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Chapter 13. Setting the Stage for Followership

Your Leadership Challenge

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

13-1

Explain the leader’s highest duty to followers.

13-2

Describe the importance of managing both up and down the hierarchy.

13-3

Summarize what your organizational leader will want from you.

13-4

Identify your followership style and take steps to become a more effective follower.

13-5

Implement appropriate and specific strategies for effective followership at school or work.

13-6

Apply the principles of harnessing power and courage for effective followership.

13-7

Explain the leader’s role in developing effective followers, including how to use feedback and leadership coaching to help followers grow and achieve their potential.

Introduction

Disappointed hardly begins to describe what Billy Grogan felt when the decision was announced. He had been working for the Marietta, Georgia, police department for 25 years and had been inspired by retiring Chief of Police Bobby Moody to aim for the top job someday. Now that day was here. Grogan was among the finalists and believed he was the best person for the job. So, when he learned that the selection committee had chosen Dan Flynn to be Marietta’s next chief of police, Grogan was bitter and frustrated. Yet, he had always felt that serving the community as a police officer was a calling, not just a job, and he knew his support of the new leader would be critical to Flynn’s effectiveness—and in turn, the effectiveness of the entire police department. As deputy chief, Grogan introduced Chief Flynn at the first full supervisory staff meeting a few days after he started the job, saying, “I intend to support Chief Flynn to the best of my ability because I know when he succeeds, our department succeeds. I ask that each of you do the same.”

Grogan, who was later hired as the first chief of police for the newly created city of Dunwoody, Georgia, said of that time in Marietta: “For the next year and a half, I walked the talk. I supported Chief Flynn, followed him, and learned a lot about good leadership from him in the process.”

Billy Grogan was doing what good followers do. He worked to build a positive relationship with the boss that enabled him to do his best job as a follower and help the leader meet his goals for the organization. In addition to his current job as police chief of Dunwoody, Georgia, Grogan runs an organization and Web site called Top Cop Leadership, which aims to inspire and support law enforcement leaders. In one of his blog posts, Grogan writes, “Have you ever thought about how important a follower is to a leader? If everyone in the organization acted only as a leader, the progress of the organization would come to a screeching halt.”

In this chapter, we examine the important role of followership, including the nature of the follower’s role, what leaders want from followers, and the different styles of followership that individuals express. The chapter explores how effective followers behave, discusses strategies for managing up, and looks at the sources of power and courage for managing up. Finally, we look at what followers want from leaders and examine the leader’s role in developing and supporting followers.

13-1. The Leader’s Higher Duty to Followers

Many leaders in business, government, and nonprofit organizations want to contribute to a better society and a better world. Researchers at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company argue that the place where leaders can contribute broader social value, paradoxically, lies inside the organization in the form of job satisfaction for followers. Today’s best leaders recognize that employees who are happy and feel a sense of well-being are better for both the organization and the community than those who are stressed out and filled with anxiety. Countless studies show a link between employee satisfaction, customer loyalty, and organizational profitability, and employee satisfaction has been shown to contribute directly to shareholder value. Relationships with superiors are the top factor influencing job satisfaction, which in turn is the second most important factor determining an employee’s overall well-being (mental health being the top factor). In a survey, 74 percent of people who described relationships between leaders and employees as very good in their workplace reported being very satisfied with their jobs, compared to only 15 percent of those who described leader–employee relationships as quite bad or very bad.

The McKinsey researchers suggest that the most important question a leader should ask is: “How do I make my [followers’] lives easier—physically, cognitively, and emotionally?” Many leaders focus on what followers can do for them, but a more critical issue is what leaders can do for followers. Leaders should remember that, as Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government professor Barbara Kellerman has said, “Followers are more important to leaders than leaders are to followers.” Particularly today, followers have access to the information and connections that enable them to influence how effectively a leader accomplishes goals. Followers can thoughtlessly go along with the system, doing just what they need to do to keep their jobs; they can sabotage a leader’s best-laid plans and strategies; or followers can throw their energy, talent, and support into accomplishing great things. The success of any activity, project, or organization depends to a great extent on the actions and behaviors of followers, so understanding and appreciating the crucial role of followership is essential to being a good leader. Recall from Chapter 8 that a primary reason people leave organizations is a lack of appreciation. People don’t quit jobs; they quit bad bosses. Indeed, 65 percent of employees in one survey said they would choose a new boss over a pay raise. Leaders should remember that they have a dramatic impact on followers’ well-being—and hence the organization and the broader community—through their everyday behavior and strive to consistently cultivate positive relationships with followers.

