1. Leadership & Management
Reading for Lesson 18:
Followership

2. Lesson 18 Reading Objectives
1. The student will comprehend their followership style and take steps to become a more effective follower.
2. The student will comprehend and apply the principles of courageous followership, including responsibility, service, challenging authority, participating in change, and knowing when to leave.
3. The student will comprehend developing personal potential to include the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

3. Lesson 18 Discussion Objectives
1. The student will apply the principles of courageous followership, including responsibility, service, challenging authority, participate in change, and knowing when to leave.
2. The student will comprehend developing personal potential to include the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

4. The Role of Followers
Leadership and followership are fundamental roles individuals shift in and out of under various conditions
Followers’ influence upon a leader can enhance the leader or underscore shortcomings
Many qualities desirable in a leader are the same qualities possessed by an effective follower

5. Styles of Followership
Robert E. Kelley described five styles of followership categorized according to two dimensions:
The first dimension is the quality of independent, critical thinking, versus dependent, uncritical thinking
A dependent, uncritical thinker does not consider possibilities, does not contribute to the cultivation of the organization, and accepts the leader’s ideas without thinking

6. Styles of Followership
The second dimension is active versus passive behavior
An active individual participates fully in the organization
A passive individual is characterized by a need for constant supervision

7. Styles of Followership
Dimensions result in five followership styles:
Alienated Follower: Passive yet independent, critical thinker
Conformist: Active participant who does not utilize critical thinking skills
Pragmatic Survivor: Has qualities of all four extremes, depending on which fits situation
Passive Follower: Exhibits neither critical, independent thinking nor active participation
Effective Follower: Critical, independent thinker and active in the organization. Future leader

8. Figure 18-1 goes here

9. The Courageous Follower
Courage is found in both effective leaders and followers.
Willingness to take risks, challenge authority, and to believe one’s own ideas are superior typically marks a follower as a future leader
Follower role includes responsibility, service, challenging authority, participating in change, knowing when its time to leave organization
These components of followership require courage

10. Role of the Follower Courage to assume responsibility
Courageous followers:
Do not presume that a leader or an organization will provide them with security, permission to act, or personal growth
Initiate opportunities for personal fulfillment, growth, and the fullest use of their capabilities

11. Role of the Follower Courage to serve Courageous followers:
Discern the needs of the organization and actively seek to serve those needs
Support the leader’s decision, providing strength, complementing the leader’s position, and serving others’ display of follower’s courage

12. Role of the Follower Courage to challenge Courageous followers:
Do not sacrifice the purpose of the organization or their personal ethics in order to maintain harmony and minimize conflict
They stand up against leaders and decisions when that behavior contradicts the best interest of the organization, or their own integrity

13. Role of the Follower Courage to participate in transformation
Courageous followers:
View the struggle of corporate change and transformation as a mutual experience
Support the leader and the organization during a difficult transformation
Are not afraid to confront the changes and work toward reshaping the organization

14. Role of the Follower Courage to leave
Often organizational or personal changes create a situation in which a follower must withdraw from a leader-follower relationship
Followers are not afraid to depart because they do not rely on leaders or organizations for their self-worth

15. Sources of Follower Courage
The courage to accept risk derives from several sources:
Strength from personal philosophy/religious beliefs
A vision of the future can provide courage to follow difficult course of action
Past event that tested individual courage can make future courageous behavior easier
Personal values can give one the courage to act
Commitment to peers, deep concern for others, and outrage at injustice can foster change

16. Developing Personal Potential
Steven Covey defines a habit as the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire
He arranges seven habits along a continuum from dependence to interdependence

17. Figure 18-2 goes here

18. Developing Personal Potential
Each habit builds on the previous one so individuals grow further along the maturity continuum as they develop personal effectiveness habits
Dependent people expect someone else to take care of them and blame others when things go wrong
Independent people have developed a sense of self-worth and an attitude of self-reliance
Interdependent people realize that it is best to work cooperatively with others

19. Developing Personal Potential
Covey’s first three habits deal with self-reliance and self-mastery. These are private victories; they only involve the follower
Habit 1: Be Proactive®
Be responsible, don’t blame others
Habit 2: Begin With The End In Mind®
Start with a clear mental image of your destination
Habit 3: Put First Things First®
Focus on preserving and enhancing relationships and on accomplishing results

20. Effective Interdependence
The first three habits build a foundation on independence, from which one can move to interdependence—caring, productive relationships with others which Covey calls public victories
When a person moves to interdependence, he steps into a leadership role

21. Effective Interdependence
Habit 4: Think Win-Win®
Implies understanding that without cooperation, the organization cannot succeed
Habit 5: Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood®
Requires a nonjudgmental attitude. Emphatic listening gets inside another person’s frame of reference

22. Effective Interdependence
Habit 6: Synergize®
Synergy is the combined action that occurs when people work together to create new alternatives and solutions. The essence of synergy is to value and respect differences
Habit 7: Sharpen The Saw®
Process of using and continuously renewing the physical, mental, spiritual, and social aspects of life