Followership is as Important as Leadership

In followership there needs to be a leader that inspires and bonds followers together as a unit moving in one direction. Today’s leader has to be more than someone that was placed in a position of authority, a person with a title and a higher salary level. A real leader is found when the behaviors and attitudes of their

Followership can be defined as the willingness to follow a leader, to work effectively as a team member, and exhibit loyalty to the leaders. Cadets exhibiting followership should not be afraid to ask for help from their leaders in order to improve themselves. When a follower feels the need to voice differences of opinions, it should be done so respectively.

Many times in life, we are convinced that leaders rise from the ground, pulling the rest of us up to meet them. Followers are portrayed as decorations to help enhance the leader. The relationship between them, however, is more closely resembling a tower. Followers support and build up to a major cause with the leader at the top, the figurehead of their ideals. The ideal leader is the ideal follower, which helps to portray outwards the qualities they're looking for and the goals they have. The difficulty arises when today's society raises everyone to believe that they must be a leader or they're a loser. As Reese Bobby in Talladega Nights said, "If you're not first, you're last." During my time on the girl's golf team, I was in no way the best

followers to freely choose whether to follow the leader or not. Unless followers have some choice to follow or not follow, leaders cannot lead.

Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex

To be a leader, you not only need followers but also have to have something to follow.

Followers help leaders manifest their vision. Successful followers (supporters or team members) come in a wide variety of personal characteristics. There are people who may be good followers who do not make good leaders or even want to be leaders, but there are no good leaders who are not good followers. A good leader was once a follower. Without followers there is no leadership in any organization. Leaders can develop effective followers as followers develop effective leaders. The performance of followers and leaders of an organization are variables that depend on one another. Both roles are proactive together they can

The current context of work, leadership, and followership is positioned in progressively multifaceted, uncertain, and dynamic business backgrounds with multiple realities founded upon various values, priorities, and requirements. The actual encounters demanded by globalization, amplified competition, far-reaching sociocultural and technological growths, and the acceleration of changes that are conveying new intricacies for organizations (Küpers, 2007).

In looking at the characteristics a leader posses, knlowedgable, charismatic, articulate or heroisim; it is the devotion of a follower that determinses wether or not you are a leader, (Bennis, 2007). Leaders and followers have a co- dependent relationship; one cannot exsist without the other. Known as a dyadic relationship, the ability to recognize the level of power a leader has over an individual can possibliy origninate from the level of dependency the follower demonstrates (Martinez, Kane, Ferris, & Brooks, 2012). The level of dependency from a follower can provide the illusion to an individual to be revered as a leader. The expectation that a position exsudes power is a myth that propels the leader and follower dyad; when working under a leader the follower possibly assumes their role without question due to the enforcement of a hierchey structure. Willing followers tend to demonstrate a desire to serve, are in touch with their emotions, aware of their responsibilities, and seek to serve who they have deemed their leader (Northouse, 2013). Determine the plausible future of a leader; followers look for the following results from a leader, knowledge, task orientation, structure, and motivation (Northouse

Not all followers make good leaders, but all followers and leaders have some important characteristics that make them good at their positions. When it comes to leading, first a person must know how to be a good follower. There are a lot of different kinds of characteristics that are important for followers to have. Some of these are good communication and honesty, being a team player, being supportive, dependable and responsible. Also, a good follower takes initiative and must have integrity. Followership is the mirror image of leadership. It is the action of followers that determine the success of a leader.

2. Followership should be viewed as an active skill that must be developed in order to be considered an effective follower. According to the Air and Space Power Journal (Winter 2004), followership is considered a discipline that when viewed from a professional perspective is considered both an art and a science, requiring a balance between the development of skills and the understanding of followership roles within a professional

Based on what I learned from the Leadership and Followership module, the one concept that is most important to me is Followership because Jesus invited his disciples to “Follow me,” not to “Come lead in my name,” and in a world preoccupied with leadership, what should we make of that invitation? Taking a look at the example He left for us, it fits right in line with the definition of followership from the lesson: One in service of another; one that follows the teachings of another; one that imitates another. Think of the impact we would have on our subordinates, peers, and supervisors if we all followed that example of followership.

As a good follower, I need to accept responsibility and I need to be aware of the tasks that I have to take on. I have to readily support my leader at all times and I should be able to voice my opinions to my leader in a very supportive way. Leaders can only lead an organization successfully if they have personalities that appeal to their followers. The individual reflection and big five

The concept of followership has existed for decades, but only in relatively recent times has the idea received more attention. The dictionary definition of the word followership is “the capacity or willingness to support a leader”.

Riggio, R., Chaleff, I., & Lipman-Blumen, J. (Eds) (2008). The Art of Followership How Great Followers Create Great Leaders and Organizations. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.