Followership as a Role

3.2 Discussion: Five Dimensions of Courageous Followership

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Getting Started

While there are a few follower styles or typologies (Kelley, Kellerman, and  Lipman-Blumen(new tab)  each created such models), this week we are going to examine Chaleff's five behaviors of courageous followership as well as his model of follower styles. In the assigned reading and viewing, we will consider the extent to which these concepts serve as both support for as well as a challenge to leaders.

In the  Why Explore Followership(PowerPoint presentation) ? Powerpoint, we see five specific behaviors that Chaleff argues are important if followers are to courageously engage in their organizations:

1. Assume responsibility for common purpose

2. Support leader and group energetically

3. Constructively challenge counterproductive policies and behaviors

4. Participate in personal and organizational transformation

5. Take moral action if needed

The assigned article by Chaleff further expands on the roles that followers serve in helping organizations to meet their goals.

Chaleff’s follower styles are illustrated in a four-quadrant grid. You will learn much more about these styles in Assignment 3.3 when you complete Chaleff’s Follower Style Assessment. Chaleff wrote about three key takeaways from his model:

1. Followers do not serve leaders. Rather, leaders and followers both serve the common purpose or mission, within a shared set of values. This construct emphasizes service to the mission and de-emphasizes the power differential inherent in hierarchical relationships, without dismissing the reality of that differential.

2. There are five sets of behaviors that comprise courageous followership per the model:

- The courage to assume responsibility

- The courage to support the leader

- The courage to challenge unproductive behaviors or policies of the leader

- The courage to participate in the transformation

- The courage to take a moral stand

Of these, a dissertation by Phyllis Rich found that the courage to assume responsibility is the followership behavior most valued by leaders.

The four styles of followership derived from the model depend on the mixture of the courage to support and the courage to question or challenge. A follower who exhibits both high support for the leader's initiatives and a high willingness to question or challenge counterproductive behavior or policy is assuming the "partner style" of followership.

3. "Follower' is not a personality type. It is a role, and everyone in organizational life sometimes plays the follower role, and sometimes plays a leader role. Playing both roles with commitment, courage, and integrity are needed to produce a benign and successful use of power.

Upon successful completion of this discussion, you will be able to:

· Explain key dimensions of followership and resulting typologies.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. Review the information in the Getting Started and Background Information sections.

3. In your initial discussion post (250–300 words), reflect upon the five behaviors of courageous followership from your review of the assigned materials. In your initial post, respond to the following: How would you rank the five behaviors from least difficult to most difficult, based on your own followership of your leader(s)? Explain your rationale for your ranking, then discuss which, if any, you might wish to better develop and how you would go about doing so.

4. Initial posts are due no later than Day Four of the workshop week.

5. Respond to at least two others’ postings (150–200 words each) on two different days, by the end of the workshop. Simply responding with a sentence that reflects agreement with others’ postings is not an acceptable response. Instead, be sure to advance the discussion. In other words, build upon what has been posted so that our collective learning is enriched.

6. Be sure to incorporate at least two additional sources beyond assigned material in this course.