Followership: Leadership’s Superpower

In an organization, economic theory tells us that higher levels of productivity are associated with the division of labour amongst a group of workers (Richardson, et al., 2021; Stern, 2020). Yet, how do we coordinate this division of labour? Power. A necessary aspect of great leadership, power is the ability to influence others to voluntarily and willingly complete a set of predetermined activities (El Fatah Shipl, et al., 2022). Yet, in essence, power is simply an administrative function (Tauccan, et al., 2016). While there are many different types of power that exist within the leadership realm, for power to function effectively, it also requires followers; power begets followers.

While one would not necessarily relish being called an ‘exceptional follower,’ followership is the cornerstone to good leadership. Followership is the capacity or willingness to follow an individual, team, or organization, whereby a leader works with their followers to achieve their shared objective (Stern, 2020). The key here is the shared objective. While leaders may hold both positional and personal power, followers yield a collective power and unity that can either hinder or hamper a leader in achieving their collective goals (Stern, 2020). It stands to reason then that great leaders cannot exist without great followers.

Followers carry out expected tasks, and in general, serve as a productive member of the team, demonstrating critical thinking and situational awareness that benefit the collective. To do so requires trust in the leaders’ ability to lead (Stern, 2020). In reciprocation, leaders must also place their trust in their followers and acknowledge that followership is more than an act of simple passivity (Stern, 2020). Underpinning this is a sense of mutuality.

In the same way one chooses their leadership approach in relation to the context, the same holds true for followership approaches. Different approaches to followership are based upon individual experience, maturity, knowledge, competence, and confidence and are adapted according to the circumstances (Malakyan, 2014). To do so is also an aspect of followership that can help augment both the power of the collective and the leader’s ability to lead the team towards their collective goal (Stern, 2020).

Learning to foster followership is a necessary part of good leadership. To do so, leaders must first work to develop trust amongst their followers as without trust, leaders will find themselves with few followers. Likewise, building trust is more than simply adopting transparency, good communication, and invoking honesty. Building trust involves creating a safe, ethical space where followers feel empowered to innovate, take risks, and express themselves freely, and leaders with the reflexive capacity to do so. So, I ask you, who is following you?

References

El Fatah Shipl, A., Nabawy, Z., Al anwar Ashour, H. (2022). The relationship between toxic leadership and nurses’ followership effectiveness. Central European Journal of Nursing and Midwifery. 13[4]. https://doi.org/10.15452/cejnm.2022.13.0003.

Malakyan, P. (2014). Followership in leadership studies: A case of leader-follower approach. Journal of Leadership Studies. 7[4]. https://doi.org.10.1002/jls.21306.

Richardson, T., Coti, A., Stroemeyt, N., Keller, L., (2021). Leadership – not followership – determines performance in ant teams. Communications Biology. 4[1]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02048-7.

Stern, J. (2020). Do you follow? Understanding followership before leadership. Management in Education. 35[1]. https://doi.org/10.1177/0892020620942054.

Tauccan, I., Tamasile, M., & Negru-Strauti, G. (2016). Study on management styles and managerial power types for a large organization. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.091.