“Followership is of the utmost importance, but which has been far too little considered.” These words were written by an early management scholar, Mary Parker Follett, in 1929. Nearly 100 years later, this critical aspect of leadership remains “far too little considered.”
It seems self-evident that if there are leaders, there are followers. It is almost cliché to state that without followership, there is no leadership. No matter how skillful, well-trained, or experienced a leader may be, without competent and willing followership, organizational objectives will simply not be achieved. In Followership: The Other Side of Leadership, McCallum (2013) is blunt in his assessment: “Where followership is a failure, not much gets done” (p. 2).
While “follower” is a role assigned by circumstance, my study assumed that practicing followership can be an intentional choice. I examined followers’ perception and construction of the follower role in organizational settings, as well as how they describe their decisions to practice or enact followership.
My findings included how followers perceive followership, their attitudes toward it, and the value they ascribe to it as well as examples of two theories of followership, role orientation theory and proactive followership theory, at work in the participants’ stories. A summary of findings include:
- Followers believe they are important contributors, that following can be rewarding, and that followership skills are beneficial to have and to develop.
- Participants defined and constructed “good followership” in primarily active ways, including contextual assessment, decision-making, and active disagreement, even when there is a risk of consequences.
- Despite the generally active, positive constructions of followership described by participants in this study, negative perceptions of followers and followership persist.
- Followers with some leadership experience value, define, and construct followership differently than followers with no leadership experience. This is especially pronounced when considering the values and perceptions around identity, influence, and frustration.
Without followership, there can be no leadership or leadership outcomes (Uhl-Bien et al, 2014). Understanding the differences in the ways that followers and leaders construct followership is critical to improving leadership and organizational effectiveness. Through this research, I sought to begin a new discussion about how followers use their skills and behaviors to create outcomes for their organizations and opportunities for themselves.
Leaders need to learn about followership and find ways to help their followers value their followership skills and want to build and use them. Scholars need to study followership more, and practical ways to apply that knowledge should be created and practiced. There should be training programs, courses, and books about followership. It should be recognized and rewarded in organizations.
There can be no leadership or organizational outcomes without followers, and we are all followers at times. The myopic focus on leadership in our organizations and the broader culture is limiting our curiosity about followership to our detriment.