5 Workshop 5 – Followership
Jack Miranda and John Donald
INTRODUCTION
A topic that is often overlooked in the domain of Leadership is Followership. Knowing when and how to properly support and contribute to a team from a follower perspective can not only increase your productivity as a team member, but can also give you key insights to consider from a leadership perspective. Having knowledge of the dynamics of followership, and knowing when to defer to others is a very important skill in any team setting.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
This workshop will be mainly focused on how to be a good follower. It will cover dynamic followership, how to create a generative partnership, and the C4 model of when to lead and follow. Due to the nature of followership, this workshop spans the team and organizational leadership domains, being applicable in both team and organizational settings. By the end of this workshop, you should be able to define meaningful followership, have knowledge of the 5 principles of followership, and be able to identify whether you should lead or follow in a given situation.
WHAT IS FOLLOWERSHIP?
Followership may be defined as the behaviour one engages in when interacting with leaders to meet team or organizational objectives. Note that followership relies on leadership, and vice versa. A good follower can accomplish very little if not given adequate direction, and a good leader is wasted if instructions aren’t adhered to.
Example
Working on a project assigned to you by your boss demonstrates followership.
- If your boss doesn’t give you adequate instructions, you will struggle to perform well
- If you ignore your boss’ instructions, the task will also not go well
WHY IS FOLLOWERSHIP IMPORTANT?
Good followership promotes an increase in teamwork, productivity and self-improvement. The benefits of followership can be broken down into a few key points:
Knowing when to Lead and Follow
There may be times when you’re in a leadership position when it would be more optimal for you to be a follower. Likewise, there may be moments when you need to step up to be a leader for the best outcome for your team. Knowing when to lead and follow in a given situation can greatly benefit your team, allowing everyone to contribute to their full potential.
Lifelong Followership
Even when in leadership positions, there will likely be times when you are required to be a follower in both professional and non-professional settings. Thus, learning good followership skills in addition to learning leadership skills will be a lifelong improvement, especially since having to be a follower is more common than having to be a leader.
Improving Team Success
Knowing when to be a follower can help to avoid competing for leadership roles, allowing everyone to focus on the tasks they are best at and need to perform.
Becoming a Better Ally
A good follower is much more effective in collaborating with minority groups. Being an ally gives space and support for the group you are working with, empowering everyone involved rather than competing for the privilege of being a leader.
MEANINGFUL FOLLOWERSHIP
To better understand what it means to be a meaningful follower, let us look at an analogy. Imagine a herd of sheep vs a pack of wolves.
- Sheep blindly follow a leader. Whoever is in front of the heard will be followed without much thought.
- Wolves may have a leader, but have good team dynamics. Each wolf supports the pack as a whole and reinforces each other’s efforts. No single wolf has all of the say.
Sheep represent mindless followership, and the wolves represent active followership. The awareness of the wolves allow them to flexibly adapt to the situation, having a greater ability to deal with any task. On the other hand, the sheep may be carelessly led into danger, and they would be none the wiser. Therefore, we want to be wolves: aware of the situation, and adaptable to obtain the best outcome.
GENERATIVE PARTNERSHIP
To better understand this term, let us break it down into its components using their Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions.
- Generative – “Having the power or function of generating, originating, producing, or reproducing”
- Partnership – “A relationship usually involving close cooperation between parties having specified and joint rights and responsibilities”
A Generative Partnership can thus be looked at as a cooperative effort between individuals which produce something. The goal of this relationship is an increase in synergy, and is the ideal relationship between leaders and followers. This brings us to another important term.
- Followership Generative Impact – This accomplishes more than each individual could on their own, not just in terms of the quantity of work, but also in depth, breadth, and creativity and innovation
This means that the relationship between leaders and followers should ideally result in a much greater output than what they could both accomplish individually. The team should be greater than the sum of its parts.
Generative Partnership Formula
Different partnerships can be thought of as equations. These equations are broken down below.
- Dysfunctional Formula: 1 + 1 = 0
- Functional Formula: 1 + 1 = 2
- Innovative Formula: 1 + 1 = New
- Synergistic Formula: 1 + 1 > 2
- Generative Formula: 1 + 1 > 2 + New
The goal of Generative Partnership is to combine synergy with innovation, resulting in effective, creative teamwork. This generates maximally productive work and lots of new ideas.
PRINCIPLES OF FOLLOWERSHIP
Principle 1 – Embrace both Leadership and Followership
Leadership and Followership should not follow a strict heirarchy. It should be fluid, allowing anyone to be a leader or follower at a given time. Leadership should be decided in the given moment based on who has the best skillset for the task. In the same vein, there may be multiple leaders at a given time if the situation calls for it.
On the other hand, Followers should not try to be mini-leaders. Even though their skills may not be optimal for the task of leadership at the time, they should still be used to complement the leader’s skillset for maximum productivity. Tasks should be dynamic, with responsibilities dependent on who’s most suitable for the job, instead of haphazardly consolidating responsibilities onto one or a few people.
Principle 2 – Followership is Working Within a Framework
Leadership is about creating a framework for your team to work within. This framework can contain instructions, a vision, purpose, constraints and risks, or even delegated tasks. Good Followers understand this framework, and utilize it to maximize productivity. Through this framework, good followers can quickly obtain information to assess priorities and expectations, which can then be used to take initiative to add value to the team directly, or through supporting other members.
