To Understand Leadership, Study "Followership"

I was at a conference with 50 or so chief learning officers last week and we had a number of discussions about leadership.

Despite the fact that there are thousands of models, consultants, books, and assessments for leadership, this group hardly agreed on anything.

We did agree that leadership development is a critically important challenge, and we also agreed that most leadership development programs are too fragmented and not focused enough on the company's specific, current business strategy.

That is, most leadership development and coaching focuses on "rounding out edges," helping leaders identify their "towering strengths" and both leveraging them while identifying our derailers or blind spots.

I walked away with some interesting take-aways I wanted to share.

In order to study great leadership you have to study great "followership." Great leaders naturally attract great followers. Who do we follow and why?

This particular company cited research which points to three things.

1. We follow people with character. Great leaders are simply "good" - they think and act on behalf of the entire organization, they set a good example, and they inspire others to follow them through their behavior and tenacity. They do not "bend the rules," rather they give us all a better understanding of how to be more ethical and fair. (They have a moral compass.)

2. We follow people who help us grow. Great leaders help us do great things. They respect and bring out the best in each of us. They have an uncanny ability to make us feel good about ourselves and help us find ways to improve and develop pride in our own strengths. And they help us understand how to overcome our own weaknesses. (They have what is often called emotional intelligence.)

3. We follow people who are "spiky." Great leaders are not necessarily "well rounded," they have unique strengths and weaknesses which make them real. We understand them and we relate to them, and we actually enjoy their "spiky" personality. (They are unique and different in some powerful and endearing way.)

And one final point which came out in the discussion. Great leaders have relevant experience. They seem to understand what to do because somehow they seem to have been there before.

This final trait, that of "experience" - is often called "learning agility" or "judgement." The group seemed to disagree on whether leaders should be moved around into new, uncomfortable roles or if they should continue to grow through similar positions they've had in the past. The team disagreed on this point, but did agree that "relevant experience" was critical to future success.

My personal experience around hundreds of top leaders has shown that most leaders function exceptionally well in certain types of situations, and when they are thrust into new roles (ie. moving from large companies to startups, or from fast-growing businesses to turnarounds), the failure rate is high.

But among all these top learning executives, we all agreed on one simple thing. Great leaders attract followers - so if you study "followership" then you understand modern leadership.