Followership

Which is more important, leaders or followers? Academic research suggests that up to 90 percent of organizational success occurs through followers rather than leaders. That is a significant portion of any firm’s success. People often view followers as minions who follow the direction of leaders without question. The hierarchal view that assumes followers are sheep limits the follower’s capabilities and reduces their effectiveness. The Followership program reframes the view of the follower as a role that partners with leaders to ensure organizational success.

Most leaders spend more time following than leading. Being an effective follower is necessary for exceptional leadership…and followership.

Leading and following are co-created through the relationship between leaders and followers. Effective relationships result in a partnership between the leader and follower that helps the organization achieve its core purpose. The Followership program gives participants the knowledge and skills necessary to become exceptional followers.

A firm’s mission, vision, and values frame the organization’s common purpose. Dr. Mark Rennaker and Mike Linville coined “Purposehip” to help understand purpose’s role in the process. The Followership program views followership as a role where leaders and followers collaborate and rally around the organization’s core or common purpose. Through the program, we look at three models of followership that clarify the concept:

Ira Chaleff’s followership model emphasizes the importance of ethics in the leader/follower relationship and uses support and challenge to understand the followership process. The model views followers ranging from largely passive resources following the leader unthinkingly to partners challenging and supporting the leader as necessary.

Robert Kelley’s followership model uses the follower’s ability to think critically and their level of commitment, passive or active, to define five follower types. The model expresses followership as alienated and disconnected from the organization to exemplary followers actively engaged. The program provides the understanding and hands-on activities that help people move from passive followers to actively engaged.

Barbara Kellerman articulated a continuum of followers ranging from isolates that distance themselves from the organization to diehards willing to die for it. The level of engagement determines where they fall on the continuum, and the level of engagement may be productive or destructive.

Regardless of the model, followers play a significant role in organizational success or failure. Understanding the dynamics of followership and enacting behaviors that enhance follower contributions enables the firm to reach its goals and objectives.

Leaders are fallible like everyone else. Sometimes, they make sound ethical decisions, and sometimes they fall short. Exceptional followers help the leader succeed when they do come up ethically short. Part of being an exceptional follower occurs when the follower understands when to obey and disobey management directives. The combination of destructive leaders, susceptible followers, and a conducive environment conspire to make ethical missteps in significant and potentially organizations destroying problems. The last segment helps followers understand