Leading your followers - Understanding your ABC's

Some of the individuals reading these articles may have followers under their leadership. We cannot assume that all followers are at a the "bottom" of an organizational chart. The chances are likely that most reading these posts do have some authority over other individuals. It is for this reason that we can not just talk about the role of our followership responsibilities, but also how to build up and develop our followers.

Followership development is crucial to the success and survival of an organization. It involves, education, encouragement, empowering, and enabling the follower to do better. Robert Townsend says it best when he states, “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers not the enrichment of the leaders.” Leadership is about drawing individuals together to get the tasks accomplished which support the organizational mission. It is not about position or power. With that position and power comes great responsibility. The responsibility to care for those under your direction and build them up.

I once had a professor who was a department chair at a major university. When he hired new faculty, he would tell them, "Okay, life is no longer about you; your students are number one now." I think the same can be applied to leaders as well. When one gets in a position of leadership, the tendency is to lead over them instead of lead under them and serve the follower. This hierarchical struggle often leads to difficult periods within the organization where people who are truly vested in the organization feel left out, not heard, or hurt. Leaders come along side and try to build up individuals to be a colleague at their level. The threat that is involved with having another individual know what you know and do what you do is what keeps followers at a distance and disabled from their full potential.

This point is laid out clearly in an article entitled, "A's Hire A's -- and B's Hire C's" by: Phillip E. Rosner, Ph.D.. An A leader is not afraid to hire someone that is at his or her level, but a B leader hires C and D level because they are afraid of competition and hiring someone better than him or herself. This is a big difficulty in followership development principles. A majority of those in leadership are B leaders, according to research. This tendency makes little room for developing followers.

But what about you? The first step is to determine whether you are an A, B, or C employee and where you fit in with what the article mentions. Even if you are not an A leader, you do not have anything to worry about if you are improving efficiency and effectiveness within your department or area of responsibility. So how can you develop your followers?

This diagram illustrates what it looks like to go from a "sheep" to an effective follower:

This is where we in leadership positions need to take our followers. This is done by education, encouragement, empowerment, and enabling them to do more than their job description. It is about serving them and looking to their needs instead of your own needs. Work together as partners teaming together to fulfill the mission of the organization. Always remember that it is not about you...your followers are your new priority. Know your ABC's and where you fit into the spectrum so that you can get over any anxieties you may have about your followers overpowering you. Do not live in fear, but live by serving others. Your fears will disappear if you are serving those under your umbrella of authority.

Knowing your leader inside and out

Knowing and understanding what motivates your leader is a great way to manage from the bottom up. Remember from previous articles not to disproportion the roles of leaders mentally, but to treat them as a partner, working towards the same mission and goal. You are all striving for efficiency and effectiveness within the organization and when you can understand what makes them tick, you can aide your leader in being the best leader he or she can be. Here are some tactics to manage up as a follower, because how followers manage their leaders is just as important as how their leaders manage them:

Be a resource for the leader:

• Determine the leader’s needs
• Zig where the leader zags
• Tell leader about you
• Align self to team purpose/vision

Help the leader be a GOOD leader:

• Ask for Advice
• Tell leader what you think
• Find things to thank leader for

Build a relationship:

• Ask about what the leader was like at your level/position
• Welcome feedback and criticism. Ask questions like, "What experiences led you to that decision?"
• Ask leader to tell you company stories

View the leader realistically:

• Give up idealized leader expectations
• Don’t hide anything
• Don’t criticize leader to others
• Disagree occasionally

If you follow these simple techniques in managing-up, you will see improvements in your leader/follower relationship and you will get to know what makes your leader light-up and become the leader he was originally hired to be.Effective followers transform their leader-follower relationship by striving to improve their leaders rather than just criticizing them.

Knowing your Maturity Level

When your leader is trained in organizational behavior, they are taught to look for a follower's maturity level and their willingness to perform their tasks. I believe that it is equally important to train followers to know their skill and will quotient as well. Don't you? Learning where you fall into the spectrum of maturity will better help you to become an effective follower. Are you ready to learn?


