A review of expectations on both Leaders and Followers

1. A discussion of Leadership and Follow-ship

2. • Mission
• Vision
• Strategic plan

3. — Chinese proverb
If you want one year of prosperity, grow

grain.
If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow

trees.
If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow

people.

4. On average, leaders contribute no more than 20 percent to

the success of most organizations
Followers are critical to the remaining 80 percent

The only time followers follow the leader is when the

leader’s orbit and the follower’s orbit are in synch
Most people, whatever their title, spend more time working

as followers than as leaders (more time reporting to people
than having people report to us)

5. What is a leader?

How do leaders differ from managers?

What is a follower?

Can we have a meaningful discussion of followership

without a discussion of leadership?
Why is leadership so important in higher education?

What about followership?

Why do you think the idea, and ideal, of followership is

so difficult for us to deal with?

6. It is the job of the leader to grow the

followers
The mark of a great leader is the development and growth of
It is the job of the followers to grow the
 followers.
organization
One mark of a great follower is the growth of leaders.

8. The manager administers; the leader innovates

The manager is a copy; the leader is the original

The manger focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on

people
 The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust
 The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range
view
 The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why
 The manager has his eye always on the bottom line; the leader has
his eye on the horizon
 The manager imitates; the leader originates
 The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it
 The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his own person
 The manager does things right; the leader does the right things

9. -becoming a Leader
Becoming a manager has much to do with learning the metaphors;
becoming a good manager has much to do with using the metaphors;
and becoming a leader has much to do with changing the metaphors.

10. The Leader is always on Stage
A leader must remember that he is on stage every day. His people
are watching him. Everything he says, and the way he says it,
sends off clues to his employees. These clues affect performance.
The leader is always on stage.
– Marcus Buckingham: First, Break All the Rules

12. Honesty

Forward-looking

Inspiring

Competent

Fair-minded


13. Intelligence

Enthusiasm

 Strong communication skills
 Initiative
 Energy
 Political astuteness
 And the two qualities listed most often by leaders:
 Cooperation
 Loyalty
Question: What “qualities” are missing?


14. Have no sense of vision:

 “She constantly changes her mind about important
issues. There is no consistent vision. Everyone is going in
circles and nothing important ever gets accomplished.”
Refuse to listen:

 “My president believes that he is always right. He simply
will not listen. His body language, demeanor, and how he
speaks to his staff constantly reinforce the impression
that he knows more than anyone. After a while we just
give up trying to contribute.”

15. Embrace exceptional followers as partners

and co-creators
 Partnership means sharing information
 Partners co-create the vision and mission
 Partners share the risks and the rewards
Create environments where exceptional

followers flourish
Be less a hero and more a hero maker


18. Pragmatic followers

Alienated followers

Comformist

Passive followers

Exceptional followers

See “quiz” at end of presentation


19. Positive:

 Keeps things in perspective
 Plays by the rules and regulations
Negative:

 Plays political games
 Risk averse and prone to cover their tracks
 Carries out assignments with middling enthusiasm
Believes that:

 Staying within the rules is important
 Should try to avoid uncertainty and instability

20. Positive:

 Mavericks who think for themselves
 Plays the devil’s advocate
Negative:

 Troublesome, cynical
 Not a team player
Believes that:

 Their leader does not fully recognize or utilize their talents
Extreme cases: Saboteur


21. Positive:

 Accepts assignments easily
 Trusts and commits to the team and the leader
 Seeks to minimize conflict
Negative:

 Lacks own ideas
 Unwilling to make unpopular decisions
 Averse to conflict
Believes that:

 Following the established order is more important than
outcomes

22. Positive:

 Relies on the leader’s judgment and thinking
 Seldom resists
Negative:

 Just putting in their time, little else
 Requires an inordinate amount of supervision
Believes that:

 The organization doesn’t want their ideas
 The leader is going to do what he/she wants
anyway

23. Positive:

 Contributes above and beyond
 Seeks to add value and assist others
Negative:

 Highly idealistic; can suffer disillusionment
 Burnout
Believes that:

 Their contribution is important … even essential

24. Job skills: How exceptional followers add value

 Focus and commitment
 Competence in critical-path activities
 Initiative in increasing their value to the organization
Organizational skills: How exceptional followers nurture and

leverage a web of organizational relationships with:
 Team members
 Organizational networks
 Leaders
 Values: How exceptional followers exercise a courageous
conscience which guides their job activities and
organizational relationships

25. Ira Chaleff introduces the idea of the

“courageous” follower:
 The courage to assume responsibility
 The courage to serve
 The courage to challenge
 The courage to participate in organizational
change
 The courage to leave

26. Leaders ache for followers who will show initiative

Assume responsibility for yourself … and your

organization
Discover or create opportunities to fulfill their

potential and maximize their value to the
organization
Focus on the critical path


27. They assume new or additional responsibilities to unburden

the leader and serve the organization
They stay alert for areas in which their strengths

complement the leader’s and assert themselves in these
areas
 Courageous followers stand up for their leader and the tough
decisions a leader must make if the organization is to
achieve its purpose
 The responsibilities of gate keeping
 Focus the leader

