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Changing the Focus from Leadership to Followership
Fall 2005
Volume III, Issue 5
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Leaders and Followers
Not everything that counts can be counted. And not everything counted counts.
- Albert Einstein
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American business is obsessed with leadership.
As a business culture, we write about it, we train for it, and we talk about it constantly.
Take a walk down the business publication aisle in any major bookstore, and you'll see
what I mean - book after book on leadership. Most large and many small organizations spend
significant resources providing leadership training for their employees. And it seems like
everyone has an opinion on the topic.
Leadership is critical to business success. Surely, we can all agree on that. But equally
critical to business success is a notion that receives comparatively little attention.
Businesses spend millions of dollars every year on leadership, but we neglect to spend
anything significant on the other half of the leadership equation - Followership. Not only
do we not spend money on it, but according to Webster's, there isn't even a word for it.
We teach each other how to step forward to lead the way. But we don't teach each other
how to follow effectively when others step forward. We don't often teach how to be good
teammates, or how to be supportive when others are out front. We rarely take the time to
recognize that knowing how to follow is itself a skill. And it is not in our cultural DNA
to think about how effective we can be if we only knew how to coordinate our efforts under
the leadership of others.
This cultural focus on leadership is directly related to many aspects of what American
historians call the “American Myth.” Read through any textbook on American
history, and you'll see example after example of the “Rugged Individualism” that
we mythologize. As a nation, we have always praised the individual's ability to pull him
or herself up by the bootstraps, make decisions, execute plans, and move forward. We rarely
mythologize the sidekick.
But consider this: How many of us lead all the time? Very few, as far as I can tell.
While I spend some of my professional life in various leadership positions, I spend just
as much time in situations where the ability to function within a team and to be supportive
of others' ideas is required for the group's success.
Last year, I had the pleasure of listening to former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner speak on the
topic of (what else?) leadership. He described the fascinating turnaround of IBM during
the 1990s. When he took over the roles of Chairman and CEO in 1993, IBM was literally and
figuratively the elephant that could not dance. The statistics are staggering. At the time
IBM was using 50 different manufacturing platforms, 260 different ledger and financial
accounting systems, 70 different ad agencies, and 31 different communication networks.
In 1992 they spent $4 billion on IT systems but they could not get the correct information.
To paraphrase Mr. Gerstner, their message to the marketplace was muddled, they had no strategic
direction, and they wasted an enormous amount of resources.
As Mr. Gerstner described the steps he took as a leader to engineer a remarkable turnaround
(shareholder value increased more than ten-fold during his tenure), everyone in the room
was furiously taking notes. But towards the end of his speech, Mr. Gerstner made a few
comments about the importance of the performance of others in his organization. He commented
that leaders can set the direction, but that the people in the organization execute the
turnaround. Common sense, for sure, but true to form we laud the leader. We study the leader.
We typically don't spend any real time thinking about the role of the follower. IBM is
an organization of over 300,000 people with 2004 revenues near $100 billion. While the
study of Mr. Gerstner's leadership skills is valuable and fascinating, it is far from the
whole story.
In the last issue of The Beacon entitled Sharing
the Sandbox, I discussed what it takes
to be a successful teammate. I offered The Latimer Group's Five Rules for Effective Team
Communication. In this issue, I would like to share The Latimer Group's thinking on the
Five Rules for Being a Good Follower.
Rule #1: Following is OK
In our fast-paced, achievement-oriented culture, we often equate following with weakness
or a lack of imagination. Just look at some popular ad campaigns from two “leading” car
companies: “Lead, Never Follow” and “Drivers Wanted.” The focus
on leadership is everywhere. Following on the other hand is characterized as somehow less
important. This mode of thinking is detrimental for organizations. Not everyone can lead.
Not everyone should lead. What's more, the leader is often not even the most critical piece
of the team. To be truly effective in a non-leadership position, we must first realize
that it is OK to be led, and that we can still be fabulously effective in a supporting
role.
Rule #2: Embrace the Opportunity
“Check your ego at the door” is cliché . But it also is a requirement
for team success. Being a supportive follower can provide great opportunities to create,
produce and achieve - and be recognized. As with Rule #1, this rule requires a psychological
comfort level to allow someone else to be literally and figuratively out front. After all,
where would Bill Gates be without Steve Ballmer? If Ballmer needed to be in the spotlight,
he would not have lasted as long as he did as Gates' partner at Microsoft. And without
the two of them working together, Microsoft may very well be a different company than it
is today.
Rule #3: Be Part of the Process
Good followers are
not simply passengers in the process. They contribute to it. Many leaders seek the input
of others in their organization, and the truly valuable members of their team seek to contribute
whenever possible. Strong followers don't wait around looking to be told what to do every
step of the way. They support the direction the team is taking, even if they disagree with
it. Further, they recognize that it is OK to disagree with decisions that are made. But
it is important to be in the process, disagree appropriately, and move forward if you are
outvoted or overruled.
Rule #4: Disagree Internally, Support Externally
Good followers realize they will not always receive credit and acclaim. Yet they still
take pride in the outcome of the project and work towards success of the group, even when
their ideas are not adopted or followed. If you contribute ideas and creative or strategic
thinking that are not adopted, the good teammate and follower still works towards the goal
and publicly supports the decisions and actions of the leader. The good follower does not
get frustrated when the leader gets the spotlight. (And conversely, the good leader shares
the spotlight - but that is another topic altogether!)
Rule #5: Don't “Run for Office”
Good followers do not lobby for “promotions” to leadership positions. Much
of what I have written to date implies that there is in fact good leadership for the follower
to follow. But good leadership is not a guarantee. If you spend your time lobbying for
your own promotion to the leadership position, you cheapen yourself and your team. Let
success and promotion find you. If you are good at what you do, the appropriate level of
success will come your way.
Every successful team has both leaders and followers, and both are critical to potential
success. While leadership skills are critical to your professional progress, knowing how
to follow, and be a good teammate are equally important. Most of us are likely to spend
far more time in supporting roles. It makes sense to know how to step up and step back,
and function effectively in either role.
The moral of this story is that being a follower is not a bad thing, and businesses large
and small would benefit from adding a focus on teamwork and followership to their professional
development programs. Being a follower can be rewarding, and can require that you be creative,
dynamic and imaginative. Our leaders get the credit for success, and take the hit for failure.
But every good leader knows that they are only as good as the people behind them. And every
organization will be more productive, efficient and successful if they train their people
to lead - and follow.
Dean M. Brenner
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© 2005 The Latimer Group. All Rights Reserved.
Dean M. Brenner -
The Latimer Group: 203.265.4344.
Feedback or comments: dmbrenner@thelatimergroup.com.
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