LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOWERSHIP

One of the most basic human instincts, a quality that every person is born with, is the act of imitating another person. Children
often imitate behaviors as seen from their parents, friends, or the media. These influences determine the character that this
particular child develops. As time progresses, imitation give way to reasoning, opening the door for this person to start
influencing others. The contrast between followership and leadership is analogous to this; once an individual is established as a
follower, he or she can become a leader.

LEADERSHIP:
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. (John C. Maxwell)

The first job of a leader is to define a vision for the organization.... Leadership of the capacity to translate vision into reality.
Leaders are people who make decisions within organizations and cause others to support and implement these decisions. Leaders
utilize rewards, imperative force, and interpretations of culture to obtain the collaboration of others. Leadership in its highest
form develops a common understanding with followers and changes their basic ways of thinking. Leaders engage in distinct
forms of behavior, such as
􀂁 Taking initiative
􀂁 Evaluating followers’ needs, aspirations, and capabilities
􀂁 Maintaining relationships within the organization
􀂁 Founding relationships with other organizations
􀂁 Collecting and disseminating information
􀂁 Providing the resources needed to achieve success

FOLLOWERSHIP:
Although the importance of good leadership cannot be denied, followers also play an equally important, if often
overlooked, role in the success of any group or organization. We believe the strength of any team is in the follower , there
can be no leaders without followers. Virtually everyone is follower at some point in his or her life. And perhaps more
importantly, anyone occupying the position of authority plays a followership role at times, as first-line supervisors report
to mid-level managers, mid-level managers report to vice-presidents, vice-presidents report to CEO’s, CEO’s report to
Board of Directors, etc. This being the case, followership should be viewed as a role, not a position. It is worth keeping in
mind that some jobs have clear leadership requirements ; virtually All jobs have followership requirements. Given that
the same people play both leadership and followership roles, it is hardly surprising that the values, personality traits,
mental abilities, and behaviors used to describe the effective leaders can also be used to describe effective followers. All
the above traits are crucial as followership is a very important bridge to becoming an effective leader.

“Better followership often begets better leadership.” Barbara Kellerman,Harvard!University

CONCLUSION:
The leader must also act as a follower towards his or her superiors. There is always a level ordinate to a leader. Even the
President is a follower; he is a follower of the will of the people of the United States. This is, in fact, the basis for the chain of
command. Leaders receive feedback from their subordinates, or followers, and relay this information to the next-higher authority.
Theoretically, this chain may continue indefinitely. Cooperation between the leader and his or her subordinate is crucial, or the
chain will not function effectively. Therefore, a leader is concurrently a follower.

The differences between leadership and followership, then, are a process of learning and the time needed to gain experience in
assigned responsibilities. Once a follower has demonstrated mastery of self-discipline, motivation, responsibility, and other
important traits, he or she has the competence to become a successful leader and pass this wisdom on to future generations.