Courage: The ability to step
forward through fear
•Courage means accepting responsibility
•Courage often means nonconformity
•Courage means pushing beyond the comfort zone
•Courage means asking for what you want and saying
what you think
•Courage means fighting for what you believe
Whether leading or following, strive to
encourage, not discourage, those
around you.
Preface
• The closer we are to a situation in which
power is being abused, the more we are at
risk if we try to change it and the abuser
turns on us.
– People nearest to a situation often do nothing
– People farthest away wring their hands
• Proximity and courage are the critical
variables in the prevention of the abuse of
power
Dual responsibility (p.3)
•
To ultimately accept responsibility for
our organizations and the people they
serve:
1. Must understand our own power and how to
use it. Sources; who we serve and why
2. Must appreciate the value of leaders and
cherish the critical contributions they make.
Understand the forces that chisel away at
their creativity, good humor and resolve.
3. Must understand the seductiveness and
pitfalls of the power of leadership (influence)
Introduction and Chapter 1
• Courageous followership is built on the
foundation of courageous relationship
– The danger in the leader-follower relationship
is the assumption that the leader’s
interpretation must dominate
– View of hero-leaders/villain leaders vs. view of
common person heroes who stay true to their
own lights while helping leaders follow theirs.
Followers and leaders both orbit
around the purpose, followers do
not orbit around the leader. But if
the purpose is not clear and
motivating, leaders and followers
can only pursue their perceived
self-interest, not their common
interest.
Courage to assume responsibility
(look inside yourself first)
• Assume responsibility for themselves and the
organization
• Do not hold a paternalistic image of the leader or
the organization
• Initiate values-based, purposeful action to
improve processes
• The “authority” to initiate comes from the
courageous follower’s understanding and
ownership of the common purpose, and from
the needs of those the organization serves.
Courage to serve the leader
(look outside yourself)
• Assume new or additional responsibilities to
unburden the leader and serve the
organization
• Stand up for the leader and the tough
decisions a leader must make for the org. to
achieve its purpose
• Are as passionate as the leader in pursuing
the common purpose
• Stay alert for areas in which their strengths
complement the leader’s and assert
themselves in these areas.
Courage to challenge
• Give voice to the discomfort they feel when the
behaviors or policies of the leader or group
conflict with their sense of what is right with
respect to the purpose
• Willing to stand up, stand out, to risk rejection, to
initiate conflict in order to examine the actions
of the leader and group when appropriate
• Willing to deal with the emotions their challenge
evokes in the leader and group
• Value organizational harmony, but not at the
expense of the common purpose and their
integrity
Courage to participate in transformation
of the leader
• When behavior that jeopardizes the common
purpose remains unchanged, courageous followers
recognize the need for transformation
• Have to examine our own collusion with the leader’s
behavior, what we do that allows it to continue.
• The leader may be surrounded with advisors who have
a strong vested interest in the leader not changing the
status quo that is lining their pockets. They may attack
the follower who is championing change.
• Examine our own need for transformation and
become full participants in the change process
Courage to take moral action
• Know when it is time to take a stand that is
different than that of the leader’s. They
answer to a higher set of values.
• Stand may involve refusing to obey a direct
order, appealing to the next level of authority,
or tendering one’s own resignation
• These and other forms of moral action involve
personal risk, but service to the common
purpose justifies and sometimes demands
acting.
Paradox of followership
• Followers are accountable for their leaders.
• Have a clear internal vision of service and are
attracted to leaders that articulate and embody
its external manifestations.
• Remain fully accountable for their own actions.
• Perform two opposite roles:
– Implementer
– Challenger
• Must be willing to teach the leader.
Who does a follower serve?
• Follower is not synonymous with
subordinate.
• Resources of a group include its leader.
Follower is a leader’s steward every bit as
much as a leader is the follower’s steward.
• Levels of service, p. 16
Loyalty of a follower
• Both leaders and followers are entering
into a contract to pursue the common
purpose within the context of their values.
