LEADER-FOLLOWER RELATIONSHIPS

Overview of Leader-Follower Relationships.

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Overview of Leader-Follower Relationships.

The leadership-follower relationship phenomenon exists profoundly within nearly every

social setup. It occurs either by design or naturally by default. History is flooded by stories of

individuals who assumed leadership roles within societies or military setups that overcame

obstacles and lead their followers to victory or prosperity. Van Vugt (2006), instances of

leadership spring up within societies or groups that have, by unanimous decision or structure,

decided to be leaderless. Van Vugt further explains that leadership is a trait that exists in

every individual with the only separating factor being the propensity to lead. Therefore, with

the right condition, any individual can rise to a leadership position. With such a rise, a

follower position is created by default. Therefore, understanding the leader-follower

relationship is critical to the success of each leadership.

Leader-follower engagement is critical in all social aspects. In societies, leadership

becomes a necessity to ensure individual and societal prosperity or overall well-being.

Followers rely on leaders to provide direction and safeguard the aspects of their lives.

Transformative generate positive changes in the overall behaviors of their followers (Valcea,

2011). They positively transform the performance of their follower, mostly through

inspiration and intellectual enticement. Therefore leader-follower dyad is critical in inducing

personal change and development through four facets of constructive development namely:

cognitive style, interpersonal orientation, conscious preoccupation, and mode of ethical

judgment (Valcea, 2011).

The leader-follower relationship arises from one’s understanding of themselves and

the surrounding environment. This understanding grows through stages defined as the

constructive development process dictated by the four facets. Therefore, one’s ability to be a

leader or follower is dictated by their understanding of their abilities and convictions.

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Additionally, the kind of leadership portrayed by the leader is determined by the cognitive

development process.

Followers in the leadership process.

Follower, though highly disregarded, in the leader-follower relationship discussions,

plays a significant role. The follower positions in most cases are created automatically the

leadership positions are assumed. Followers are expected to depend wholesomely on the

directions provided by their respective leaders. However, a follower also has the potential to

assume a leadership role. In leadership structures, I leader can also be a follower of a leader

occupying a higher rank in a tree-line leadership structure. Moreover, followers'

characteristics significantly influence the transformational leadership and follower

relationship.

A follower’s traits reflect positively or negatively on the overall success or failure of a

leader-follower relationship. Therefore, one critical role of a leader is to have a contextual

understanding of the traits and attributes of the followers. If well manages these attributes

have the potential to generate success in the leadership process. For example, positive work

engagements of followers translate to positive transformational leadership-followership

relationships. A good followership support system also furthers the leader’s success rate. The

follower has the responsibility to diligently play their role in the group to ensure the

achievement of the group’s success.

A follower’s motivation is the key indicator of a successful leader-employees

relationship. The follower is likely to exceed pre-set expectations in exemplary performance

if they are highly motivated (Delbecq et al, 2013). Organizations in the current world work

environment setup work to boost employee motivation both intrinsically and extrinsically.
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Follower’s motivation is directly linked to the overall performance of organizations and

increased profit margins.

Dysfunctional leader-follower aspects of an organization.

Organizations have two systems namely technical and people. Within people there

exist groups. Leader-follower is a special kind of group found within an organization. This

relationship is a critical component in the overall performance outcome of the organization.

The leadership and followership roles are interconnected and interdependent. The symbiotic

nature of the relationship earned it the name “managerial couple”. A function superior-

subordinate relationship improves the quality of work, unifies work groups, and improves the

employees' morale(Finegan, 2021). However, a dysfunctional leader-follower relationship

inversely affects the organization.

In recent years, depression and drug addiction are on the rise with work-related stress

quoted as the main source. Specifically, researchers associate the correlation between leader-

follower dysfunction in the workplace with addiction and depression. Both the leader and the

follower play a role in this relationship. However, leaders hold a greater responsibility of

ensuring the relationship works in addition to holding other responsibilities within the

organization. They need to identify the overall state of their relationship with the follower

and make the decision to either foster the relationship or terminate it. The follower holds the

responsibility to provide the information and feedback necessary for the leader to make such

decisions. They are also responsible to make necessary changes to accommodate such

decisions and respecting the authority held by the leader.

On the other hand, the authority wielded by the leader can have damaging

repercussions on the leader and the relationship. Many leaders lack an understanding of the

dark side of leadership. They are unable to understand how their weaknesses and traits can

negatively affect the organization. The psychological pressures such as addiction to power,
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fear of envy, and loneliness of command among others all contribute to dysfunctional

behavior leading to a dysfunctional leader-follower relationship. Therefore, the leader-

follower relationship is critical and needs to be fostered and natured by eliminating

dysfunctionalities.

Building an Effective Follower

Our perception of leadership shrouds our minds to an extent we forget the other half

of the leader-follower relationship: the follower. Leaders occupy the limelight and often we

forget the major role played by the follower in this setup. Organizations focus often on the

growth of the leader and not the follower. A good leader focuses on improving the follower’s

morale by first understanding their position in this relationship and secondly understanding

the personality traits of the follower and incorporating it into the leadership process for

maximum output. My leadership approach is follower-centric and ensures focus on the

employees. The following breakdown aligns my leadership styles and skills to the effective

characteristics of followers.

All the literature on leadership, followership, and leader-followership relationship

states the symbiotic nature of their association. It is vivid that the leader cannot exist without

the follower and vice versa. Both play separate but mutually dependent roles in this

relationship. Effective leadership requires knowledge of this fact. I, therefore, noticed that the

best approach to the leadership process is incorporating the follower in all key aspects of the

process. This mainly involves the follower's education and development.

