With all the crazy in our world these days, most leaders I speak with barely have enough time to get their jobs done, let alone spend any significant time catching up on things they enjoy reading. I know for me it has been that way, I am about 3 books behind in my own reading schedule. The other thing I really enjoy that I just have not taken as much time for is keeping up with my journal reading. The journal Leadership is one of my favorites.
I had a client who needed to reschedule the other day and I jumped on the journal Leadership’s website to see what was current and I was really intrigued by the framework of the August 2020 issue. The entire journal is dedicated to the shift being seen in how effective leadership is being practiced. Here are a couple of the articles:
The price of wearing (or not wearing) the crown: The effects of loneliness on leaders and followers.
Barriers to leadership development: Why is it so difficult to abandon the hero
I find it very interesting to think about the leader not being the hero. For too long, we have been sucked into thinking that the leader will rush in and save us. That the leader is some sort of mystical figure who is smarter, more engaging, or has more energy.
As I watch organizations and spend time reading and thinking about this, I am becoming convinced nothing could be further from the truth.
Even certain personality construct like Myers-Briggs give homage to types that they say are natural leaders like the ENTJ (see Myers-Briggs for more details). There are so many implicit and explicit biases in this kind of nonsense that the idea is almost laughable.
Since leadership has such a strong relational component, I am becoming convinced that true leadership is really about whether others will follow. There will always be a consideration given that in certain circumstances people might have to follow. There is some power gradient in play where a person feels they have to tolerate the leader. But this is a leader in name only, or maybe a better term is boss or supervisor.
True leadership has followership; not because they have to, but because they choose to.
Those following the leader do so because they buy in to the vision. They find the work they contribute toward the vision to be interesting and worthy to spend their lives doing. Those in followership have heightened levels of accountability. They feel responsible for the vision and they understand their role in making it happen.
There are very significant trends (all being accelerated by COVID) in the direction of followership models replacing traditional heroic, leader-centric models. These follower-centric models are replacing what many are now calling the “heroic” leader. The leader is no longer the center of the work flow to create leadership, rather, as Barbara Kellerman writes in her book, Followership, “Followership implies a relationship between subordinates and superiors and a response of the former to the later.”
I really like the idea of followership as it brings into balance the task and the relationship side of the leadership equation. Followership is about empowering teams to higher levels of performance where the leader is setting the vision, building a safe environment, fostering learning, recognizing contributions, and maybe most of all is not the focus of the attention.
Are You Creating Followership?
The above question is a good one for leaders in organizations to sit back and ask themselves. Really spend some time reflecting on your ability to create an environment where people choose to follow your vision, and not because they have to for some organization hierarchy or power gradient reason.
Here is a little checklist of 7 things to reflect on your own ability to create followership:
Clearly describing the vision - In a few words can I articulate our purpose?
Repeatedly giving the vision - How many times a day do I bring the work people do back to the vision?
Reciprocal Trust - Do followers feel psychologically safe to be themselves so they can contribute? Do you really understand their relational needs that unlock their true potential?
Learning - Do we encourage learning including: asking questions, giving and receiving feedback, even making mistakes?
Expectations - Are they as clear to followers as they are in your own head?
Coaching - Do you really want to win; or do you just want to be seen as a good coach?
Two Tier Feedback - Are you willing to examine original assumptions made or do you just give feedback on observed behavior?
I give you these 7 ideas and questions not really as a model for followership, but more of a checklist to ask yourself or others around you how you are really doing at fostering the relational side of leadership.
I would love to have your perspective on Followership. If you have a comment, please put it below. Love hearing from you.