The loyalty of each is to the purpose
and to helping each other stay true to
that purpose.
Power in the L-F relationship
•
•
•
•
•
•
Of purpose
Of knowledge
Of personal history
Of faith in self
To speak the truth
To set a standard that
influences others
• To choose how to react in
a situation regardless of
the reaction of others
• To follow or not to follow
in a given direction
• Of relationships
• To communicate through
a variety of channels
• To organize others of like
mind
• To withdraw support if the
leadership’s actions
violate our values.
Value of the follower
• Interdependent with, not dependent
upon the leader.
• Dynamic followers are self motivated, not
leader motivated.
• Characteristics: cooperative,
collaborative, control their ego needs,
caring – perceive the needs of both the
leader and other group members and try
to form a bridge between them.
Courage of the follower
• An individual who is not afraid to speak and act
on the truth as she perceives it, despite external
inequities, is a force to be reckoned with.
• Courage implies risk
• Develop contingency plans
• Sources of courage: religious beliefs,
philosophy, role model, vision, vow from past
experience, event that tested us, conviction we
hold, value, empathy for others, self-esteem,
commitment to comrades, outrage felt toward
injustice.
• “Courage muscle” develops to the degree that
we exercise it.
Balance through relationship
•
•
Leaders are the flame that ignites action,
they generate and focus power; followers
are the guarantors of the beneficial use
of that power
Followers provide balance if they can
stand up to leaders. Two essential
elements of relationship:
1. Develop trust
2. Use that trust to speak honestly when
appropriate.
Mature relationships
• Conditioned for others to be responsible
for our behavior but we are not held
responsible for theirs.
• Immature leaders surround themselves
with followers that kowtow to them.
• Skillful followers confront a leader in a way
that simultaneously respects the
accomplished adult, preserves the adult’s
self-esteem, and challenges the immature
behavior.
Difference in elevation
• 70% of followers will not question a
leader’s point of view even when they feel
the leader is about to make a mistake.
Why?
• “King’s disease” – leaders lose touch with
reality.
Finding equal footing
• We are not our titles. We need not be
seduced, dazzled, or intimidated by the
symbols of higher office.
• See the leader as the individual that they
are; relate to the individual, not the title.
When the leader is not equal
• Deal with our own feelings
• Cover for the leader or let the leader
appear unprepared?
• Guiding principle should remain service to
the organization and its purpose.
• The mark of a great leader is the
development and growth of followers. The
mark of a great follower is the growth of
leaders.
Interpersonal Trust
• A state involving positive expectations
about another’s motives with respect to
oneself in situations entailing risk. A
willingness to be vulnerable to
another.
– A relatively stable attitude that
develops over time.
– Situational parameters
– History of the relationship
Antecedents of Trust: Trustworthiness
• Ability. Domain specific competence
• Benevolence. Extent to which a trustee is
believed to want to do good to the trustor,
aside from an egocentric profit motive.
Suggests affect (attachment to the trustor)
• Integrity. Trustee advocates and
practices principles that the trustor finds
acceptable. Practicing what one preaches
regardless of emotional or social pressure.
• When trust matters. Trustworthiness attributions are
affected by relational issues and become more
important when social bonds exist.
• How trust is influenced by actions of authorities.
Information about respect and standing with
authorities is the prime determinant of attributions of
trustworthiness.
• Meaning of trust. People respond to benevolent
intentions to a greater degree than they do to
competence when reacting to authorities. There is
no substitute for caring.
• Trust, when defined as positive intent rather than
calculated risk, is especially important during time of
crisis and conflict.
• Trust is a social resource. It takes time to build.
Meta-Analysis of Trust Research
(Dirks & Ferrin, 2002)
• Outcomes
– Attitudes
• Job Satisfaction
• Commitment
• Belief in
information
• Turnover
(negative)
– Citizenship
behaviors
– Job Performance
• Antecedents
– Leadership: Care and
Concern
– Organizational
Support
– Justice: fair treatment,
processes, and
outcomes
– Leadership: fair,
dependable, integrity