LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP AND LIFE
“If you think you’re a leader and you turn around and no one is following you, then you are simply out for a walk.”
— John Maxwell
Followership is a relatively simple concept, but it can be quite intricate and somewhat intriguing. An excellent approach to gaining better insight into this topic is to first watch the three-minute YouTube video from Derek Sivers, “First Follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy*.*” It provides a good visual concept of the subject.
Many first-time leaders have difficulty gaining loyal followers to help them achieve their vision, objectives, and goals. The first step is to learn and understand the needs of followers by listening to them.
Throughout my leadership career, I’ve heard mostly negative employee comments with an occasional smattering of in-between remarks and a few positive ones about their thoughts and feelings at the workplace. I think the reason there are only a few positive remarks is that positive people are busy doing their work. Here are a few noteworthy comments:
“I’ll start working harder when they give me a raise!”
“We should get a bonus for showing up for work and not calling off!”
“That’s harassment when you keep getting on us about our bad work.”
“This place is a hostile work environment because you make us work too hard.”
“I’m not going to pick up that paper wad off the floor. It’s not in my job description!”
“I love my job!”
The Symbiotic Relationship
As a young physician just out of med school and residency training, I soon acquired titles that proclaimed me as a leader. It wasn’t because I was experienced or good at being a boss; it was because there was no one else to take the job. I didn’t mind. After all, I’d rather be a leader than a follower.
Leaders have power and resources, the means to get things done. They are often perceived as strong, smart, and clever individuals who always come out on top.
Although leaders are often viewed positively by society, followers often are depicted negatively. They are regarded as subordinates with average intelligence and are not smart enough to be strong leaders. By that definition, who wants to be a follower?
At first, I fell into that line of thinking. I pretended to know all the answers because that’s expected of leaders. I looked at my interactions with followers as a simple, two-dimensional relationship. I gave orders, and they followed, not because they wanted to or even agreed with me on everything, but because that’s their job. It was in their job description and outlined in the organizational chart; they were under my “command.”
However, as my leadership experience evolved and matured, I learned more about the importance of followers and grew to appreciate them as an essential part of leadership.
A good way to understand this dynamic is through the philosophical lens of Yin and Yang. Leaders and followers are complementary opposites — a dualism that is interconnected and coexist harmoniously. This philosophy espouses the belief that it is not possible to have one without the other. Leaders and followers, therefore, complement each other, have chemistry, and are compatible with each other.
In an ideal setting, we may have leaders who are empathetic, emotionally intelligent, communicate well, and have an inspirational vision. A good follower typically will have similar characteristics, but additionally, they must be able to accept and follow instructions, respect the leader, and be willing to ask clarifying questions while accomplishing tasks envisioned by the leader.
What Is Followership?
In the “Dancing Guy” video, a “crazy” shirtless guy is dancing by himself, eventually joined by another person who takes his cues from the original dancer. This is a key moment, because without the follower, the leader has no effect on anyone and is just a crazy guy dancing weirdly. But once a follower joins him and supports the leader while contributing to the dance, more followers join in. Finally, the entire crowd follows the leader.
The take-home message is that once you gain followers, your leadership strengthens and magnifies. Leadership becomes more effective. But the primary question is: How do you get that first follower to follow you, and then how do you keep the rest of them actively engaged?
Followership is simply the process of supporting and contributing to leadership. Followers give adequate support to the leader, who then can ably accomplish the vision and goals.
It is important to note that a good follower is not one who simply follows the leader’s orders in a mindless manner. Just like leaders, being a follower involves the art of adapting and applying the values and principles of an organization while responding to a leader’s influence.
Followers are powerful in that they can have a profound influence on outcomes through positive attributes and competencies. Attributes are individual characteristics such as passion, honesty, discipline, loyalty, strong work ethic, and doing right and accomplishing duties promptly. Competencies follow the values of an organization, such as accountability, respect, teamwork, and excellence.
Types of Followers
Just as there are different styles of leaders, followers can also be conveniently categorized by kinds of followership. Some followers can anticipate the leader’s thoughts and needs; however, many are like puddles — they just sit there until someone splashes into them.
In 1988, Robert Kelley, a distinguished service professor of management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, described five types of followership based on the characteristics of being passive or active and whether followers are independent critical thinkers or dependent uncritical thinkers.
The passive follower, commonly referred to as sheep, is the person who will perform exactly as they are told and will not do any more or any less than they must.
