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LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOWERSHIPOne of the most basic human instincts, a quality that every person is born with, is the act of imitating another person. Childrenoften imitate behaviors as seen from their parents, friends, or the media. These influences determine the character that this

particular child develops. As time progresses, imitation give way to reasoning, opening the door for this person to startinfluencing others. The contrast between followership and leadership is analogous to this; once an individual is established as afollower, he or she can become a leader.

LEADERSHIP:A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. (John C. Maxwell)

The first job of a leader is to define a vision for the organization.... Leadership of the capacity to translate vision into reality . Leaders are people who make decisions within organizations and cause others to support and implement these decisions. Leadersutilize rewards, imperative force, and interpretations of culture to obtain the collaboration of others. Leadership in its highestform develops a common understanding with followers and changes their basic ways of thinking. Leaders engage in distinctforms of behavior, such as

Taking initiative Evaluating followers needs, aspirations, and capabilities Maintaining relationships within the organization Founding relationships with other organizations

Collecting and disseminating information Providing the resources needed to achieve success

F O LLOW ERSHIP :

Although the importance of good leadership cannot be denied, followers also play an equally important, if oftenoverlooked, role in the success of any group or organization. We believe the strength of any team is in the follower , therecan be no leaders without followers. Virtually everyone is follower at some point in his or her life. And perhaps moreimportantly, anyone occupying the position of authority plays a followership role at times, as first-line supervisors report to mid-level managers, mid-level managers report to vice-presidents, vice-presidents report to CEO s, CEO s report to

Board of Directors, etc. This being the case, followership should be viewed as a role, not a position. It is worth keeping inmind that some jobs have clear leadership requirements ; virtually All jobs have followership requirements. Given that the same people play both leadership and followership roles, it is hardly surprising that the values, personality traits,mental abilities, and behaviors used to describe the effective leaders can also be used to describe effective followers. Allthe above traits are crucial as followership is a very important bridge to becoming an effective leader.

Better followership often begets better leadership. Barbara Kellerman,Harvard!University

C ON C LUSI ON :

The leader must also act as a follower towards his or her superiors. There is always a level ordinate to a leader. Even the

President is a follower; he is a follower of the will of the people of the United States. This is, in fact, the basis for the chain of command. Leaders receive feedback from their subordinates, or followers, and relay this information to the next-higher authority.Theoretically, this chain may continue indefinitely. Cooperation between the leader and his or her subordinate is crucial, or thechain will not function effectively. Therefore, a leader is concurrently a follower.

The differences between leadership and followership, then, are a process of learning and the time needed to gain experience inassigned responsibilities. Once a follower has demonstrated mastery of self-discipline, motivation, responsibility, and other important traits, he or she has the competence to become a successful leader and pass this wisdom on to future generations.