Leadership

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Who's Following?

This article is an excerpt from a current writing project about a balanced relationship between leaders and followers .

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I’ve read and heard that everything rises and falls on leadership. That without a visionary, strong, and committed leader things will inevitably fall apart. I agree, but some leaders have it harder than others. In fact, I’m willing to say that though it’s true that the individual organization will succeed primarily because of great leaders, I believe that organizations as a whole in the 21st century are suffering not simply because we have poor leaders, but because we have poor followers. A good friend told me once, what you sow in your life is what you get, unless of course it’s bad soil. This is true in any team, organization, relationship, even marriage - you harvest what you put in, unless the ground you put it in was no good in the first place.

It’s true that we need leaders (that’s why there are rows and rows of books trying to teach you how to lead and “release your leadership potential”.) But what if it’s not our turn to lead? What if this time we are supposed to follow? Who’s showing us how to be good followers?

It seems that we are always trying to get ahead. Even in studying leadership, we have pursued it to get ahead. It’s become an international disease, and it will be this reluctance (that has become a disability), that will bring every institution, even the well-meaning ones, down to its knees. As we invest in our capacity to lead, we have neglected (or avoided) the capacity for the other side of the “see-saw”. In fact, in recognition of our great need for good leaders, we have grown obsessed. And this obsession has sparked such a movement of building good leaders, that we are now finding ourselves without good people to follow.

The demand on leadership is higher than ever before. Strangely enough, it’s not because we’ve just all of a sudden found out that leadership is important, but because it’s getting harder to lead teams that have grown more and more self-centered. You remember the old saying, “too many chiefs, not enough Indians”? Such as is our gigantic modern American problem. How do we lead a nation that doesn’t know how to follow?

I believe that every issue of disunity of a group has its roots in self-centeredness. Whether it be in the part of the leader, who does not put the needs of the group ahead of his own, or in the part of the individual group members, who want their way above everyone else including the current leader. More companies, churches, marriages, bands, and team in general split because of the inability to follow than any other reason. Today’s organizations consist of individuals chomping at the bit to get ahead, be recognized, and make a profit, and the only reason why they tolerate the team environment where they are presently following is because they believe that their current state is just a steppingstone for them to accomplish their personal agendas.

I am not trying to take the responsibility and accountability away from leaders. Leaders are supremely responsible for everything that happens while they hold the position, and sometimes even long after their posts have been relinquished. My goal is to shift the view of “team” from one extreme to the middle ground, where there is an equal sense of the ownership of responsibility and shared roles within the organization. Where the leaders are not off the hook, but neither is the rest of the group. All are accountable for their positions, titles, contributions, and expectations. It means that the boss does everything he needs to do to serve, protect, lead, mold, strengthen, and direct his people, but the team also does what they have to do to support, follow, submit, embrace the mission and vision of the leader.

God Bless,
March M. Villareal

[email protected]
www.manswicked.com

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