I just listened to a lecture by our former Dean at the UofL College of Business, Dr. Robert Taylor. He is now with the Oliver Group, one of our Professional Advisor Members.
The topic was “Leadership and Followership.” Leaders need to cultivate good followership amongst their followers in order to be effective. How do you do that? First you have to model the behaviors you are looking for.
Followers get in up front, make their wants and needs known. They get UP FRONT. This means they let their leaders know things like “This is what I expect, this how my group can succeed. This is what I need.” Wouldn’t your job as a leader be a lot easier if your followers gave you that kind of information, and, dare I say, guidance?
Good followers are just as important as good leaders. After all, we can’t all be leaders, can we? (Try telling that to a group of PTA parents!) But followers are in no way passive. Indeed, once the follower has expressed their wants and needs, then they must have the ability to negotiate and compromise, ultimately for the benefit of the organization. They ask questions like “How can we as followers agree with each other as to how we will share the resources? What is the good of the whole so we can succeed as a group?” Think of how powerful this notion becomes in the context of a family business.
There are many styles of followership, just as there are many styles of leadership. As a family business, you will need both good leaders and good followers. If you are a next generation leader of a family business, identify your style and remember, being a good follower can be just as valuable to the health and sustainability of the family business as being a good leader! The Family Business Center can help you determine what your style is.
Parents know which children have good “followership” qualities and which ones have good leadership qualities. But remember, leaders and followers are essentially MADE, not BORN. While children may demonstrate these innate abilities and skills, they still need training, coaching, and skill development in order to maximize their overall impact on the organization. Encouraging pride in and rewarding followership may also require a profound cultural shift in an organization dominated by King Dad. But keep in mind that collaborative leadership is the way of the future, and healthy family businesses will be well positioned to adopt to these changes.
Tagged: family business, followership, leadership, next generation, parents
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