Followers and Followership

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Topic 12

• Followers and Followership

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Followers

• If you wish to develop people into leaders, you
  must begin by teaching them to be followers.-
  West Point U.S. Military Academy

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Ira Chaleff

• Anecdotally comments that for every 300
  references on leadership --- 1 on followership
• Fairly New Phrase in Leadership Literature

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Leadership and Followership

• Good followers are reliable and dependable
  people, whom leadership can count on in the
  clutch. When we speak of followers, we are not
  talking about blindly, passive followers, or
  about yes men and women. We are talking about
  assertive, critical thinkers, who will allow
  their talents to be utilized, but who will refuse
  to be used and abused by leadership. One learns
  the art and science of effective leadership by
  being a consistent and committed follower.

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Effective Followers

• Effective followers have the vision to see both
  the forest and the trees, the social capacity to
  work well with others, the strength of character
  to flourish without heroic status, the moral and
  psychological balance to pursue personal and
  corporate goals at no cost to either, and, above
  all, the desire to participate in a team effort
  for the accomplishment of some greater purpose.

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Followers Followership

• I am a leader, therefore I must follow others.
  (Voltaire 1700s)
• First step in leadership development is teaching
  one to be a follower.
• Everyone (without exception) is a follower.
• West Point Thesis ---- able leaders emerge from
  the ranks of able followers

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Qualities of Effective Followers

• Loyal, effective team player with a contagious
  attitude
• Always ready to accept tasks
• One who remains positive in changing or confusing
  situations

• Regards peers well and is well-regarded
• Acts for the good of the team, as well as self
• Competent
• Dedicated
• Honest, Sincere
• Strong, Independent

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Qualities of Effective Followers

• Good followers are reliable and dependable
  people, whom leadership can count on in the
  clutch
• They are assertive, critical thinkers, who allow
  their talents to be utilized, but who will refuse
  to be used and abused by leadership
• Chaleff developed a model for the courageous
  follower that requires the courage to assume
  responsibility, the courage to serve, the courage
  to challenge, the courage to participate in
  transformation, and the courage to leave

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Robert Kelley

• Harvard Business Review Article In Praise of
  Followers
• 4 Essential Qualities
• Self-management
• Commitment
• Competence and Focus
• Courage
• Another way of framing qualities of effective
  followers is to say we want them to be generally
  somewhat the same as qualities of effective
  leaders.

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Follower-Leader Comparison

• Follower Power ???
• Effective followers generally use referent or
  expert power to strengthen their position.
• Regarding followers---- Research tells us that
  higher intelligence and certain personality
  traits such as agreeableness and dependability
  relate to higher performance.

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Graen Scanduras LMX Theory

• Leader- Member Exchange Theory
• Expectations
• In-Group
• Out-Group
• Psychological Bank Account
• Resulting Performance

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Leader-Member Exchange Theory

• Developed in the mid-1970s, LMX describes how
  leaders, over time, develop different exchange
  relationships with their various followers
• Leaders develop separate exchange relationships
  with each of their followers
• A small group of followers constitutes an
  in-group
• The majority of the followers constitute an
  out-group

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Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)

• Leadership relationship develops over time.
• Leaders do not treat all followers the same
• In group high quality exchange relationship
  that goes beyond what the job requires
• Out group low quality exchange limited to
  fulfilling contractual obligations

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The Cycle of Leadership Making
Table 13.1 The Cycle of Leadership Making
Source Adapted from G. B. Graen and M. Uhl-Bien,
Relationship-Based Approach to
Leadership Development of LeaderMember Exchange
(LMX) Theory over 25 Years Applying a
Multi-Level Multi-Domain Perspective, Leadership
Quarterly 6 (1995), pp. 21947.
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Robert KelleyTwo-Dimensional Taxonomy

• Categorizing Follower Behavior Using a
  Two-Dimensional Taxonomy
• Independent, Critical Thinking--- Dependent
  Uncritical Thinking
• Active --- Passive

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Robert KelleyTwo-Dimensional Taxonomy

• The first dimension is independent, critical
  thinking as opposed to dependent, uncritical
  thinking. Effective followers think on their own
  without having to be told every detail. Because
  they are confident in their abilities, effective
  followers are willing to take risks and act
  independently.
• Ineffective followers do not think for
  themselves they wait for instructions from their
  leaders because they are not willing to take any
  risks. Sometimes, followers act this way because
  they have fear of failure. In the middle of
  independent, critical thinking and dependent,
  uncritical thinking are followers who do the task
  they are given without challenging the leader.

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Robert KelleyTwo-Dimensional Taxonomy

• The second dimension in Robert Kelleys model
  categorizes followers as active or passive.
  According to Kelley, effective followers are
  active. They participate and take responsibility
  for the job. Ineffective followers are passive
  they need to be supervised all the time to ensure
  the job gets done. In the middle of passive and
  active are followers who after being told what
  needs to be done gets the task done.

