EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

SERIES
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
FOLLOWERSHIP
LECTURE 3
by

Subhas Chandran
Faculty of Defence & Management Studies

FOLLOWERSHIP AND FOLLOWERS

Followership
Refers to the behavior of followers that results
from the leaderfollower influence relationship

Follower
Is a person who is being influenced by a leader

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FOLLOWERSHIP AND FOLLOWERS

Effective leadership requires effective
followers
There are no leaders without followers
The influencing process of leaders and
followers is a two-way street, with
followers also influencing leaders
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
FOLLOWERS
Characteristics that influence the leadership
process:
Respect for Authority
Trusting nature
Easily led
Interpersonal Trust
Disregard others
Suspicious of others

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CHARACTERISTICS OF FOLLOWERS
Decline of trust in leaders
Why followers withhold trust:
Breakdown of the traditional family
Decline of social structures
Lack of shared values and sense of community
Self interests over public good
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CHARACTERISTICS OF
FOLLOWERS
Leaders need to adjust to followers ideas and
expectations
Past leaders:
Ruled with authority
Forced workers to obey
Fired or punished employees

Follower Defensive action:

Organized unions
Created legislation
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CHARACTERISTICS OF FOLLOWERS
People who are oppressed respond in
negative ways:
Slowing down production
Producing poor quality work
Uncooperative
Strike is not an option in the military

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CHARACTERISTICS OF
FOLLOWERS
Effective leaders avoid power tactics:
Threatening employees is counterproductive

Leaders today:
Motivate employees
Function as facilitators
Believe that trust and respect should be earned

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THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST

The building of trust in the workplace is
critical.
Principles of trust for effective leadership:
Deal openly with everyone
Consider all points of view
Keep promises
Give responsibility
Listen to understand
Care about people
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INTERPERSONAL TRUST SCALE

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FOLLOWERSHIP TYPES
FOLLOWER TYPES
High

Effective
follower

Conformist
follower

Pragmatic
follower

LEVEL OF
INVOLVEMENT
Alienated
follower

Passive
follower

Low
Low

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CRITICAL THINKING

High

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FOLLOWERSHIP TYPES
Alienated Followers

Are low on involvement yet are high on critical thinking

Feel cheated or unappreciated

Are capable but unwilling to participate in developing

solutions to problems

Conformist Followers

Are the yes people of the organization

Carry out all orders without considering the consequences

Avoid conflict

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FOLLOWERSHIP TYPES
Passive Followers
Are neither high on critical thinking nor
involvement
Look to the leader or others to do all the thinking
Require constant supervision
Never go beyond the job description

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FOLLOWERSHIP TYPES
Effective Followers
High on critical thinking; involvement and
not risk-averse; do not shy from conflict
Courage to initiate change and serve the
best interest of the organization
Tend to function as self-managed team and
can be relied upon the relieve the leader of
many tasks
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FOLLOWERSHIP TYPES
Pragmatic Followers
Has a little of all four stylesdepending on
the prevailing situation
Presents an ambiguous image, with positive
and negative sides
Positive Side - when an organization is facing difficult
times he works the system to get things done
Negative Side action could be seen as playing
political games, or adjusting to maximize self-interest
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BEING A EFFECTIVE FOLLOWER

Offer support to leader
Take initiative
Play counseling and coaching roles to leader when
appropriate
Raise issues and/or concerns when necessary
Seek and encourage honest feedback from the leader
Clarify your role and expectations
Show appreciation
Keep the leader informed
Resist inappropriate influence of leader
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FOLLOWER INFLUENCE FACTORS

POWER
POSITI
ON
INFLUENCE
FACTORS

LOCUS OF
CONTROL

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EDUCATION &
EXPERIENCE

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FOLLOWER INFLUENCE
Leaders need to understand that they are not the sole
possessors of power and influence in their work place
Some followers may have personal, referent, expert,
information, and connection-based sources of power.
The followers power position increases when other
employees rely on a particular follower for information,
expertise, or simply because of his or her personality.
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FOLLOWER LOCUS OF CONTROL

Followers with an internal locus of control prefer a work

environment that facilitates:

Communication with leaders

Participation in decision making

Opportunities to be creative

Such followers prefer a participative style of leadership

Followers are more likely to be more influential with

other followers than those with an external locus of control

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FOLLOWER EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE

Followers with less education and experience need

more guidance, coaching, and feedback

To improve their performance, inexperienced

employees often seek the assistance of
experienced employees

Todays workers are far more educated,

mobile, diverse, and younger than the
workforce of 20 years ago

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FOLLOWER EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

The need for continuing education and training

on the job is increasing

Leaders have to shift away from the top-down

directive style of leading where tasks are highly
structured and power tends to be centralized

They need to move toward a more decentralized,

participative style of managing

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LEADER & FOLLOWER DUAL ROLE

Good leadership is found in highly effective

followers
A person can be a leader and also a follower
The roles can change back and forth throughout

the work day

Self-managed teams require members to alternate

between playing leadership and followership roles

To execute both roles effectively is a challenge,

given the role conflicts and ambiguities

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DELEGATION

Is the process of assigning the responsibility and

authority for accomplishing objectives

Refers to giving employees new tasks

Success depends on a managers ability to know

what to delegate and what not to delegate

The leader should consider the following:

Task

Time required

Follower characteristics

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BENEFITS OF DELEGATION

Gives managers more time to perform high-priority

tasks

Gets tasks accomplished and increases productivity

Enables leaders to mobilize resources and secure

better results than they could have got alone

Trains employees and improves their self-esteem

Eases the stress and burden on managers

Enriches followers jobs

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OBSTACLES TO DELEGATION
Some managers dont delegate
because of:
Habit
Fear - that employees will fail

Successful delegation is based on:

Selecting what task(s) to delegate

Selecting who to delegate too

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WHAT TO DELEGATE

Paperwork

Solving employees
problems
problems

Tasks with
developmental
potential

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Routine tasks
outline tasks

What to
Delegate
Technical
matters
Technical
matters
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WHAT NOT TO DELEGATE

Personnel matters

Confidential activities

What Not To
Delegate

Crises

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Activities delegated to
you personally

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