The following diagram shows various stages of a follower’s readiness/Maturity Level based on their skill and will:


The four stages of follower readiness according to Hersey & Blanchard, who are the textbook writers of Organizational Behavior are as follows:

• People who are both unable and either unwilling or too insecure to take responsibility to do something. They are neither competent nor confident. (M1)
• People who are having less skill level, but willing to do necessary job task falls into this M2 category. They are motivated but currently lack of the appropriate skills.(M2)
• People who are able but unwilling or too apprehensive to do what the leader wants (M3)
• People who are both able and willing to take responsibility and do what is asked of them (M4)

Where do you fall into this spectrum? Once you understand this, you can also see where your leader is coming from. There are four leadership styles that you will see your leader using. They are:

1. Telling/Directing Leader — a leader provides detailed instruction and closely coaches the follower.

2. Selling/Coaching Leader — a leader provides explanations and principles, engages the follower in a discussion of the work, and coaches as needed.

3. Facilitating/Counseling Leader — the leader assists the follower with goal clarification and ideas, then coaches as needed

4. Delegating Leader — the goal is clarified and the work turned over to the follower.

Now, put these two concepts together and you will see how your leader responds to you. What areas do you think you need to show improvement on? Do you need to improve your skill or your will more? Here is how these two come together:

• At stage M1, followers need clear and specific directions. The appropriate style that your leader will choose is high-task and low-relationship or Telling/Directing (S1).
• At stage M2, both high-task and high-relationship behavior is needed by your leader, otherwise known as Selling/Coaching (S2). The high-task behavior compensates for the follower’s lack of ability, and the high-relationship behavior tries to get the followers psychologically to “buy into” the leader’s desires.
• Stage M3 represents motivational problems that are best solved by a supportive, non-directive, participative style. The approach your leader would choose would be low-task and high-relationship or Facilitating/Counseling (S3).
• At stage M4, your leader does not have to do much because these followers are both willing and able to do the job and take responsibility. The followers need neither task directions nor motivational support, thus low-task and low-relationship style or Delegating (S4) work best for this kind of subordinates.

Try to work on becoming an M4 follower in your maturity level. You will see your leader start to delegate more responsibility to you. This will improve your effectiveness and efficiency right where you are at improving not only yourself, but the organization you serve. you will also receive the significance that you deserve because you are using your experience and maturity to complete your task.

Serve your leader...

Build up your leader today. Have you ever thought that your leader needs encouragement too and it is not just their responsibility to give you praise all the time, but you are able to give them praise too. Find an area that you feel you are lacking in receiving affirmation and affirm your leader in those areas. You are probably not being encouraged in those areas because your leader is not being encouraged by their leader in those areas. Start encouraging them and see how long it takes for you to receive compliments back to you. Everyone needs a little bit of encouragement. Take the initiative to do it today to those whom you serve.

Know when to walk away...

We could heed some advice, as effective followers, from the writings of Kenny Rogers in his song entitled, The Gambler". The main chorus states,

"You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done."

We have to hold onto these principles as effective followers as well. There is a time to hold onto your job and a time to end it; a time to transition out of your job slowly and deciding to leave quicker than later. Knowing these tactics takes perception and judgement. There is a time when discomfort comes into our current work situation where we need to evaluate what is truly going on with this situation. A variety of issues could be at hand. Let's discuss some of them to give weight to this crucial topic:

1. Organizational Dysfunction
This is an area that has to be sorted out individually to see what the impact is going to be upon you as an effective follower. As stated in other articles, effective followers can help an organization transition through the difficult dysfunction that comes with change. This is when the effective follower can step up to the plate and offer themselves fully to the mission of the organization. The leaders need followers who are willing to stand by them at any cost. With that being said, there are also organizations that are truly disorganized and dysfunctional. The effective follower knows when his efforts are not being responded to and the organization drags the individual down further into complacency. This stage is where a lot of followers find themselves, in an alienated follower role. This is where someone has been injured by the organization and they become cynical, with a "see, I told you so" mentality. A good leader will recognize when a follower has switched to this mentality and will try to revive them back to their full capacity. It is not long before that person ends up a yes person or a sheep within the organization. This is not a healthy place to be. If you are effective in your followership role, you will recognize that something is not healthy about the organization and will seek other employment. If it is something that you feel you have time to look for other employment, do so, but also know when to run.

2. Unethical Organizations
We have all heard about these in the news lately and perhaps some of us have worked for organizations that we thought were unethical. If we find ourselves in this type of environment, the best thing to do is to get out as soon as possible. This atmosphere is implosive and can cause many to fall victim to the immorality within the walls of the organization. do not even think about leaving...run. I had to do this for an organization I worked for about 10 years back and I never regretted the decision. I had to find temporary work for awhile, but God provided because of my obedience to truth.

