Are You a Leader Others Want to Follow?

Leadership requires followership and following is an act of trust, faith in the course of the leader, and that faith can be generated only if leaders act with integrity.

—Lawrence M. Miller

John Lewis was the son of Alabama sharecroppers who, against so many odds, grew to prominence as an American civil rights leader and politician. Though known for being one of the original 13 Freedom Riders and for his Chairmanship of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Lewis will be memorialized for leading 600 people in Selma, Alabama in 1965 in a march for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and into a waiting phalanx of state troopers in riot gear.[i]

Ordered to disperse, Lewis and his followers silently stood their ground. The troopers responded with tear gas and bullwhips and rubber tubing wrapped in barbed wire. The event, named “Bloody Sunday,” became a landmark moment in the history of the civil rights movement. Images of Lewis’s beating at Selma shocked the entire nation and led to the swift passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

What compelled 600 people to follow John Lewis across the bridge that Sunday morning, all clearly aware of the harm that would come to them?

The moment of truth in this historic event was in their belief in John Lewis. They shared his vision and purpose because he represented them. He galvanized a shared experience and inspired followership in its deepest sense – to put one’s self in harm’s way.

Some of you may be wondering if Followership is even a word. You know what “Follower” means – someone who gives full support to a particular person, cause, or activity. Merriam-Webster defines a follower as “One who places themself in the service of another; one who follows the opinions and teachings of another; or one who imitates another.”

We like to add a bit more depth to this definition by adding the suffix “ship,” indicating a skill or particular character in one’s ability to influence others, form relationships, and inspire people to act. It is an ability to connect organizational purpose with each individual and rally the commitment of others to the overall goal. People naturally follow leaders who inspire and are able to articulate a message that aligns with their personal purpose and efforts.

Followership is really the result of demonstrating the other five of the Six Attributes of an Agile Leader: Personal Integrity, Learning Agility and Coaching Others, Systems Thinking, and Change Resilience.

Followership is not about one’s title or position in the organization. It is about people believing in you and trusting that you have their best interests in mind. It is also the ability of a leader to have the situational awareness to recognize when someone else is the right individual to take the lead and then to step back or step aside and support them in their leadership of the moment.

Because leaders have such a significant impact on business outcomes, on employee engagement, and on organizational culture, people generally expect them to be dynamic, confident, and visionary. But every leader has to do much more to attain the commitment of followers. Followership has to be earned.

High Performers Don’t Follow Low Performing Leaders

People don’t follow leaders because they have to. They follow leaders who act with intention and with purpose. A talented engineer is not looking to work for a leader who lacks the proper skills or has a fixed mindset. Rather, people want to follow leaders who continue to grow, support their own growth, and value them for their contributions.

People who love to play a sport such as golf or tennis learn to appreciate playing with someone who’s better than they are. This forces them to up their own game and challenges them to work out whatever aspects of the game they need to in order to close the gap.

On the other end of the spectrum, playing against an equal or weaker player is not as challenging. It’s probably not as much fun either. There’s less to learn from the opponent or learn about the game.

You tend to perform better when those who surround you excel at what they do. Your level of effort and effectiveness is correlated with their level of talent. This is especially true of the impact talented leaders have on others.

People who lead with purpose and an intent beyond their own gain have an innate desire to develop others around them. You might say they are “A” performers who develop “A” talent. John Maxwell’s “Law of the Lid” that was introduced in Chapter 3 recognizes the value of leadership and the incredible impact of high-performing leaders on others’ effectiveness. The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on the potential of others. The higher a person’s ability to lead, the higher the lid on others.

If your leadership rates an 8, then your team member’s effectiveness can never achieve greater than a 7 rating. If your leadership rating is at a 4, then your team member’s effectiveness will never achieve a rating greater than 3. High-performing talent typically don’t align with low performing leaders; they want to follow a level-10 leader so they can learn, develop, and grow.

The Measure of a Leader

People have misconceptions about what leadership means. They assume that if an individual has a title such as president, vice president, or director, then they must be a leader. But title alone doesn’t make one a leader. The measure of a leader is grounded in their ability to influence others to believe in them and to follow them.

To influence others is to have a direct impact on their opinions, attitudes, and behaviors. But influence shouldn’t be confused with manipulating others to get your way. It’s about noticing what motivates people and using that knowledge to inspire, build relationships, and build credibility so that people will trust and follow you.

Stephen Covey says that credibility “boils down to two simple questions: Do I trust myself? and am I someone others can trust?”[i] ?By establishing credibility, you begin to establish trust, which is an essential step in gaining influence with others.

The Great Influencer

President Abraham Lincoln has often been described as compassionate, kindhearted, and immodest, yet became one of the most effective leaders in world history. This is evident in his remarkable accomplishments in taking a stand and changing the hearts and minds of many on the issue of slavery, and then uniting a nation after a brutal civil war.

According to Doris Kearns Goodwin, American biographer and historian, Lincoln’s strong influence on friends and foes alike was due to his “extraordinary empathy – the ability to put himself in the place of another, to experience what they were feeling, and to understand their motives and desires.”[ii]

Lincoln’s influence was a cornerstone of his Followership that was sourced from his capacity to recognize the challenges people faced and the sacrifices they made. He profoundly cared about people. He assured people of their individual significance.

Leaders who demonstrate these empathetic behaviors have a good understanding of the world around them, as Lincoln did in hearing the will of a nation. Leaders with Followership know when it's time to lead and when it’s time to listen.

In conclusion, organizations need to identify, select, develop and retain leader other want to follow. LAK Group can help you identify and develop these leader - we guarantee sustainable change in performance.

[i] Covey, Stephen M. R., (February 5, 2008). The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything. FranklinCovey Publishing. p 13-14. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/SPEED-TRUST-Thing-Changes-Everything/dp/1416549005/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=speed+of+trust&qid=1599755419&sr=8-3

[ii] Crowley, Mark, C. (November 9, 2012). The Leadership Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/3002803/leadership-genius-abraham-lincoln

[i] Wallenfeldt, Jeff (August 3, 2020). John Lewis: American Civil Rights Leader and Politician. Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Lewis-American-civil-rights-leader-and-politician

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