Remember, not all frameworks are the same, as different leaders can approach the same problem a multitude of ways. If the situation calls for it, a new framework should be created to approach the problem from another angle. Leadership and Followership is all about accountability and adaptability, and frameworks help to optimally orient the team for action.
Principle 3 – Lean in to Create Connections
The interconnectivity of a team is all about pressure. In team settings, you want to always apply good pressure to each other to avoid falling apart. When you’re a leader, pressure allows you to get to know the team, and gets everyone on the same wavelength as you. When you’re a follower, pressure allows you to ensure the leader knows what you’re working on, and how to best support your endevours. Too little pressure, and there will be a lack of communication, resulting in a disconnected team. Too much pressure, and it can seem like you’re trying to micromanage the responsibilities of your team members.
The ideal amount of pressure results in a generative point – a point of innovation and efficiency. At this generative point, there is optimal understanding and communication between all team members, resulting in the greatest amount of productivity.
Principle 4 – Building on Positive Aspects of Partnership
When working together, you must fight off any negativity bias that may occur by reinforcing positive attitudes. Criticism is necessary for progress, but too much criticism destroys creativity and productivity. When providing feedback, try for a ratio of 3:1 or 3:2 in terms of praising their strengths and pointing out flaws.
Providing actionable feedback on top of encouragement will also yield better results. Feedback without any means to course-correct behaviour is often pointless, and thus feedback should always contain a method for improvement.
Principle 5 – Have Deeply Shared Goals
Shared goals can give rise to a platform for collaboration, rather than competition. This may not be present at the onset of team development, but by creating a team vision, or by discussing team goals, you may help to get everyone aligned.
It should be noted that it is sometimes impossible for everyone to have the same goal in a team, and especially in an organization. Everyone has different priorities and values in life, and this can result in widely differing goals, even when working together for similar purposes. This is most apparent in organizations, as different branches may strive for different things. A decrease in production time may increase productivity from a manufacturing standpoint, but may increase the amount of imperfections from a quality control perspective.
ACTIVITY 1: SKILL BREAKDOWN
For this activity, you will be reflecting on a set of skills provided to determine which ones best fit into the followership domain vs the leadership domain. The list of skills are provided on the worksheet, and the 5 principles of followership should be used as a guide for sorting. You will be selecting your top 3 leadership skills, and your top 3 followership skills, and discussing as a group why you made these selections.
Activity 1 Worksheet:
- Google Drive: Link to worksheet
ACTIVITY 1: KEY TAKEAWAYS
When considering the 5 principles of followership, each principle has its own associated skills. Leadership and followership skills may overlap at times, depending on the situation, and certain skills may be easily translatable, while others might not be.
THE C4 MODEL
The C4 model can help you to decide when to lead and when to follow. It should be noted that followership is a choice, and you must decide who to follow, when to follow, and who you are as a follower. Leaders may decide to start trying to lead at any moment, but it’s up to followers to decide whether or not it is beneficial to support them.
THE 4 C’s
The C4 model utilizes the 4 C’s to help you engage with active followership. It is up to you to choose which to prioritize in a given situation.
- Community
- Creative Insipiration
- Capability
- Capacity
Each C represents something different, and in a given situation, one may be more important than the others.
Community
The guiding question of this C is “Who’s community is it?”.
The group decides who to follow based on what kind of community they desire to form and foster. This C is all about followers choosing their leader, and is thus often difficult to achieve as in many situations, you are assigned a leader and not given much choice.
Creative Insipiration
This C is focused on the creative aspects of leadership. Following occurs when the leader produces an idea or vision of how a final work may turn out. Though the leader may have been the one to generate the idea, it doesn’t mean that that individual is the leader throughout the entire process. By guiding the team towards this vision while allowing for others to take the reigns on aspects of the work, this method of leadership allows for agile, innovative projects.
Capability
This C dictates that the leader is chosen based on who has the most appropriate strengths, skills and/or experiences for the given situation. This C brings together “traditional” leaders, as this is how leaders were traditionally chosen in the past.
Capacity
To better understand this C, let us use the analogy of soccer. When a player intercepts the ball, they are immediately in control of the situation, and thus the leader. Likewise, in a professional setting, if you are assigned a specific project to work on, you are immediately the leader of this project. When you have specific roles and responsibilities, it is your job to complete them, and this may involve leading others for task completion.
ACTIVITY 2: CASE STUDY COMPARISON
For this activity, you will need a group. Together, you will be dissecting the scenarios provided to you on the worksheet to identify which C is the best, given the situation. Case studies 1 and 2 have less detail, so it is up to your team to interpret the situation. Conversely, case studies 3 and 4 are more fleshed out, and thus has more nuance. Utilizing the C4 model, and the guiding questions provided, discuss these scenarios as a group.
Activity 2 Worksheet:
- Google Drive: Link to worksheet
ACTIVITY 2: KEY TAKEAWAYS
In any given situation, there may be multiple C’s at play. Oftentimes, it is up to the followers to determine which C’s to prioritize, which can be based on your personal thoughts, feelings and values.
WORKSHOP KEY TAKEAWAYS
Followership is an important skill to develop. As a leader, understanding when to defer your judgment to a team member can greatly boost innovation and productivity. Likewise, as a follower, knowing when to step up can greatly benefit your team. Utilizing the C4 model is an excellent tool in determining when to do what.
Understanding both perspectives is crucial for working in a team, and having a strong, interconnected relationship between leaders and followers in your team can greatly increase your team’s output.
RESOURCES
Click here to access the workshop worksheets.