What is Followership?

This is among the most overlooked areas of leadership knowledge. Understanding the dynamics of being a good follower, how to manage your relationship with your leader, and what followership demands are just the beginning of being an effective leader. There is a lot to unpack in this idea, more than I will discuss in this article, but I would like to highlight one idea specifically. Followership isn’t simply doing what you’re told; it’s thoughtful participation in the leadership process. For example, a person must know how to listen, perform to a standard, and monitor the results of the process. Followership also means understanding the leader’s intent, why things are being done a certain way, and what the end goal is. Reflect on people you’ve met over the years; some are team players who participate in ways that meet or exceed the goal. However, I’m sure you’ve also come across folks who are, let’s just say, less than team players. Which of these two groups of people would you most likely promote?

What is Leading Up?

When someone is actively following, they also maintain an active and meaningful relationship with their leadership. The relationship between leader and follower can and should, in a word, be candid. Even in challenging relationships, leading up means communicating to leadership whether their guidance is or isn’t working and, potentially, offering recommendations for things to try.

Personal Story. I think it’s important to say that followership and leading up aren’t easy. They are skills that are practiced, and they also require strong communication skills. To that point, I’d like to share a short story about a time when I was unable to lead up. To my credit, I was following very well, but our organization still wasn’t achieving our goals. I did my best to communicate what I was seeing on the ground and in the organization, but my message wasn’t landing. It wasn’t long before my boss sat me down to talk about our organization’s performance. I’ll never forget what he said: “Your organization is doing everything I asked, but you’re still not achieving our goals.” I replied, “I know.” In that moment, I knew I had another chance to lead up, and I took it. I went back over many of the points I had been sharing during our phone calls and emails; this time, face-to-face, we found common ground and came up with a mutual plan to make our goals a reality. For what it’s worth, we didn’t meet every goal overnight, but we did measurably improve, and our leader/follower relationship improved as well.

Robert E. Kelley, the author of The Power of Followership.

This book explores followership in two behavioral dimensions: independent and critical thinking (does the follower think for themselves) and active engagement (does the follower take initiative). These dimensions create a matrix that groups people into one of five categories, ranging from “passive follower” to “Exemplary followers.” There are a couple of key ideas from this book worth highlighting. 1) These categories are not static and unchanging. On any given day or project, any of us could find ourselves in one category or another. The point here is: where do we operate most days and on most projects? 2) Good followers should be candid with leadership. 3) Good followership is more closely aligned with a partnership between the leader and follower. In a sentence, Kelley asks: How independently does the follower think, and how actively does the follower engage?

Ira Chaleff, author of The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders.

This book explores followership along two dimensions: support for the leader and willingness to challenge the leader. These dimensions establish four groups of people, ranging from someone classified as a resource “low support/low challenge” to partners “high support/high challenge.” Similar to Kelley, Chaleff highlights the value of partnership between the leader and follower. In short, Chaleff asks: How much courage does the follower demonstrate in supporting and challenging the leader?

Followership is the Apprenticeship of Leadership.

As I reflect on my followership/leadership experience, in my opinion, true followership is the equivalent of an apprenticeship program for leadership positions. An apprentice observes, practices, receives feedback, makes mistakes, develops judgment, assumes greater responsibility, and repeats the process for each level of leadership achieved.

Effective followers learn by observing leaders, practicing leadership behaviors, accepting responsibility, seeking feedback, and exercising judgment. Over time, these experiences build the competence and confidence needed to lead others. Yet effective leaders never stop following; they continue to learn from those above, beside, and around them.

The Never-Ending Leader/Follower Cycle.

The last idea I would like to offer is something I learned when I first enlisted in the US Army. On day two in the Army, we were taught that we were now the leaders for everyone who joined the Army the day after us. This is an important idea because it reinforced the relationship between leaders and followers. We are all responsible for each other; those who came before us are our leaders/mentors, and those who followed us are our responsibility to lead and mentor; the cycle never ends.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, please be sure to check out the rest of this series: Chapter 5: The Leadership Domain KSAs and Self-Knowledge (coming soon).

Before moving on, feel free to use the checklist below to assess your readiness level.

Each item below is worth two points. Score yourself honestly; give yourself a point only if you can answer yes with confidence, not just in theory.

2.0 _____: Have you reflected on your leader/followership relationships? Reflection is an important part of growth and personal development.

2.0 _____: Have you had an honest conversation with your leader and/or followers to better assess your relationship? After reflection, an honest conversation is the second step in growth and personal development.

_____: Assessment Grade

4 = A · 3 = B · 2 = C · 1 or 0 = D

Wherever you land, this is your starting point, not your ceiling.

Followership is the Apprenticeship of Leadership

Stay Ready, My Friends.

Useful Resources:

Amazon Books:

The Power of Followership, by Robert E. Kelley, challenges the traditional leader-centric view of organizations and demonstrates that effective followership is essential to organizational success. Kelley provides a practical and thought-provoking framework for understanding how followers can think independently, take initiative, and contribute constructively to leadership and organizational effectiveness.

The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders, by Ira Chaleff, challenges the traditional view of followership, arguing that followers are partners who can strengthen their leaders and organizations. Chaleff emphasizes that courageous followership is a vital complement to effective leadership.

Article References:

Robert E. Kelley is a management professor and author of The Power of Followership, whose research reframed followership as an active, skill-based practice rather than passive compliance, introducing a two-dimensional model, independent critical thinking and active engagement, that classifies followers into five behavioral styles ranging from passive to exemplary.

Ira Chaleff is the author of The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders and a leading voice in followership studies, whose model plots followers along two dimensions, support for the leader and willingness to challenge the leader, arguing that the most effective followers act as partners to their leaders rather than subordinates.