it that I am going to leave behind as a follower?  Even in our roles as followers we need to be mindful of our roles as leaders, which sounds a bit like double-talk.  Within our roles in chain of command, we are constantly “practicing” to become leaders and we need to be mindful of what we offer to those who “follow us”.  To that end, John Maxwell notes “Leadership is influence…Nothing more; nothing less”.  (Developing the Leader Within You, p. 1)  We influence all those our lives “touch”.  We model an example for anyone to see.  So ask yourself, in thinking about legacy, what is it that we exhibit in our roles?  Then extend these thoughts of influence to other “legacy” questions by asking: what do we do to develop others; how do we solve problems that will allow the team succeeds and the organization to realize its goals?  Truly, how do we serve others; what is our foundation? I would suggest: values and principles, honesty, courage, commitment; integrity, honor, and hard work; that it’s O.K. to fail; above all, to be responsible and accountable.  Keep in mind we are not in the business of developing mindless followership.  Our goal as leaders, in the Skill of Mindfulness, is to lead others without limitations; “The one who influences others to follow only is a leader with certain limitations.  The one who influences others to lead others is a leader without limitations.” (John Maxwell, Developing the Leader Within You, p. 113)  Ponder these thoughts and questions for a moment.  What will your legacy be? 

Trust, Care & Feeding, expectations, legacy; the Essential Elements of Followership.  These ideas are not on the charts of our leadership journey; however, they give us stars by which to sail.  Followership is unique to each person who aspires to lead.  It has a lot to do with relationships, influence, character, developing ourselves and the leaders we work for.  How well we serve, what we value, care about, cultivate, develop and model determines the skill or art of following.  As Max DePree says, "…freedom and technique, improvisation and rules, inspiration and restraint must be precisely and expertly blended" (Leadership Jazz, back cover.)