The Inverse of Followership

We need REAL Leadership – not delusional followership!

I’m a slow learner, I’ll admit it! My first gig as a leadership and management consultant occurred in New Zealand exactly 40 years ago (I landed in New Zealand the day after Greg Chappell introduced a new bowling technique against the Kiwis!). For the next 40 years, along with my associates in Leadership at Work, I have been conducting leadership and management development workshops throughout Australia and indeed, in Europe and Asia.

Although our programs, designed to enhance both leadership and management skills, have received very positive feedback, repeat business and referrals, we sometimes query their absolute effectiveness. Studies conducted globally also imply that the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in such programs have not resulted in a commensurate return on investment.

We continue to run our leadership programs as we believe that people in positions of authority in organisations and workplaces deserve support in these matters. However, a shift in emphasis is now appropriate—a shift that encompasses those of us who are leaders within a family unit and those who are managers and team leaders within their organisation or community.

I recall one of the earlier definitions of leadership was “the inverse of followership”. In other words, if people are prepared to follow, then the person whom they are following must be a leader! Recent events globally, and in Australia, and now brought into sharp focus in the USA, have put the spotlight on followers. Be they Republican politicians still supporting the criminally delusional POTUS, party supporters and a range of others in the USA, we keep asking the question: WHY?

Our more recent focus has been on conducting workshops for people who act both as leaders of a team and followers of organisational executives. The emphasis of these workshops is ‘self-leadership’ and how this quality can assist in both your personal and professional life. Titled ‘Leadership in Life’, these workshops are now being expanded to cater for people who have a leadership role in their family or a followership role in their workplace. The workshops highlight the four conditions all leaders need to create in order to fulfil their role – and which all followers need to understand in order to engage with leaders in an effective manner. In our view, leadership is about creating the following four conditions:

• A clear understanding of the current reality;
• A vision of where you (and your family or team) are heading;
• A clear ethos, purpose and set of core values; and
• A strong sense of personal power.

For an exceedingly long time now, we have joined in the chorus clambering for better leadership in our political and business worlds. While we will continue to do so, we also believe society as a whole would benefit if more family leaders and organisational members at all levels were better informed about what it means to be a leader and how to apply the principles of self-leadership. The more we can understand and apply leadership in our own life, the more we will be able to shape the leaders of the future and recognise real leaders in our family and community.

Want to know more or give us your feedback, we invite you to contact us at www.leadershipatwork.com.au or call 0418 518 667.

Robert Re, Author – The Business of Life

The Business Of Life brings together the six timeless practices of organisational and personal effectiveness.

It explores the deep connection that exists between self-leadership and organisational leadership.