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Robert Kelley

• Research and work of Robert Kelley (late 80s,
  early 90s)
• Using the 2 dimensions of independent, critical
  thinking and activity level, followers are
  categorized into one of 5 levels.

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Five Style of Followers

• Alienated Followers
• Conformist Followers
• Pragmatist Followers
• Passive Followers
• Exemplary Followers

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1. Alienated Followers

• Passive and critical such followers are often
  capable but cynical, often good followers who
  have become disgruntled

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2. Conformist Followers

• The yes people of the organization, active but
  uncritical, demonstrate commitment but lack
  self-confidence or are averse to conflict

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3. Pragmatist Followers

• Middle of the road survivors --- usually mediocre
  performers who present an ambiguous image they
  may be risk averse often very political workers

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4. Passive Followers

• Both passive and uncritical, these followers show
  none of the behavior of effective followers
  behavior only in response to leader and/or
  situation

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5. Exemplary Followers

• The most effective followers are active and
  critical they know how to get along with the
  leader and peers and others for the benefit of
  the organization

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Partnering (Rosenbach, Pittman, Porter)

• Partnering deal with the quality of relationships
  between leaders and followers rather than on
  characteristics of leaders and followers.

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Rosenbach, Pittman, Porter

• Partnering
• Focus is on Quality of Relationships
• 2 Dimensions
• Performance Initiative
• Relationship Initiative

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4 Types of Followers

• 1. Subordinate
• (like Kelleys passive follower)
• Low on both dimensions
• 2. Valued Contributor
• (somewhat like Kelleys exemplary follower)
• High on performance, low on relationship
  dimension

• 3. Politician
• Low on performance, high on relationships
• 4. The Partner
• (similar to Kelleys Exemplary Follower)
• High on both dimensions

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Robert Bales SYMLOG

• SYMLOG (SYstematic Multiple Level Observation of
  Groups)
• A method for rating and graphing follower behavior

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Bales (Robert F. Bales)

• Much of what we study and research about
  followership today is based on historical
  researchlate 50s, early 60s---that centered on
  the concept group dynamics.
• SYMLOG
• Bales model of Systematic Multiple Observation of
  Groups integrates personality theory and group
  dynamics in analyzing and understanding the
  performance of groups (i.e., followers)

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SYMLOG Field Diagram

• Group members are charted as circles in a network
  based on 3 bipolar dimensions
• Friendliness-Unfriendliness
• Acceptance-Nonacceptance
• Dominance-Submissiveness
• Most effective followers are friendly, accepting,
  and somewhat more dominant than neutral

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Peter Block --- 1993 ?

• Leaders as Stewards Servants
• Stewardship
• Servant Leadership
• Notion that leaders serve their followers
• Bolman Deal
• Dorothy Marcic
• Peter Senge

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• Do those served grow as persons do they, while
  being served, become healthier, wiser, freer,
  more autonomous, more likely themselves to become
  servants?- Robert Greenleaf

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Servant Leadership

• Leadership role is serving others
• Stems in part from philosophical/religious
  teachings
• 10 characteristics describe servant leaders
• Listening
• Empathy
• Healing
• Awareness
• Persuasion
• Conceptualization
• Foresight
• Stewardship
• Commitment to others growth
• Building community

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Can you teach someone to be a good follower?

• Maybe, maybe not
• Probably not---Personality Issues
• But you can use guidelines in HRD, MDE, TD
  Programs to emphasize ways to improve
  followership
• Yukl
• Chaleff
• Whetton Cameron

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Applications Guidelines for Followers

• Support leader efforts to make necessary changes.
• Find out what you are expected to do.
• Take the initiative to deal with problems.
• Keep the boss informed about your decisions.
• Verify the accuracy of information you give the
  boss.
• Encourage the boss to provide honest feedback to
  you.

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Applications Guidelines for Followers

• Show appreciation and provide recognition when
  appropriate.
• Challenge flawed plans and proposals made by
  leaders.
• Resist inappropriate influence attempts by the
  boss.
• Provide upward coaching and counseling when
  appropriate.

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Developing Followership

• It is not an easy task and a canned, one size
  fits all solution will not work. Each
  organization is unique as are its leaders and
  followers. The individual situation must be
  addressed. First, find out where the followers
  are in their development. Some may already be
  great performers and need only encouragement and
  motivation to keep up the good work, while others
  may be stuck in the obedience mode and need a
  great deal of nurturing to reach their greatest
  potential.

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Developing Followership

• The following guidelines can help encourage and
  nurture followership
• Redefine followership and leadership.
• Institutionalize followership.
• Hire and train for followership.
• Performance evaluation and feedback.
• Recognize and celebrate followership.

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