Remember This

For leaders who want to create a better society and better world, the best place to start may be inside the organization, providing job satisfaction for followers.

Relationships with superiors are the top factor influencing job satisfaction, which in turn is the second most important factor determining an employee’s overall well-being. Sadly, in one survey, 65 percent of employees said they would choose a new boss over a pay raise.

Studies show that employee satisfaction contributes to customer loyalty, organizational profitability, and shareholder value.

Understanding the crucial role of followership and helping followers feel valued and appreciated for their contributions to the organization is essential to being a good leader.

13-2. The Art of Followership

Everyone—leaders included—is a follower at some times or in some situations. Considering leadership the sole basis for the success of the organization is a flawed assumption, and it limits the opportunity for people throughout the organization to accept responsibility and make active, valuable contributions. For any group or organization to succeed, there must be people who willingly and effectively follow just as there must be those who willingly and effectively lead. A follower can be defined as an individual who voluntarily accepts a leader’s goals and influence and actively participates in pursuing goals. The word voluntary is key because to freely accept the influence of someone means trusting that person. Whether in a medical office, an automobile factory, a religious organization, or an Internet team, people voluntarily follow someone only if they trust that the leader is acting for the good of those they are leading.

Consultant Adam Kahane’s experience facilitating a health policy project with a team of First Nations leaders from the province of Manitoba, Canada, illustrates the importance of trusting the leader. As Kahane was making his presentation, George Muswaggon, a leader of Cross Lake First Nation, spoke up and said, “I don’t trust you.” Kahane realized that he had been so confident in his expertise that he failed to build the trust that is a necessary foundation for a leader–follower relationship. He shifted his approach, becoming less directive and more collaborative. He focused on supporting his First Nations facilitator colleagues and began deferring to them on more matters. Over time, as trust grew, the team made significant progress. Kahane says the First Nations team “became more willing to follow me, but only on certain matters and in certain domains; in other matters and domains, they followed other people, or no one.”

Kahane’s observation is a reminder that leadership is not a given, based on a title or a formal position of authority. Leadership and followership are fundamental roles that individuals shift into and out of under various conditions. Despite the focus on leadership, most of us are more often followers than leaders. Therefore, it is important for people to learn to manage both up and down the hierarchy, as illustrated in Exhibit 13.1.

Exhibit 13.1 Good Leaders Manage Both Up and Down the Hierarchy

Details

Source: Based on Mark Hurwitz and Samantha Hurwitz, “The Romance of the Follower: Part 2,” Industrial and Commercial Training 41, no. 4 (2009), pp. 199–206.

13-2a. Learn to Manage Up as Well as Down

Managing up is a skill that helps people consciously and deliberately develop a highly effective relationship with their direct superior to obtain the best possible outcome for themselves, their boss, their colleagues, and the organization. Being a leader is more about influence than about position and formal authority, so it is crucial that leaders learn to appreciate and adapt to working effectively with people who may have different perspectives, personalities, and work styles, and that includes their bosses. Leaders who get trapped in their own viewpoints, needs, and wants cannot exert the same influence as those who consider the perspectives, needs, and goals of their superiors as well as their direct reports.

People who effectively manage both up and down the hierarchy are more successful. Leaders at higher organizational levels depend on their direct reports for information, support, and assistance in accomplishing the organization’s goals, so your boss needs you to manage up. In addition, your followers depend on you to help them get the information, resources, support, and recognition they need and deserve from higher levels. People like working for leaders who have influence with their superiors because it enhances their own status in the organization and helps them get what they need to do their jobs well. You can’t be a really good leader unless you manage the boss as skillfully as you manage employees.

13-2b. Managing Up Presents Unique Challenges

Put It Into Practice 13.1

Reflect on and write down one way in which your reactions toward a leader at work or a professor at school might be similar to your reaction pattern from your upbringing.

