The Follower Is A Key Component Of The Leadership Balance

Being a follower does not seem ideal in an Army in dire need of good leaders. Becoming a good leader requires you to establish a foundation to build your leadership skills. Dictionary.com

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a structural progression of psychological and physical needs. Maslow hypothesized that there were two distinct types of needs: deficiency needs and growth needs2. The deficiency needs,

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

Psychologist Abraham Maslow created Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a list of necessary needs in order to live with healthy mental. The levels are physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. Physiological deals with survival needs which include food, shelter, and water. Safety is the need to be secure from danger, a shelter or safe environment. Love is the is need for affection and belongingness, friends and family. Esteem is the personal worth, success and achievements. Self-actualization is actualizing one’s potential and what you are capable of. According to Maslow, the most important level is physiological and is needed for survival.

Psychologist Abraham H. Maslow is the developer of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The theory covers human behavior in terms of basic requirements for survival and growth (Cengage, 2002). The theory was developed in the early 1960’s. During this time psychology was taken over by two different views. One side was the human behavior and the other one was the behaviorist. Maslow explained that psychoanalysts had not accomplished the task to consider the behavior of healthy humans. He also mentioned that many subjective experiences that related with human behaviors were being ignored by behaviorist. In the beginning Maslow examined motivations and experience of many healthy individuals. He recognized that there are many requirements in this theory that are important for human survival and to help motivate individuals. He conceptualized different human needs as a pyramid with five levels in

With these few thoughts in mind Abraham Maslow made up a hierarchy of needs. (Boeree, Page 2) The hierarchy of needs has five levels: the bottom one is Physiological Needs, the next one up is Safety needs, the next one is Belonging needs, the next one is Esteem Needs and finally the last one is Self-actualization needs. As Maslow thought he “saw human beings needs arranged like a ladder”, the most basic needs at the bottom and at the top the need to fulfill yourself. (pbs.org, Page 1) Below is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

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.

Abraham Maslow (1943) Hierarchy of needs (Shown in appendix A); uses the

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

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

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

Followers can be classified as either alienated or passive. Alienated followers are individuals that think clear and reasonable. Alienated followers also think for themselves. They aren’t too involved in the company, so when issues arise they don’t give input. For example an eight grade class was required to work in groups on a project. Group one consisted of Alex, Morgan, Sean, Tyler and Lisa. Out of those five students Lisa was selected to be the leader. As months passed the project ended and each student was required to write a reflection paper on the project. While writing the paper Morgan realized that she didn’t contribute much to the group. She worked alone to develop ideas, but didn’t express them. She realized if she didn’t spend much time being angry over the decisions made in the group she could have been more involved. The second type of follower is a passive follower.

The leader and follower relationship is looked at as winners and losers, when it is actually a symbiotic association. (Chaleff) Leaders cannot exist without followers and followers cannot exist without a leader. Leaders can forget that they need the backing of a solid team of followers in order to succeed. Because they make the “important” decisions and enjoy an astronomical rate of pay, it is easy to overlook the loyal, hard working individuals that make everything happen under them. Followers too can forget that they are a valuable element of a successful organization, and that their feedback and ideas are welcome.

The importance placed on the follower’s opinions and capabilities acknowledges the value of his or her contribution by leadership. It motivates people to do their best and achieve the necessary goal(s). This empowerment by leadership therefore promotes a beneficial message between leaders and followers allowing for future communication when difficult circumstances might arise.

Chapter one portrays the importance on followers and provides some insight and labels different types of followers. Riggio et al (2008), provides examples on the various styles of individuals as followers, for instance, the sheep, the yes-people, the alienated, the pragmatics, and the star followers. Furthermore, these classes of followers provide a better understanding to leaders on why one performs in an organization.