3. Over-qualification
Are you overqualified for your position? Many who hold their current positions are. Effective followers can sometimes get over this fact as they are enabled by their leader to do task outside of their normal work load. But in most organizations, job dissatisfaction runs high amongst employees. This is due to a lack of stimulation with a certain task but also it can come by critically thinking about your current task and discovering an innovative way to complete your task, but then being told by your supervisor, "That is not how we do it here." Even the strongest research can not break some organizations of their sacred cows. Have you ever read the book, "Sacred cows make the best burgers"? This controversial book has a great premise. There are cows wandering around the street that we call sacred, but yet the people around are starving. The only way for us to survive is to make burgers. If an organization is holding onto the way things used to be and not being innovative, but you as an effective follower can not help being innovative, then it may be time for you to look for employment that is looking for innovation. This is an over-qualification. Critical thinking skills differ within an organization. You could have reactive, verses critical, thinkers managing or running organizations. This organization will not last long with a lack of innovation. Know when to walk away and know when to run.

4. Loss of Integrity
An effective follower would generally not get themselves into situations where they loose their integrity, but occasionally it happens. It is better for an individual to step away from that organization when they have fallen rather than face the constant judgements from the organization's members for the remainder of their time with the organization. Reputations carry on within organizations and the gossip of employees does not cease even though the issue resolves itself. It is difficult to be an effective follower when your reputation has been scarred. God is a God of grace and offers forgiveness to those who are able to cry out to Him, but mankind generally is not, sad but true.

Don't count your money when you are sitting at the table. There will be time enough when you are gone. In other words, an effective follower stays actively engaged to their task while they are employed with the organization. There are exiting signs that leaders look for from their employees. Some signs are obvious, such as increased personal phone calls, closed office doors and increased sick days. An employee looking to leave the organization may mentally check out. They will suddenly become passive and mute at staff meetings. Conversely, a normally quiet employee who turns into a chatter box may feel he or she has nothing to lose. There is time to make personal calls and search for another job on your personal time. Do not jeopardize your integrity by bringing your exiting signs to the workplace. There is time enough to do that when your work is done.

Leaving is not easy, especially in today's economy, but know when it is right for you so you can remain an effective follower in whatever task you are given.

Back to work...

These are the words that we dread hearing from our supervisor or someone higher in authority than us. This is another fear to acknowledge in being an effective follower. We need to utilize our time wisely while we are at work. how many of us feel overwhelmed at work and that there is not enough time in the day to complete our tasks? We feel overwhelmed and burdened, feeling like we are never going to get unburied from our tasks. How much of our day are we giving to the task and how much are we claiming as a right for ourselves. We often claim, "If I don't check my facebook every two hours, I will be more stressed out", or "I need to have my breaks, just like those that smoke need to go out and take a break every half hour." We need to get back in check with our followership intentions. We claim rights that we don't have and take advantage of the ones that we are given. If this article offends you, it may be because there is something out of balance in your followership trends.

The first step would be to eliminate personal time from our 8 + hours of scheduled time. Sure, we all need breaks and we are given our break time and lunch time. Use them wisely. Use them to write your personal emails, make personal cell phone calls, check out facebook, and the like if you are able to on company property, if not, wait until you get home. If we can put our time only into our objectives of the day, we will bring much more efficiency and effectiveness to our job. This is how we can show others our effectiveness as followers. Not only that, but we can get to tap into some of the other benefits of the organization as well. If we have truly completed our tasks for the day, earlier than when we had anticipated, and there is nothing else to do, we have the privilege of going to our boss and saying, "I am finished with the tasks that I have today, can you recommend where I can get ahead in other areas?" or "Are there any projects you need help on that I can assist with as my work is completed?" This is how we get brought into special projects and gain experience outside of our service area. To have some project management experience or assisting with development is a nice added bonus to our work day. It can help us to feel significant where we are trained outside of our day-to-day knowledge base, as well as finishing our tasks efficiently. When we can do our task efficiently and effectively, our leaders will see the potential in us to do more. That may be the added push that is needed to get us where we want to end up. So, if you are reading this during your workday and it is not on a designated break...back to work! Be an effective follower.

