We live in a time where although people are starting to touch on followership more and more, they are still primarily focusing on leadership. There are more books on how to be a great leader then there are on how to support a great leader, or even worse, a bad leader. These are principles that need to be taught in more forums across the business spectrum. In the military we got taught a great deal about being a good leader and nothing really about being a follower. We did get taught about following orders to a certain degree, but they weren’t teaching seminars on it. We don’t really realize how to be a follower until we become a leader. But by then it’s all about our ideas and us trying to figure out ways to move our organization forward. We get taught what to do if we run into a troubled subordinate, but not what to do if we run into a horrible boss. This is damaging to so many people’s careers. There are people who have gotten kicked out of the military and fired from jobs because they were never taught how to follow somebody that they didn’t see eye to eye with. So instead of being able to cope with the situation with a level head they rebel. This is the generation that we live in. We get told to shut up and color, or just do the work, but not how to do it with the stress of dealing with an idiot. But it’s so important for us to learn how to follow that it should be taught as thoroughly as leadership is. This is actually something that should be taught in high school, or throughout Jr. High School, before people reach the work force. If you don’t learn how to be a follower until you show up for your first job then it’s going to be a rough road ahead, which is something many of us find out the hard way.
We do get taught some forms of followership from a very young age though. We get taught how to follow rules by our parents, we get taught about not showing up late, and how to turn in assignments on time in school. We learn how to respect authority all though life from our parents to teachers and people in uniform, and yet we still never fully grasp the concept of being a follower. As we grow up we also get taught to be our own person, to be a leader and not a follower, to set the example, that we can be whatever it is we want to be as long as we set our minds to it. But we can only be by learning how, and only learn how by following. We need to stop telling our kids to not be followers, that puts a stigma on submitting to authority figures and our future bosses. Instead we need to tell them to not follow people that are going nowhere, or people that are getting into trouble. We need to tell them that we must be mentored in order to accomplish our goals, and that without being mentored, or following we will never be what we want to be because people won’t waste their time on somebody that they can’t train.
Being a follower isn’t negative when it’s done in the proper setting, in this post I’m not talking about followers of criminal organizations, or followers of people whose life is on a self destructive road to oblivion. Instead I’m talking about being a follower in an organization that will lead you on the road to success or self improvement or community involvement. In this case being a follower is positive. It causes you to be recognized as a team player, a person who can receive instruction and get the job done, somebody who is not afraid of correction because they know the end result is the building up of the organization. When we are able to follow we are showing that we know we don’t know everything but we are willing to learn.
As a follower we must be ready, willing and able to always have the back of the person or people leading us. No matter what our feelings are towards these people. We cannot let personal feelings get in the way of doing the job that’s laid before us. We do not come on board with an opinion. If we have a negative opinion about our leaders to the point that we can’t do a good job or refuse to do the job then we need to move out of the way so somebody else can do the job. We have to know that we are serving something bigger then ourselves and the overall accomplishment of whatever task we were given is what’s important. Too many times we as followers try to put ourselves above the person or people leading us. But the problem is we’re not the leader so we are only working against ourselves when we do this.
When we are being led, we need to know that if we come up with an idea that the idea should be in line with the vision of the organization and be prepared to either have in depth details on our idea or do the idea to have something that worked so we can present it. We also cannot be hurt if our ideas are rejected, because the completion of the mission or the furtherance of the vision is what’s important not our ideas.
Followers must be able to build a rapport with the leader or leaders. It is the job of the person following to make sure that the people or person in charge is comfortable with you, not the other way around. When we are in a subordinate role it is our responsibility to prove our trustworthiness. If you can’t trust your leadership then you’re in the wrong organization. If your leadership can’t trust you then it’s your problem to solve. We must be a person that when the people that we follow think of us they think of somebody that is willing to get the job done at all costs. Not somebody that will try to get away with murder.
As followers we must be able to work well with others. It doesn’t matter what somebody has done to us, or who we don’t like, for the sake of the corporate body that we’re apart of we must get along. When we show up we need to put aside all differences of opinion and work to achieve one common goal. If you are unwilling to do this then the people you work for might be unwilling to trust you or unwilling to keep you employed. We must remember our feelings are not what’s important.
We must learn to follow with a form of dignity and selflessness that will show others that we are here to do what’s required of us, not here to cause a problem for those around us or above us.
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