Week 1 - Leadership - Followership 13 November 2017

Followership

Traditional research in leadership has largely relegated followers to the role of passive recipients or, at best, moderators of leader influence and behaviors. However, recent work in the area of followership has begun shifting this focus and emphasising the possibility that followers actively have an influence over leaders, in particular leader behavior. What do you think makes a good follower?

There is a growing body of work that makes clear that some followers can be more influential than others. For instance, Carsten et al. (2010) argue that while some followers may proactively challenge a leader's assumptions and provide information and feedback without being asked to do so, others may voice their opinions to their leaders without challenging them, and still others may follow their leaders and execute their orders without question. This suggests that proactive followers, who voluntarily become a part of decision making and challenge leader decisions or behaviors, should have more influence on leaders than passive or simply active followers.

Followership Styles

Kelley (1998) identifies two ways that people follow: 

1. Do they think for themselves? Are they independent critical thinkers? Or do they look to the leader to do the thinking for them? 
2. Are they actively engaged in creating positive energy for the organization? Or is there negative energy or passive involvement? 

Based on his two dimensions, Kelley found these five basic styles of followership.  

• Sheep are passive and look to the leader to do the thinking for them and to motivate them. If you are the boss and in your car on the way to work, and you’re thinking about what you’re going to get your workers to do and how you’re going to do that, then you’re dealing with sheep.
• Yes-people are positive, always on the leader’s side, but still looking to the leader for the thinking, the direction, the vision. If the leader asks them to do something, they’ve got the energy, and they’ll go forward with it. When they finish that task, they’ll come back to the leader, asking, “What do you want me to do next?” However, yes-people don’t see themselves this way. One of the things I’ve learned is that the different styles of followers will almost always put a positive spin on their style. Yes-people will say, “I’m a doer; that’s my job. The boss gets paid to think, and I’m the one who does the work.” But the rest of us would say there’s more to being a good follower than simply doing.
• Alienated followers think for themselves, but have a lot of negative energy. Every time the leader or organization tries to move forward, these are the ones who have ten reasons why the leader or organization shouldn’t. They are not coming up with the next solution, but are skeptical, cynical about the current plan of action. They have energy, they can think for themselves, they can be smart. But they are not moving in a positive direction. However, they see themselves as the mavericks, the only people in the organization who have the guts to stand up to the boss.
• Survivors sit on the fence and see which way the wind blows. Once they see where things are headed, they’ll get on board. They’ll never be the first on board, but they will never let the leader or organization leave without them. They see themselves as preservers of the status quo. Their internal dialogue goes something like this: “If I got all excited every time there was a new leader or a change of direction, my wheels would be spinning constantly. Leaders come and go. New visions come and go. If I just sit here and wait it out, I won’t have to do all that work.” So they do what they must to survive, but wait it out until the storms of change blow over.
• Effective followers think for themselves, are very active, and have very positive energy. They do not accept the leader’s decision without their own independent evaluation of its soundness. If they agree with the leader, they give full support. If they disagree, they challenge the leader, offering constructive alternatives that will help the leader and organization get where they want to go. Some people view these people as really “leaders in disguise,” but this is basically because those people have a hard time accepting that followers can display such independence and positive behavior. Star followers are often referred to as “my right-hand person” or my “go-to person.”

A Continuum Between Leadership and Followership

Leadership and followership are, of necessity, closely related to one another. Hollander (1992) notes that "the role of follower can be seen as holding within it potential for both assessing and taking on leadership functions. In addition to directing activity, these include decision making, goal setting, communicating, adjudicating conflict, and otherwise maintaining the enterprise". Crippen (2012) makes a further point, that not only do followers take on leadership functions, but that these roles are not fixed. “If a school is truly developing and growing and learning and is collaborative, then each person is leader and follower at various times.” 

References

Carsten, M. K., Uhl-Bien, M., West, B. J., Patera, J. L., & McGregor, R. (2010). Exploring social constructions of followership: A qualitative study. The Leadership Quarterly, 21, 543–562.

Crippen, C. (2012). Enhancing authentic leadership− followership: Strengthening school relationships. Management in Education, 26(4), 192-198. 

Hollander, E.P. (1992). The Essential Interdependence of Leadership and Followership. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1(2),71-75.

Kelley, R. (1988). In praise of followers. Harvard Business Review, 66(6), 142–148.