How will we use what we learn?
When we understand what drives or motivates an individual to exercise followership, we may gain the ability to create or reproduce the environments that foster followership attitudes and behaviors, and that allow team members to engage with others more efficiently. We will be able to create teams of highly committed and productive individuals who can seamlessly transition between followership and leadership roles in our communities, our government institutions, and private enterprise.
NOTES TO SELF:
– If followership is the attitude that informs follower behavior – what drives development of a followership attitude?
– When people, including children, are taught to commit their best effort to a purpose beyond themselves, because it is the best effort they can produce and it represents their commitment to the idea of contribution, and not because of extrinsic rewards or the power associated with being in charge, their behavior will allow them to rise in moments of need to exercise authentic leadership.
– When people possess a strong followership attitude, they create the space for their leadership to emerge when leadership is appropriate.
– Authentic leadership emerges from followership, not from leadership positions.
– Followership involves looking for opportunities, no matter how small, to help/assist others in a manner that improves outcomes.
– Followership is not “following well”, followership is the attitude that compels you to take responsibility and invest in the outcome of whatever activity you are involved with; it is your selfless contribution to producing the best outcome because your efforts have the potential to improve outcomes, not because your efforts will be rewarded or recognized.
ASSERTIONS: (to be supported or disputed by literature)
- Does leading mean that others have to be following? No – it means that others are recipients of influence that has potential to change previously held positions or values.
- In its most basic form: leadership is any behavior that influences at least one other to modify their natural course or that causes one to actively assess a previously held position or value.
- management deals with the technical issues related to guiding others to accomplish specific tasks while Leadership drives a change in attitude, management drives a change in behavior.
- Leadership manifests itself (typically) in terms of leading through example that motivates others to adopt a specific attitude toward X, or in the form of mentorship/coaching that connects cognitively with the recipient of that leadership.
- Followership is the attitude that informs or enables active contribution and is enhanced by leadership and that.
- Current construct represents a dialogic relationship lead/follow, leader /follower, leading/following, and leadership/followership which implies that leadership guides or directs a follower to a particular outcome. I suggest that the relationship between leadership and followership is how attitudes and values are impacted by the actions of another and not the behavioral outcome.
QUESTIONS:
Clarifying/defining/describing:
- How is followership defined
- Is followership represented in some other term?
- How is followership contextualized
- How is followership understood?
- How is followership viewed on its own merit?
- How are followership traits/values/attitude adopted and communicated?
- How is the adoption of followership influenced by dominant narrative that positions leaders and leadership before following and followership?
- How are people’s understanding of the terms follower and followership influenced by their values.?
- How are people’s understanding of the terms follower and followership influenced by the dominant leadership narrative?
- How is followership viewed within the context of leadership?
Action:
- What drives me to act?
- Am I more centered on my success/survival, or making contributions?
- When I am not concerned with myself, who or what is the recipient of my attention?
- What is/are the core influencers of volunteerism?
- What provides the motivation that mobilizes or catalyzes engagement in exchange theories?
- Am I more concerned about contributing or benefiting/receiving/orienting/shaping?
- When I wake up, I immediately think about…? What contributes the most to my world-view and behaviors?
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
- PREDICTED OUTCOME VALUE THEORY introduced in 1986 by Michael Sunnafrank, posits that people seek information in initial interactions and relationships to determine the benefits of interpersonal relationships by predicting the value of future outcomes whether negative or positive. PROBLEM: This supposes an expectation and evaluation of future interaction (?) – that is, predicted outcome only matters in consideration of future interaction boss/employee/follower/leader, etc.
- Constructivism – v – Constructionism
- Social construction of reality – v – Construction of Social Reality?
- Does Jimmy Carter demonstrate followership (selfless service), Leadership (influencing others), or both? And if both, where is the distinction/delineation?
- How are peer groups successful without authority? why do they help each other if there is no extrinsic motivator (reward or punishment)
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