How to Be a Great Follower
Doug Menikheim
Following is a much ignored and/or misunderstood aspect of leading. Actually, most time and money spent on trying to master the art of leading is ineffective because the “Leader” is looked at as if that individual acts alone. Realistically, leaders and followers are inseparable, Without followers, there is nothing to lead.
Following is not to be subservient or compliant.
For change, growth or development to happen (leading), synergy must be the result from followers and leaders coming together. This synergy develops in the connecting between followers and their leaders as they work together for a desired outcome. This connection is a relationship quite similar to that found in a team of horses pulling a wagon. Unless the team knows where it is going, understands the role of each position in the team, trusts others to do their jobs and supports each other, the individual efforts do not result in the synergistic outcome of all pulling together.
Following is not to be subservient or compliant. It is the critical part of the leading process because leaders alone don’t make things happen. The relationship between followers and leaders implies that followers assume responsibility for their role. They are there for a reason and should perform to high expectations and standards. Followers must also participate fully in what’s going on. Even though they may not agree with all decisions that are made, if they are legal and moral, the follower is obliged to carry them out as if they were his/her own. Finally, as Ira Challef has pointed out so well, courageous followers are those who challenge their leader, ask tough questions and demand to know why things were done the way they were. If a healthy tension exists in a leading-following relationship, subservience and compliance never come into play.
Advice for those wishing to be a great follower:
- Reframe following as an integral part of leading; neither stands by itself.
- Followers and leaders are connected in relationship.
- Followers must learn how to think like their leader; get inside his/her head.
- Thinking like one’s leader allows the follower to anticipate his/her needs.
- Following in not for the faint-of-heart; it means being responsible, participating and challenging.
- Following is the apprenticeship to leading. If one aspires to lead, the pathway there requires first having been a great follower.