Followership

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 Followership
• Ability to place organization ahead of personal
ambition
• Allegiance and loyalty up and down the chain of
command
• Ability to recognize they share responsibility
to help organization to succeed
• Ability to know when and how to challenge the
status quo

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 Importance of Followers

• Followers’ actions/attitudes influence their leader

– For better or worse
• Qualities of effective followers are same ones we
want in leaders
• We tend to focus too much on the leader:
– Performance of leaders & followers are variables
that depend upon one another
– Followers often have the information, expertise,
and ideas that are essential for success

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 Styles of Followership
Part 1

• Five styles, categorized by two dimensions

– Independent/critical vs.
Dependent/uncritical thinking
– Active vs. Passive behavior

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 First Dimension

• Independent thinkers:
– Aware of the significance of their actions
– Offer constructive criticism/innovation
• Dependent/uncritical thinkers:
– Do not consider possibilities
– Accepts leader’s ideas without thinking

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 Second Dimension

• Active Behavior:
– Participates fully (Often beyond limits of job)
– Demonstrates sense of ownership
– Initiates problem-solving and decision-making
• Passive Behavior:
– Does what’s told
– Avoids responsibility
– Requires constant supervision and prodding
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 Styles of Followership
Independent, Critical Thinking

Alienated Effective
Passive

Pragmatic

Active
Survivor

Passive Conformist

Dependent, Uncritical Thinking

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 Developing Personal Potential

• “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective

People” by Steven Covey
• Habit:
– The intersection of knowledge, skill and
desire
• Arranges seven habits along a continuum
from dependence to independence to
interdependence
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 Maturity Continuum
• Dependent people
– Expect someone to take care of them
– Blame others when things go wrong
• Independent people
– Developed a sense of self-worth/attitude of self-reliance
– Accept personal responsibility
– Actively work for their goals
• Interdependent people
– Realize best results often occur working cooperatively
with others
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 Self Reliance and Self Mastery
“Private Victories”

• Habit 1: Be Proactive
– Be responsible, don’t blame others
– Take initiative; Choose how to act
– Not what happens to you, but how you respond
• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
– Start with clear mental image of destination (Vision)
– What’s important
• Habit 3: Put First Things First
– Gain control of time (Calendar vs. Stop Watch)
– Focus on preserving and enhancing relationships and on
accomplishing results
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 Effective Interdependence
“Public Victories”

• Habit 4: Think Win-Win

– Cooperation = organizational success

• Habit 5: Seek First To Understand, then to be

Understood
– Key to effective communication
– Non-judgmental attitude (Dialogue)
– Emphatic listening gets inside another person’s
frame of reference
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 Effective Interdependence
“Public Victories”
• Habit 6: Synergize
– Value of the whole is > the sum of the parts
– Essence of synergy is to value and respect
differences in order to take advantage/build on
strengths and compensate for weaknesses
• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw
– Continuously renew physical, mental, spiritual,
and social aspects of life
– Constant Improvement
– NEVER BE SATISFIED!
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 What Followers Want

• Leaders to be:  Colleagues to be:

– Honest  Honest

– Forward-Thinking  Cooperative

– Inspiring  Dependable

– Competent  Competent

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 Styles of Followership
High
Relationship Initiative Part II

Politician Partner

Subordinate Contributor

Low High
Performance Initiative
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 Groups vs. Teams
Communication
Caring Trust • Trust – most important
aspect. Confidence in the truth.

Pride • Pride – believe that personal

signature is on everything the team
Collective does.
Responsibility • Caring – about each other as a
person, employee, teammate, etc
• Communication – often assumed;
Talking helps build team mentality
• Collective Responsibility – no
finger pointing or excuses

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 Groups vs. Teams

All aspects are important individually, but together they are unbeatable
•Fist is more powerful than the five fingers. Any individual finger can be
broken off, weakening the team. Concept of Synergy.
• The “fist” is more important than the technical aspects. Need to monitor
to make sure the fist is strong and tight. If not, it can open under stress
and one of the fingers can be broken off, weakening the team. If strong, a
movement by a finger will be compensated by the other four holding it
firm.

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 Why do people join groups?
- Security - Goal Achievement
- Power - Affiliation
- Self-esteem - Status
What is a Group?
• Definitions:
– Webster’s: “a number of individuals assembled together or having
some unifying relationship”
– Book: “two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come
together to achieve particular objectives”
Stages of Group Development
Forming: • Norming:
Orientation and getting acquainted – Resolve conflict, clarify roles
Define purpose/rules/structure – Builds relationships and
• Storming: cohesiveness
– Conflict and disagreement • Performing: Group is fully
functional
– Jockeying for position or sub-
groups form 17
 Group Decisions
Advantages

• Provide more complete information

– Decisions tend to be more accurate
• Generate more alternatives
– Diversity of ideas, experience, information
• Increase acceptance of a solution
– More involvement = more buy-in
• Increase legitimacy (IAW democratic
ideals)
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 Group Decisions
Disadvantages
• Time - consuming
• Possibility of minority domination
• Pressures to conform (Groupthink)
• Ambiguous responsibility

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Benefits of Teams
• Level of Effort
– Social Facilitation
• Satisfaction of Members
– Need for belongingness and affiliation
– Increased dignity and self-worth
• Organizational Flexibility
– Allows workers to reorganize/reallocate to
increase efficiency in response to changes
• Efficiency – attain goals with fewer resources
• Quality – fewer defects/exceed customer
expectations
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Costs of Teams
• Power Realignment
– Workers take responsibility
– Leader gives up power
• Free Riding
– Not everyone carries their load
– More prevalent as group gets larger
• Coordination Costs
• Legal Hassles

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