My first two posts have talked about leadership and important attributes for a leader to have. Now I’m going to switch gears a bit here and look at the people who complete the process. Followers are crucial to making a leader effective. They work in concert with the leader on attaining organizational goals that will greatly benefit all parties. That’s right–ideally, the relationship between a leader and follower is one of mutuality where each supports each other rather than the person of “lesser” status doing much of the heavy lifting.
Even so, the follower still has to be committed to doing their part. A work ethic and loyalty are just two of the traits that John McCallum (2013) in Ivey Business Journal says a follower should possess. There are eight qualities in all which constitute a Boy Scout-Esque oath if you will, of prudent followership. Trustworthiness, good judgment, ability, courage, and tact are included as characteristics. Finally, McCallum says that a good follower can check his or her ego at the door to accomplish the task at hand.
It’s important that leaders be able to track whether objectives are being met. This ultimately means tracking the performance of followers to determine whether they are up to par as far as the guidelines of followership are concerned. According to Lussier & Achua (2016), the goal of evaluations is to provide an opportunity for the employee to understand strengths and weaknesses and gain further experience to grow in their careers. My opinion is that reviews should be treated as such by leaders rather than a means to reward or punish followers, though instances may occur that require appropriate intervention. It may also be helpful to use McCallum’s eight pillars as criteria for assessing performance.
A complication in the leader-follower relationship is the suitability of fraternization between the two. The United States military notably has had a policy prohibiting such a connection. Here it is an issue of maintaining discipline within the realm of the Armed Forces. Any breach of this discipline can create a decrease in morale and performance (Thompson, 1986). This could have devastating consequences in the course of combat.
Yet it would be to the detriment of the leader to completely close themselves off from those below them. They should make an effort to know who their followers are, what interests them, their family members and/or pets. The leader could also decide to have outings with followers at their home or a local bar, but they should take care to ensure that all members of the group are afforded the opportunity to participate. The leader also needs to maintain professionalism even off the clock.
The tips that are outlined above go a long way in reciprocating a relationship between a leader and follower that nurtures growth and innovation in the issues that both are collectively tackling.
References
Lussier, R.N., & Achua, C.F. (2016). Leadership: Theory, application, & skill development (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
McCallum, J.S. (2013, September/October). Followership: The other side of leadership. Retrieved from https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/followership-the-other-side-of-leadership/
Thompson, C.L., Jr. (1986, April). Fraternization: A military offense? [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a168706.pdf