Second, if we are truly putting all of our work time into the tasks and we are still overwhelmed, we need to ask for help. This is often something that is very hard to do for anyone. To say that we are unable to complete the tasks that are given to us, we feel as though we are truly not effective, when in fact, we are really trying our hardest. Asking for help is the next step in letting someone know that the workload is too much for you. They may not know this to be the case or maybe they just have not heard you complain so they are not looking in your direction. Too much responsibility can sometimes be the burden that a lot of effective followers feel because you are seen as someone who can get the work done productively and critically. Leaders like this and can unknowingly take advantage of a worker. Just take a chance and let them know what you are going through. You may get a response you were not expecting...this will help you get back to work as an effective and efficient follower of the organization.

Following without fear...but with reverence.

One of the things that paralyses most followers is fear. Fear is a powerful thing. Recently, I had someone tell me that they did not feel significant where they were working. This is a fear that will disable your effectiveness as a follower. There are some steps that need to occur to acknowledge and overcome these fears. Examine these seven steps to overcoming fear in your followership role and start being an effective follower again.

1. Acknowledge there is a problem

Take a look at your attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs to evaluate where you are. Then, go further to find out the fears that prescribe each of them. These fears are a driving force in how we live. After you have acknowledged that the fears exist, it will be easier for you to look at them in your decision making process.

2. Ask for help

The easiest way to overcome anything is by accountability. Having another hold you accountable for your actions and question you on your actions, attitudes, and beliefs, makes anyone stronger. These trusted friends or loved ones can help you to identify fears and then recognize the signs once they appear. I would not recommend a co-worker on this matter as it is best to avoid office gossip if one of your fears is your direct superior. Find a follower buddy. On the other hand, if you really trust your supervisor to help you in this area, make sure that it will not hinder your current situation and approach them humbly for help. There are so many resources out there to help you with overcoming fear. You may need to go to the next level of pastoral counseling or psychotherapy if it is needed.

3. Decide what really matters

What do you really care about in your job or in your life outside of the office? If you had a perfect vision of what life would be like, how could you take those elements and apply them to your followership role where you are at? It is easy at this point to make excuses for why you do not have this "ideal" world, but you can begin to make decisions that help lead you towards that goal. You may just have to find something that is significant in your life that represents what that ideal life looks, feels, smells, tastes, and sounds like. C.S. Lewis once said, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." You can overcome the fear of not getting where you think you need to be to be happy, by acknowledging that this earth cannot satisfy our desires. This helps feed our effective followership.

4. Establish your followership goals

Establishing your followership goals helps lead you to being an effective follower. Look at where you are now and compare it to where you want to be. How far out of line with your goals are you? What do you need to do to get back on course? if you feel that you have "jumped ship" from your original course, how do you get back on that ship. Moreover, how do you serve, right where you are at, in an effective way to get you closer to those dreams. What if this is not where you need to be to establish those dreams? The next step is to do an audit to see what you need to do to get you from where you are now and where you want to be. Take bold steps if necessary.

5. Make a decision that will eliminate fear

To eliminate fear is not an easy task. It takes a bold, foundational, and life-altering move that is both mental and physical, but also spiritual. This includes all aspects of who you are. Somethings in life are not an option; you have deep seeded foundational worldviews that need to be explored. For example, if you have a boss or coworker that you do not like, you do not debate the matter, "Should I talk with the person or do I just murder them?" It is not an option, you already have it established in your mind that murder is wrong. Fear has to have the same strength behind it that you can not be fearful in your decision making. Fear can not dominate who you are. If it has dominated you, you need to make a real life decision to leave what is not real (fear) even though it has become very familiar to and comfortable for you.

6. Challenge the irrational fears

Who told you that you were worthless? Who said if you share with your supervisor what is really on your mind that you will lose your job? These irrational fears that you are living with have been accepted by you in the past and have become a reality, or truth, that you live each day. These irrational fears need to be challenged because they impact and direct every choice that you make. These fears will not go anywhere unless you challenge them.

7. Just do it

Action plans and a timeline are all that stand between your sheepish followership and effective followership. If you have dreams of getting to a corner office (or even an office with a window) someday, what are you doing to get there? Are you being effective where you are at? Do you need more education? What things are standing in your way of making this happen? Make the decision today to live without fear in your followership role. Do not listen to those voices telling you that you are not worthy. Establish an action plan and lay out a timeline to make this happen.

Sometimes we mistake living without fear for having also a lack of reverence. Reverence is an important thing to remember when we are being a courageous follower. We are in the place we are today because of the choices we made yesterday. We need to respect that, but then make choices to take us to where we feel we are led. Having a reverence for our position humbles us to enjoy the benefits we have to being in the very place we are right now and also enables us to look beyond this point towards a bright future without fear.