Many new leaders are uncomfortable with the idea of managing their boss. Their overriding concern may be keeping the boss happy, so they hesitate to pass along any information that might not be welcome, and they avoid questioning any of their superior’s assumptions, ideas, or decisions. A person’s pattern of thoughts and actions toward authority figures may be partly conditioned by their childhood relationships with parents or other caregivers. Hence, they might find themselves being highly critical or deferential or oppositional toward a leader because of old habit patterns. In the long run, these self-protective habits may hurt the employee, the boss, and the organization. Conscious and objective strategies for dealing with a boss have a better chance of being helpful to everyone.

Another reason we may have difficulty managing upward is that we’re not “in control” in this relationship as we are in our relationships with direct reports. It is natural that we try to protect ourselves in a relationship where we feel we have little control and little power. Yet in reality we have more power than we know. Bosses need our support—our talent, information, ideas, and honesty—in order to do their jobs well, just as we need their support to do our best work. Everyone benefits when leaders learn to effectively manage relationships with superiors as well as direct reports. Consider the following examples.

Irvin D. Yalom, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, tells a story of a woman who ranted at length in a group therapy session about her boss, who never listened and refused to pay her any respect. As her work with Yalom continued, her complaints about her terrible boss persisted through three different jobs with three different supervisors. It is likely that not only she but also her supervisors, colleagues, and the companies where she worked suffered due to her unproductive relationships with her superiors.

Contrast this woman’s attitude and approach to that of Marcia Raimondo, who once worked for a micromanaging boss who was always nitpicking and correcting her work. Raimondo decided to stop resenting her micromanaging and instead give the boss what she wanted. She began working late so she could send her boss cheerful e-mails twice a day with complete updates of all her projects. After three months of this practice, Raimondo’s boss began giving her more autonomy because she now trusted that the follower was doing things the way she wanted them. As her boss increasingly trusted Raimondo, her micromanaging continued to abate, their relationship continued to improve, and both were happier and more productive.

Marcia Raimondo improved her relationship with her boss by understanding that being supportive and helpful was more productive than being resentful. To effectively manage up requires understanding what leaders want and need.

Remember This

A follower can be defined as an individual who voluntarily accepts a leader’s goals and influence and actively participates in pursuing goals. People voluntarily follow someone only if they trust that the leader is acting for the good of those they are leading.

Leadership and followership are interdependent, and people are followers more often than leaders.

People who effectively manage both up and down the hierarchy are more successful, but managing up can be difficult for new leaders.

Managing up is a skill that helps people consciously and deliberately develop a highly effective relationship with their direct superior to obtain the best possible outcome for themselves, their boss, their colleagues, and the organization.

To manage up with a micromanaging boss, Marcia Raimondo began sending the boss cheerful e-mails twice a day with complete updates of all her projects. After three months, the boss’s micromanaging tendencies had lessened considerably because the boss trusted that Raimondo was doing things the way the boss wanted them.

13-3. What Your Leader Wants from You

Leaders and organizational situations vary, but there are some qualities and behaviors that every good leader wants from followers. The following are ones that have been shown to contribute to productive and rewarding leader–follower relationships.

A Make-It-Happen Attitude. Leaders don’t want excuses. They want results. A leader’s job becomes smoother when followers are positive and self-motivated, get things done, accept responsibility, and excel at required tasks. Leaders value those people who propose ideas, show initiative, and take responsibility when they see something that needs to be done or a problem that needs to be solved. For example, when the night janitor at FAVI, a French copper-alloy foundry, was cleaning one night, the phone rang and she answered it to discover that an important visitor to the company had been delayed and was now waiting at the airport without the promised ride to his hotel. (FAVI’s CEO had left the airport when the visitor didn’t arrive as expected.) The janitor took the keys to one of the company cars, drove 90 minutes to pick up the visitor and deliver him to his hotel, then went back to finish the cleaning she had interrupted three hours earlier. Although this was nowhere close to being within her official job duties, the employee knew that leaders in the company valued and rewarded people who had the gumption to take responsibility for getting things done.

A Willingness to Collaborate. Leaders are responsible for much more in the organization than any individual follower’s concerns, feelings, and performance. Each follower is a part of the leader’s larger system and should realize that their actions affect the whole. Larry Bossidy, former chairman and CEO of AlliedSignal and of Honeywell, tells about a conflict between the heads of manufacturing and marketing at one organization. The two managers didn’t communicate with one another, so inventories were always out of whack. The CEO finally had to fire them both because their refusal to cooperate was hurting the organization. They got their jobs back when they jointly called and said they got the point and would change their behavior.

