Why is courageous followership needed today?
We need to look no further than recent headlines, where we have been witness to some of the more horrendous examples of failed leadership in decades. These devastating events and many smaller ones could have been prevented or mitigated if those lower in the hierarchy had been able to effectively alert their leaders to the risks they saw from their level.
When practiced effectively, followership acts as a counterpart to leadership, enhancing an organization's, a community's and a nation's likelihood for success. Everyone is a follower at least some of the time and needs to effectively partner with leaders. That can result in increased support for leaders, reduced dissatisfaction and cynicism, and save us all from the consequences of serious missteps through proactive, honest feedback.
Our attitude toward rules is critical:
It is not ethical to break rules for simple convenience or for personal gain, but neither is it ethical to comply with or enforce rules if they impede the accomplishment of the organization's purpose, the organization's values, or basic human decency.
A courageous follower assumes responsibility in dilemmas where rules impede service and is willing to bend, circumvent or break the rules to get things done.
It is a great challenge to help a group escape the limits of its current rules or mind-set; we are asking the group to make a leap into territory it doesn't even realize exists. Courageous followers who wish to present a new paradigm must carefully prepare the group to receive it, or they will be met with blank stares and quick rejections. The group doesn't have a framework on which to register and evaluate the ideas. However, once group awareness is created, a courageous follower can enlist the group's energy to begin exploring new possibilities.
We need to give leaders feedback with the same care we prepare them for it. Poorly given feedback can be received as an attack rather than a caring act. When giving feedback about behavior, we must clearly state:
What the specific behavior is, what adverse effects it is causing, and how serious the potential consequences are should the behavior continue.
To reduce defensiveness, it is more effective to make statements relating how the person giving the feedback feels; "I" statements are truer and more effective. They don't sound accusatory so are less likely to trigger defensiveness.
When a leader is engaged in transformation, old ways of doing things become insupportable and start to break down. The leader begins searching for new ways of doing things. Models become important.
A leader must be able to empathize with real people and not just serve abstractions. It is a mistake for a follower whose leader is shut off from feelings to allow the leader to become the model for feeling behavior in the group.
Instead, a courageous follower will model for the leader how to contact feelings and will demonstrate the difference between compassion and weakness. A follower must listen carefully to his feelings about the leader's words and actions, and report those feelings to the leader as he would describe visual events to a person who has lost his sight.
Speaking Up in MutiLevel Meetings
At times we find ourselves in situations in which the hierarchy is all present in a room or around a real or virtual table. The first rule in situations where several levels in the chain of command are present is: don't embarrass anyone.
Appropriate deference to their position without weakening your own presence or contribution is both artful and crucial: "Sir, you are making a good point. There is some additional data that may warrant our reconsidering that conclusion."
You can also couch a point using the socially acceptable device of asking to "play devil's advocate." This is a linguistic package that conveys "There may be another way to look at this that could avoid unforeseen trouble." If not overused, it tends to help the leaders and group accept the divergent perspective as good group process rather than as a personal challenge. "With the group's permission, may I play devil's advocate?"
Growth in both the leader and follower roles requires consciousness of how we perform them now and how we might perform them better in the future. As a follower, do not place too much blame on leaders for what is wrong; and as a leader, do not place too much blame on followers. Each has the capacity to influence and improve the other. Work to develop the courage and skill to use this capacity effectively.
Source: Ira Chaleff: The Courageous Follower: Standing Up to and for Our Leaders