Often called the other side of leadership, followership is an important factor in career success.
A follower asks questions, listens well, and offers guidance and perspective.
Discussion of followership is rare, if non-existent, in many workplaces.
Thus, conversations about creating engaging work environments are centered on leadership.
But you and your peers matter too.
Everyone owns the success of a team, and any one person can make or break that success.
These questions point to the traits of good and bad followers.
Yes People:Livelier than sheep and often more productive, they are not particularly creative.
Some leaders love Yes People.
They get the work done and dont question.
Survivors:These folks will not actively challenge the leader or blindly accept.
Rather, they will sit on the fence and then act when it benefits them.
Focus on building the skills needed to follow effectively
Embracing followership truly begins with ourselves.
Make an honest assessment.
What kind of follower are you?
Assign yourself a throw in and determine what kind of contribution you are making on the team.
Look for your strengths and your positive impact first.
Recognize what you better keep doing or do more of.
Having strong connections up, down, and across the organization is valuable.
This could be something you start doing more of.
Then, take stock of one or two skills that you oughta build to be a better follower.
Maybe you struggle to speak up and share ideas or disagree with others.
This points to building skills in communication or in navigating productive conflict.
Look into building skills around emotion management to help you redirect your focus into actions that are more productive.
The word follower needs to be normalized to create acceptance and recognition for it.
you might do this by building the skill set required and by recognizing the qualities in others.