The Motivation to Stay Up-to-Date. Bosses want followers to know what is happening in the organization’s industry or field of endeavor. In addition, they want people to understand their customers, their competition, and how changes in technology or world events might affect the organization. Most people try to learn all they can in order to get a job, but they sometimes grow complacent and fail to stay current with what’s going on outside the narrow confines of their day-to-day work.

The Passion to Drive Your Own Growth. Similarly, leaders want followers who seek to enhance their own growth and development rather than depending solely on the leader to do it. Anything that exposes an individual to new people and ideas can enhance personal and professional development. One example is when followers actively network with others inside and outside the organization. Another is when followers take on difficult assignments, which demonstrates a willingness to face challenges, stretch their limits, and learn.

Remember This

There are some qualities and behaviors that every good leader wants from followers.

Leaders want followers with a make-it-happen attitude. They value followers who are positive and self-motivated, get things done, accept responsibility, and excel at required tasks.

Leaders also want followers to demonstrate a willingness to collaborate, stay up to date in their industry or field of endeavor, and seek to enhance their own growth and development rather than depending solely on the leader to do it.

13-4. Styles of Followership

Despite the importance of followership and the crucial role that followers play in the success of any endeavor, research on the topic is limited. One theory of followership was proposed by Robert E. Kelley, who conducted extensive interviews with leaders and followers and came up with five styles of followership, as shown in Exhibit 13.2.

Exhibit 13.2 Followership Styles

Details

Source: Based on information in Robert E. Kelley, The Power of Followership (New York: Doubleday, 1992).

These followership styles are categorized according to two dimensions, as illustrated in the exhibit. The first dimension is the quality of independent, critical thinking versus dependent, uncritical thinking. Critical thinking means approaching subjects, situations, and problems with thoughtful questions and in an unbiased way, gathering and assessing ideas and information objectively, and mentally exploring the underlying implications of various alternatives. This recalls our discussion of mindfulness in Chapter 5; independent critical thinkers are mindful of the effects of their and other people’s behavior on achieving organizational goals. They are aware of the significance of their own actions and the actions of others. They can weigh the impact of decisions on the vision set forth by a leader and offer constructive criticism, creativity, and innovation. Conversely, dependent, uncritical thinkers do not consider possibilities beyond what they are told, do not contribute to the cultivation of the organization, and accept the leader’s ideas without assessing or evaluating them.

According to Kelley, the second dimension of followership style is active versus passive behavior. An active individual participates fully in the organization, engages in behavior that is beyond the limits of the job, demonstrates a sense of ownership, and initiates problem solving and decision making. A passive individual is characterized by a need for constant supervision and prodding by superiors. Passivity is often regarded as laziness; a passive person does nothing that is not required and avoids added responsibility.

13-4. Styles of Followership

Despite the importance of followership and the crucial role that followers play in the success of any endeavor, research on the topic is limited. One theory of followership was proposed by Robert E. Kelley, who conducted extensive interviews with leaders and followers and came up with five styles of followership, as shown in Exhibit 13.2.

Exhibit 13.2 Followership Styles

Details

Source: Based on information in Robert E. Kelley, The Power of Followership (New York: Doubleday, 1992).

These followership styles are categorized according to two dimensions, as illustrated in the exhibit. The first dimension is the quality of independent, critical thinking versus dependent, uncritical thinking. Critical thinking means approaching subjects, situations, and problems with thoughtful questions and in an unbiased way, gathering and assessing ideas and information objectively, and mentally exploring the underlying implications of various alternatives. This recalls our discussion of mindfulness in Chapter 5; independent critical thinkers are mindful of the effects of their and other people’s behavior on achieving organizational goals. They are aware of the significance of their own actions and the actions of others. They can weigh the impact of decisions on the vision set forth by a leader and offer constructive criticism, creativity, and innovation. Conversely, dependent, uncritical thinkers do not consider possibilities beyond what they are told, do not contribute to the cultivation of the organization, and accept the leader’s ideas without assessing or evaluating them.

According to Kelley, the second dimension of followership style is active versus passive behavior. An active individual participates fully in the organization, engages in behavior that is beyond the limits of the job, demonstrates a sense of ownership, and initiates problem solving and decision making. A passive individual is characterized by a need for constant supervision and prodding by superiors. Passivity is often regarded as laziness; a passive person does nothing that is not required and avoids added responsibility.

