How do you leverage your authentic followership strengths in different situations?

1 What is authentic followership?

Authentic followership is a style of followership that is based on self-awareness, integrity, and alignment with your values and purpose. Authentic followers are not afraid to express their opinions, challenge assumptions, and offer constructive feedback, but they also respect and trust their leader's authority and expertise. Authentic followers are loyal, committed, and adaptable, but they also seek growth, learning, and autonomy. Authentic followers are not followers by default, but by choice.

2 Why is authentic followership important?

Authentic followership is important for several reasons. First, it enhances your relationship with your leader, as you demonstrate your support, cooperation, and contribution, while also being honest, respectful, and constructive. Second, it boosts your own performance, as you align your actions with your values and goals, and seek opportunities to improve your skills and knowledge. Third, it fosters a positive and productive team culture, as you model trust, accountability, and diversity of perspectives, and encourage others to do the same.

3 How do you assess your authentic followership strengths?

To leverage your authentic followership strengths, you need to first identify them. You can use various tools and frameworks to assess your followership style, such as the Kelley Followership Questionnaire, the Chaleff Courageous Followership Model, or the Uhl-Bien Relational Leadership Theory. These tools can help you understand your preferences, behaviors, and attitudes as a follower, and how they affect your leader, your team, and your organization. You can also solicit feedback from your leader, your peers, and your subordinates, to gain insights into your strengths and areas for improvement.

4 How do you adapt your authentic followership to different situations?

Once you have a clear picture of your authentic followership strengths, you can leverage them in different situations, depending on the context, the goal, and the leader. For example, you can use your critical thinking and creativity to offer innovative solutions when facing a complex or uncertain problem. You can use your communication and collaboration skills to build rapport and consensus when working with diverse or conflicting stakeholders. You can use your initiative and autonomy to take ownership and responsibility when given a challenging or ambiguous task. You can use your loyalty and commitment to support and defend your leader when facing resistance or criticism.

5 How do you coach others to develop their authentic followership?

As a leader, you can coach others to develop their authentic followership by creating an environment that fosters trust, learning, and feedback. This includes recognizing and appreciating the value and contribution of your followers, providing clear expectations and direction aligned with the organization's vision and goals, encouraging and enabling your followers to voice their opinions, delegating tasks and decisions that match their skills and interests, and providing constructive and timely feedback. All these steps will help your followers improve their performance and development.

6 What are the benefits of leveraging your authentic followership?

Leveraging your authentic followership can bring many benefits to you, your leader, your team, and your organization. These include increased trust and respect between you and your leader, as well as enhanced self-confidence and self-efficacy. Additionally, this can lead to improved performance and outcomes, higher satisfaction and engagement, and greater influence and impact. All of these benefits come from aligning your actions with your values and purpose, applying your skills and knowledge, seeking opportunities to learn and grow, and inspiring others to follow your example.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?