The Importance of Being a Great Follower

We constantly hear about leadership in the workplace and in academia, but we rarely hear about “followership.” This overemphasis on studying leadership comes at a cost: we don’t remember to appreciate the art of being a follower. Worse, we often think of followers as those who just haven’t figured out how — or don’t have it in them — to become a leader. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of followership. To become a leader requires that one becomes a master in the roles of both follower and leader. So what does it mean to be a great follower? In a nutshell, it’s the ability to be led. Yes, there is an art to this; it’s a craft. While a leader’s role is to set vision and define objectives, a follower’s role is to fulfill those defined objectives. Followers execute. Deliver. Fulfill. Perform. Do. They’re honest, dependable, competent, and assertive. Are you starting to understand why it would be important that a leader be good at being a follower, too? In his book The Art of Command, Jeffery J. Matthews points out that in most organizations, leaders already inherently play the part of follower. Being effective at followership contributes to successful leadership. There is a feedback loop of success when we seek opportunities to both lead and follow. As we hone our followership skills, we become better leaders. As leadership opportunities increase, we become better followers. <a href="https://medium.com/@joneswaddell/the-importance-of-being-a-great-follower-f36226bde666">Read More</a>