13-4b. Leader Style Influences Follower Style

Leaders have a lot to do with whether employees are alienated followers, conformists, pragmatic survivors, passive followers, or effective followers. For example, one way leaders help followers be more effective is by pushing responsibility to lower levels, which makes people responsible for their own decisions and for thinking critically and independently about their work. The department store chain Nordstrom gives each salesclerk the responsibility for serving and satisfying the customer, including the authority to make refunds without supervisor approval.

Alienated followers may have been effective followers who experienced setbacks and obstacles within the organization and perhaps promises broken by their leaders. The passive followership style can often result from leaders who are overcontrolling of others and who punish mistakes. Followers learn that to show initiative, accept responsibility, or think creatively is not rewarded and may even be punished by the leader, so they grow increasingly passive. Conformists often result from rigid rules and authoritarian environments in which leaders consider recommendations from direct reports as a challenge or threat. In general, highly authoritative or dominance-based leadership encourages passive and conformist—even submissive—followers.

This can be particularly harmful for the organization if leaders are engaging in unethical practices. Conformist followers may engage in wrongdoing simply because they carry out orders without questioning whether the actions are right or wrong, as evidenced by the mortgage example in the previous section. Recall our discussion from Chapter 6 of crimes of obedience, which are actions performed in response to orders or pressure from superiors that are generally considered unethical or illegal by the larger community. As another example, to meet goals for increased credit card sign-ups among small business owners, some salespeople at American Express allegedly misrepresented fees and rewards, checked credit reports without consent of the business owner, and even issued cards that were not requested, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.

Remember This

One model proposes five follower styles that are categorized according to two dimensions—critical thinking versus uncritical thinking and active versus passive behavior. The five follower styles are alienated, conformist, pragmatic survivor, passive, and effective.

Critical thinking means thinking independently and being mindful of the effects of one’s own and other people’s behavior on achieving the organization’s vision. In contrast, uncritical thinking means failing to consider possibilities beyond what one is told and accepting the leader’s ideas without thinking.

The alienated follower is an independent, critical thinker but is passive in the organization. The conformist follower participates actively in the organization but does not use critical thinking skills in their task behavior. The passive follower exhibits neither critical, independent thinking nor active participation.

A pragmatic survivor is a follower who has qualities of all four extremes (alienated, effective, passive, conformist), depending on which style fits with the prevalent situation.

An effective follower is a critical, independent thinker who actively participates in the organization. Effective followers have the courage to initiate change and put themselves at risk or in conflict with others, even their leaders, to serve the best interests of the organization.

A group of followers at Facebook have functioned as effective followers by actively encouraging the social media giant to make changes to decrease sensationalism and polarization.

Leader behaviors have a lot to do with whether employees are alienated followers, conformists, pragmatic survivors, passive followers, or effective followers.

Leader style influences follower style. Highly authoritative or dominance-based leadership encourages passive and conformist—even submissive—followers.

13-5. Strategies for Managing Up

There is growing recognition that how followers manage their leaders is just as important as how their leaders manage them. Two aspects of managing up are understanding the leader and using specific tactics to improve the leader–follower relationship.

13-5a. Understand the Leader

We all spend time and energy trying to understand people who are important to us, so it only makes sense that you do the same with your boss if you want to have a productive working relationship. It is up to you to take the initiative to learn about your leader’s goals, needs, strengths and weaknesses, and organizational constraints.

In addition, effective followers study their leader’s preferred work style. No two individuals work alike or behave alike under the same circumstances. Effective followers learn their leader’s preferences and adapt to them. Interviews with senior executives confirm that this strategy is both effective and appropriate for influencing the leader–follower relationship. You can pay close attention to the leader’s behavior in the following areas to know how to be a more effective follower:

Does the leader like to know all the details of your plans, projects, and problems, or do they just want the big picture?

Is the leader controlling or empowering? Does your leader want to closely supervise and be in control of people’s behavior or delegate freely and look for opportunities to help individuals grow and develop to their highest potential?

Does the leader like to carefully analyze information and alternatives before making a decision, or are they more inclined to make quick decisions and take action?

Is the leader a reader or a listener? Do they like to have materials presented in written form so they have time to study and analyze them first, or do they prefer an oral presentation where they can ask questions on the spot?

Is the leader a numbers person or a word person? Do they want statist

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