For example, while preparing a presentation, I noticed that I forgot to make hard copies of my PowerPoint slides for the attendees. I had made a front and back hard copy for myself, so I asked my secretary to make 50 more copies and distribute them.
Soon after I began my talk, people started rustling their handouts and thumbing through the pages as if they were looking for something. Finally, someone raised their hand and reported that several slides were missing from the handouts. When I glanced at the documents, I realized my secretary didn’t copy the back side of the original. When I asked why, she replied, “You didn’t tell me to copy the back page.”
The conformist follower, commonly known as the yes person, agrees with everything you say and do. They have no critical thinking skills. They blindly do anything you ask. As a leader, sometimes it’s nice to have things done without question, but I’ve always liked to be challenged and critiqued. That’s how I get better. Recall the quote: A car doesn’t move forward without friction. If you have a yes-person, you will never move forward.
The alienated follower, or the cynical/skeptical type, can be a top-notch critical thinker, but tends to be disengaged with the company or even their jobs. Some of their actions may even be interpreted as passive-aggressive behavior. They do what they are told but know there may be a flaw in what they are told to do, and they do it anyway. Well, that’s going to cause the company to lose money, but I’m going to do it anyway since that’s what they want.
The exemplary follower has both critical thinking abilities and is actively engaged in leadership with the leader. They will do as they are told, but may find some fault in the decision and will explain their view and come up with alternative thoughts about the subject. They tend to be proactive and do things without having to be given detailed instructions. They become our future leaders.
The pragmatist is the middle-of-the-road follower. They don’t want to cause waves and may go between all the follower types, depending on the situation, so as not to cause any controversies. I look at them as the proverbial “fence-sitters.” They’ll go in the direction of whatever suits them the best.
Good Follower Characteristics
What exactly do leaders look for in a follower? Over the years, I’ve identified the following characteristics of good followers:
1. Trust. It is hard to be a solo leader, so you need to have a partner you can trust who will work with you toward a common goal — someone trustworthy who will help you.
2. Respect. Mutual respect often leads to trust; they are related. When the follower agrees with you in private but goes behind your back and badmouths your ideas and thoughts to others, it erodes the relationship. Beware of those folks.
3. Loyalty. Will your followers have your back in every way possible? This is related to the first two. Do they undermine your unpopular decisions or methods of doing things? That probably means they have no respect for you; thus, the trust factor is damaged.
4. Communication. Are you and the follower able to communicate easily and often and share your vision?
5. Passion and Vision. Do you have a shared passion? Do your visions align?
6. Common Aspirations. A good follower is probably a high achiever. Does their self-interest in their own personal growth match the organization’s? Can self-interest and corporate interest align with each other? They most certainly can!
7. Teamwork. Does the follower have the ability to work with and get along with others? This is important because a leader needs more than one follower.
8. Initiative. Does the follower take initiative rather than relying on the leader to act?
9. Adaptability. Can the follower adapt to rapid changes in the environment and quick changes in goals?
10. Critical Thinking Abilities. Followers need to be able to be objective, critical, and solve problems by seeing the bigger picture.
The interesting thing about this list is that it’s very similar to the list of characteristics we seek in leaders. This is why relationships and leader–follower dynamics are interrelated and dependent on each other.
Finding and Keeping Good Followers
The most important first step in developing and retaining a team of good followers is to build relationships. Start with commonalities: likes/dislikes, shared values, common vision — maybe even a way of doing things, like the dancing guy.
The commonality in the video was to dance in a goofy manner in front of a lot of people. It was fun, and soon a follower joined the leader of the dance, probably because he liked the “weirdness” or thought it was a cool thing to do. That tipped the scale in favor of adding more followers to the group — one guy is probably a nut, but two nuts may give others a second thought, and maybe they should join in.
There is more credibility when multiple people do something as a group. This commonality becomes the foundation of respect, trust, and teamwork.
To keep good followers, it is important to be consistent in messaging. Keep explaining the roadmap of how we will attain the vision and why that is important. If things change, explain why and how that may be necessary or better. The vision must always be the central theme. It is the lighthouse that will guide the leader and the followers together.
One final note: The most important aspect of the leader–follower dynamic is the importance of chemistry and compatibility. Very much like any relationship, chemistry is what brings together leaders and followers, while compatibility is what maintains it for the long run. That’s when you set the building blocks of trust, loyalty, and respect that are so important for effective followership.
(Author’s note: This is the first of a two-part series on followership. The next article will be about toxic followership.)