The Idea And Theory Of Followership

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.

The role of the follower and the quality of the relationship itself are informally negotiated between followers and their leaders over time (Gils, Quaquebeke, & Knippenberg, 2009). Based on the LMX theory, leaders build a special relationship with an inner circle, or “in-group”, of followers, who often get high levels of responsibility and access to resources. The in-group members work harder and are more committed to task objectives. They are also expected to be totally committed and loyal to their leader. Conversely, other followers fall in the “out-group" and are given low levels of choice or influence. Aggression, sarcasm and a self-centered view are qualities seen in the out-group. The quality of the LMX relationship varies and is better when the challenge of the job is extremely high or extremely low (Graen et al., 1982).

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

The concept I found most valuable to me is the 5 Essential Qualities of Effective Followership. I find this most valuable because it will help me become the effective leader I want to be. In order for me to reach that goal, I need to develop my followership qualities.

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

Effective followers are other-centered. They are less concerned with themselves and personal benefits than they are with the success of the team. An example of this is when a follower takes responsibility

Each follower has different levels of needs, and it’s possible for one leadership style to motive each follower within an organization. When followers are motivated in their environment, a bridge of trust, confidence, loyalty, and commitment may emerge. According to Kelly (as cited in Dixon, Gene, Sikes and Taylor, 2015) there are different types of followership, and Kelly categorized the followers as passive, alienated, conformist, pragmatist, or exemplary. (p.5). Therefore, there are followership characteristics that are capable of influencing an organization climate.

I always deemed a follower to be less influential or important than a leader I have never seen myself as a follower for this reasoning and take pride in been what has been described as a natural leader. As my leadership journey has continued to develop I have to admit I could not comprehend the equality of a leader and follower and I could not understand how a follower could benefit a leader, comforted to find out that my perspective on followers are similar to many peoples negative cognition around the word. This is portrayed in the word itself, as it implies that you are not adequate enough to lead others, and thus you rely on others for direction. Five weeks later here I am happy to advise that I finally understand the importance of

Some of those characteristics affect the fundamental approaches when leadership interaction efforts encourage motivation, critical thinking abilities and the social constructions of a follower’s behavior. The second article reflects study that “examined the impact of three aspects of leaders’ character (integrity, humility and forgiveness, and interest and gratitude) on followers’ perceptions of the leader’s worthiness of being followed, followers’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and followers’ voice behavior” (Liborius, 2014). Followership is a straightforward concept, and the article explains that followers learn how about ethical context. Since followership is the ability to take direction well, support, collaborate and to be part of a team, and perform as expected; it is determined that character matters. “Leaders behaviors influence subordinates’ perceptions of trust, their willingness to accept influence, and their desire to contribute to a team process” (Liborius, 2014). How well the followers contribute is probably just as important to the organization’s success as how well the leaders give directives, engage to build bonds and inspire. If leaders embrace teamwork and followership successfully achieve the goal, all will understand the interdependencies and impact of their efforts and will continue to work to coordinate with other parts of the

“Leadership is a strategic, focused on vision, and involves a strong element of building trust and emotional engagement with ‘followers’” (Jan Carmichael, 2011). Similarly (B.M.Bass) Bass (1990) who found that a leader should engage followers by showing enthusiasm, inspiring loyalty and gains respect

“Followers make judgments about leaders and then decide whether to follow them or not. (Whitlock, 2012)”. Is it possible for a follower make or break an organization? Blanchard, A., Welbourne, J., Gilmore, D., & Bullock, A. (2009) state that understanding followers from the manager’s perspective is an important first step in determining that followership behaviors are linked to positive employee outcome. Blanchard et al (2009) conducted a quantitative study on Followership Styles and Employee Attachment to the Organization. In this study Blanchard et al. (2009) take Kelly’s (1992) followership conceptualization of followership having two demissions: independent critical thinking and active engagement. In this study Blanchard et al (2009) goal is to validate Kelly’s (1992) followership scale and to determine what lead to particular followership behavior and if this behavior has a direct effect on the organization. Kelly (1992) defines followership in terms of the behavior that are associated with being a good follower in two dimensions. The first being independent critical thinking. These followers engage in independent critical thinking analyze the information given to them, meticulously evaluate situations and actions, and make judgments independent of the potential consequences of decisions. Kelly (1992) states that these followers analyze information and provide constructive criticism. While the second dimension Kelly (1992) describes is active engagements. These

Kellerman’s “What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers” is one of my favorite articles that we have read in the LEAD concentration it was one of the first things I read as a freshman in Lead 001. I was so impressed that we started our leadership journey by recognizing the importance of the followers. It helped me to see that I can make a difference as a leader or as a follower which is a reassuring thing for me because at that point in my leadership education I was not confident in my ability to be a leader and so even if I never learn to be a great leader I can be the best follower I can be. Much like the Drucker article this piece equates the success and even the existence of leaders to the presence of followers. I like the way that Kellerman explains the important position followers play, “good followers invest time and energy in making informed judgements about who their leaders are and what they espouse. Then they take appropriate action.” This quote does an excellent job of demonstrating the responsibility that followers must make educated decisions and utilize their time and

Effective followers are an extremely important part of the business and work field, especially with management. Follower ship is the process of being guided and directed by the leader. There is always a big deal about having people who are good leaders. A person who is strong and takes initiative is only a few traits of a good leader. There are also many different types of leaders who work best with specific types of situations. Just as leaders play an important role in the business world, the role of an effective follower is also needed. Not everyone is designed to be a leader, and not everyone can be a leader. Some people work better as a follower to take direction and execute the plan that is given to them. Without followers the leaders

In our modern world we are convinced that a company 's success is based solely on the way it is led. Because of this we study how companies are led, the great leaders past and present, we spend vast hours out of the day and unsurpassable amounts of money into finding today 's great leaders. I don 't argue with this amount of enthusiasm, we must be zealous in finding great leaders however, we tend to lose sight in finding the people these great leaders will lead. Organizations succeed or fail partly on the basis of the leaders and how well they lead but also partly on the basis of how well their followers follow. So what is a follower, more importantly what is followership? According to McCallum (2013) "Followership is a straightforward