The main objective of this approach is to foster the skill of independent thinking and

teamwork in the followers. Enable the followers to understand the role they play in the

relationship and the group of peers. My leadership will also focus on building self-awareness

creativity and identity among my followers. This approach solves not only the current

leadership-follower relationship challenges but also builds a foundation for developing

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effective leaders for the future of the organization. Educating and developing the followers

build effective leadership and improve the overall performance outcome of the organization.

Organizational Culture.

The environment affects both the leader and the follower. For the follower to function

effectively, the need to operate within a fostering environment. One of my responsibilities is

to create an environment that is accommodating and motivating to the follower. The

environment should also foster effective individual and group values. The values apply to all

actors within the relationship despite the position held. The approach I prefer to take is the

official and unofficial approaches to create such an environment.

The official approach is to formulate policies that engrave teamwork and other values

in the strategic policies. This entails incorporating the company's hierarchy of leadership, job

descriptions, and communication flow in the policy document. Additionally, I would include

the disciplinary action consequential to infringement of the laid policies. This tames the

destructive individual traits and fosters discipline and respect for authority in the followers. It

also sets boundaries for me as a leader. It is also my responsibility to adhere to these rules as

a way to set examples for my followers. Grace-Farfaglia et al.,(2018), for leaders to be

effective, they must lead by the same principles they expect of their followers. It also follows

that in the policy, an anonymous feedback process is put in place to address any grievances

raised by the employees.

The unofficial approach entails leveling the playground for both the leader (myself)

and the follower. I would organize non-work-related group activities and assign leadership

roles to different employees in every activity. This allows the employees to understand the

role played by the leaders to appreciate them. This also fosters communication within the
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organization. Additionally, the follower develops independent thinking attributes. Team

building activities enhance the follower’s confidence and creativity. This approach also leads

to personal understanding and opens doors to understanding each other’s professional and

personal lives. With that knowledge, the leader and the follower can accommodate each

other’s weaknesses and appreciate their strengths thereby enabling an effective leader-

follower relationship.

Transformational leadership.

Transformational leadership is my most established leadership style. This style

involves the use of language, symbols, and imagery to create the transformation. It also

entails applying charisma to create an accommodative and transformational environment. My

approach would be to create a collective social identity whereby all members of the group

identify with being part of a group that is chained to the superior. A charismatic approach

entails using courageous, independent, and active behaviors, and acting as a role model to the

followers. Such behavior provides the followers with traits to admire, identify with and create

identities similar to those of the leader.

Transformational leadership also requires that I as a leader form motivational

attributes to inspire a joint understanding and transform the follower attributes into a positive

point of view. In addition, the leader provides direction to the followers t form joint and

individual goals. The motivation from the leader creates intrinsic and extrinsic inspiration,

creating focus among the followers to achieve the set objectives. With a set goal, the

follower(s) develops a mission, that outweighs their individual objectives. As a leader, my

task is to merge both the overall group objectives and the individual goals to achieve the best

possible outcome. I would also create intellectually stimulating activities to further inspire

positive and independent thinking as part of building confidence among the followers.
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Charismatic leadership provides the opportunity for followers to interact with the

leader closely. I believe a leader should be accessible and accommodate ideas and some

decisions from the followers. According to Valcea et al. (2011), followers closely related to

the leader tend to receive more information and attention from the leader, leading to better

performance. This accommodative technique helps build a stronger superior-subordinate

relationship. The followers would be motivated to perform based on the expectations

assigned to an effective follower just to be within the inner circles of the leader. The

inclusion itself is a motivational factor.

Communication

Better communication between the follower and the leader leads to high work output.

According to Fan (2018), the work throughput is at its peak when the communication styles

of the leader and the follower match. As a leader, I’m obliged to communicate with my

subordinate to ensure symmetry and flawless workflow. Mindfulness is a key concept in

enhancing communication between the leader-follower dyads.

Being mindful allows the leader and the follower to analyze the effect of their

messages before delivery. Therefore, the chances of passing messages that can create a

communication barrier in the relationship are eliminated. Communication barriers are often

created by offensive statements. These statements create a preformed opinion about future

messages and interfere with their interpretation. They also eliminate the willingness to obtain

any communication from either party, thus destroying the dyad relationship.

Therefore, building a successful leader-follower relation-building process takes effort

and initiative from both parties. For such a relationship to develop and succeed knowledge is

critical and each organization should strive to develop both parties.

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References

Delbecq, A., House, R. J., de Luque, M. S., & Quigley, N. R. (2013). Implicit motives,
leadership, and follower outcomes: An empirical test of CEOs. Journal of Leadership
& Organizational Studies, 20(1), 7-24.

Fan, H., & Han, B. (2018). How Does Leader‐Follower Fit or Misfit in Communication Style
Matter for Work Outcomes?. Social Behavior and Personality: an international
journal, 46(7), 1083-1100.
Finegan, T. H. O. M. A. S. (2021). AMPLIFIERS. S.l.: JOHN WILEY & SONS.

Grace-Farfaglia, P. M., Pickett-Bernard, D. L., Gorman, A. W., & Dehpahlavan, J. (2018).

Keep calm and lead by example: Healthy lifestyles of dietitians and satisfaction with
life. J Prev Med, 3(1), 6.

Valcea, S., Hamdani, M. R., Buckley, M. R., & Novicevic, M. M. (2011). Exploring the
developmental potential of leader–follower interactions: A constructive-
developmental approach. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(4), 604-615.
Van Vugt, M. (2006). Evolutionary origins of leadership and followership. Personality and
Social Psychology Review, 10(4), 354-371.