A Fresh Look at Followership, Leadership and Collaboration
The authors ask, can you imagine a choreographer only training one dancer to lead while his or her partner sits in the lobby staring at the wall? Clearly half the partnership is missing, yet they claim we do this all the time in organisations, failing to realise that successful collaboration requires the reciprocal strengths of great leadership and followership.
Followership skills are increasingly important in the workplace for two key reasons. Firstly, because teamworking is now the norm - excellence moving from individual performance to team performance ('flow to co-flow'). Secondly, because of the need for continuous relationship building and interpersonal agility required by the constant flux of those with whom people have to engage.
The 5 guiding principles for Generative Partnership
The authors idea of a generative partnership is distinguished by five guiding principles that they say are needed for the partnership to be truly engaged, productive and creative:
- Partnerships need both leadership and followership - they are equal, dynamic and different
- Leadership is setting the frame - followership is creating within it
- Lean in to build connection - find the balance between being too hands-off and micro-management as a leader or too 'hands off me' and dependent as a follower
- Value the positive and build on it - at the heart of all successful collaboration is trust, so keep the ratio of positive to negative critiques to 4:1
- Have deeply shared goals - this means alignment at all levels, including personal outcomes. They must all be made transparent and agreed.
Practical ideas for successful followership
Some practical things you can bear in mind or start doing in a followership role:
- The Platinum Rule - instead of treating someone as you want to be treated, instead treat them as they want to be treated
- Leverage your own strengths to support weak spots of your leader
- Take the initiative - the more you put in, the more you will get out and the faster you will establish a synergistic, dynamic partnership with your leader
- Recognise how much influence you have in a followership role and value how much you can add to the decision making process
- Remember that being 'easy to manage' (collaborative followership) is different to managing yourself (independent and self-referenced)
"Every true leader is a true follower. Every true follower is a true leader. You are followed because of the dreams you pursue; you pursue others because of the dreams they follow"Israelmore Ayivor