28. Courageous followers give voice to the

discomfort they feel when the behaviors or
policies of the leader or group conflict with
their sense of what is right
They are willing to stand up, to stand out, to

risk rejection, to initiate conflict in order to
examine the actions of the leader and group
when appropriate

29. When behavior that jeopardizes the

common purpose remains unchanged,
courageous followers recognize the need
for organizational change
They champion the need for change and

stay with the leader and the group while
they mutually struggle with the difficulty
of real change

30. Focus on the goal, not the job

Do a great job on critical-path activities related to the goal

Contribute to the growth of other team members

Help keep the team, and the leaders, on track

Take the initiative to increase their value to the organization

Realize they add value not just by going above and beyond

their work, but in being who they are—their experiences,
ideals, and dreams

31. Support the leader’s decisions

 Challenge the leader
 Encourage the leader
 Defend the leader

33. Work to increase the variety and complexity of assignments they receive

Seek to enhance their skill sets

Share the credit

Never undermine their authority

Mentor followers who hope to assume larger leadership roles

Encourage and enhance dialogue

Heighten their sense of accountability for the decisions they make

Keep their confidences

Empower them

Acknowledge their value, both publicly and privately

Reward them in ways they find meaningful

Trust your followers


34. Rosabeth Moss Kanter cites four principles in which

followers might become more powerful:
 Give people important work to do on critical issues
 Give people discretion and autonomy over their tasks and
resources
 Give people visibility and provide recognition for their
efforts
 Build relationships for your people, connecting them with
powerful people and finding them sponsors and mentors

35. The reason that most change
efforts derail is because
they focus on processes
and not people.
Systems won’t change if
people won’t cooperate.
People are the gatekeepers
of change.

36. Leadership is really not how we perceive
ourselves as leaders –
But, how those who follow perceive us.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY
WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID,
BUT,
THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW
YOU MADE THEM FEEL.

38. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Rarely Occasionally Almost Always
Does your work help you fulfill some societal goal or personal dream that is important to you?

Are your personal work goals aligned with the organization's priority goals?

Are you highly committed to and energized by your work and organization, giving them your best

ideas and performance?
Does your enthusiasm also spread to and energize your co-workers?

Instead of waiting for or merely accepting what the leader tells you, do you personally identify

which organizational activities are most critical for achieving the organization's priority goals?
Do you actively develop a distinctive competence in those critical activities so that you become

more valuable to the leader and the organization?
When starting a new job or assignment, do you promptly build a record of successes in tasks that

are important to the leader?
Can the leader give you a difficult assignment without the benefit of much supervision, knowing

that you will meet your deadline with highest-quality work and that you will ”fill in the cracksquot; if
need be?
Do you take the initiative to seek out and successfully complete assignments that go above and

beyond your job?
When you are not the leader of a group project, do you still contribute at a high level, often doing

more than your share?

39. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Rarely Occasionally Almost Always
Do you independently think up and champion new ideas that will contribute significantly to the

leader's or the organization's goals?
Do you try to solve the tough problems (technical or organizational), rather than look to the leader to

do it for you?
Do you help out other co-workers, making them look good, even when you don't get any credit?

Do you help the leader or group see both the upside potential and downside risks of ideas or plans,

playing the devil's advocate if need be?
Do you understand the leader's needs, goals, and constraints, and work hard to help meet them?

Do you actively and honestly own up to your strengths and weaknesses rather than put off evaluation?

Do you make a habit of internally questioning the wisdom of the leader's decision rather than just

doing what you are told?
When the leader asks you to do something that runs contrary to your professional or personal

preferences, do you say quot;noquot; rather than ''yesquot;?
Do you act on your own ethical standards rather than the leader's or the group's standards?

Do you assert your views on important issues, even though it might mean conflict with your group or

reprisals from the leader?

40. Add the scores from the following
Add the scores from the following
questions (active engagement):
questions (independent thinking):
 2. _____
 1. _____
 3. _____
 5. _____
 4. _____
 11. _____
 6. _____
 12. _____
 7. _____
 14. _____
 8. _____
 16. _____
 9. _____
 17. _____
 10. _____
 18. _____
 13. _____
 19. _____
 15. _____
 20. _____
TOTAL: _____
TOTAL: _____

42. Ira Chaleff, in The Courageous Follower, notes that the
term follower “conjures up images of docility,
conformity, weakness, and failure to excel. Often, none
of this is the least bit true. The sooner we move beyond
these images and get comfortable with the idea of
powerful followers supporting powerful leaders, the
sooner we can fully develop and test models for
dynamic, self-responsible, synergistic relationships in
our organizations.”

43. Bennis: Organizing Genius

Kelly, Robert E. “In Praise of Followers,”

Buckingham: First, Break All the Rules

Harvard Business Review
Carlyle: On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the

Heroic in History
———. The Power of Followership: How to

Chaleff, Ira. The Courageous Follower: Standing

Create Leaders People Want to Follow and
Up To and For Our Leaders
Followers Who Lead Themselves
Greenleaf, Robert K. Servant Leadership: A

Kriegel, Robert. Sacred Cows Make the Best

Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power
Burgers
and Greatness
Robbins: Why Teams Don’t Work

Habecker, Eugene B. Leading With a Follower’s

Heart Sevier, Robert A. “How to Be An Exemplary

Follower,” Trusteeship