Why To Be a Best Leader become, First Be a Great Follower?
To differentiate leader from follower is difficult; they have several similarities as well as also have some differences. In leadership, one should have to take risk and lead the team; have ability to see opportunity that other cannot see. Both should be able to learn from someone or something. Leaders must be independent and isolated and should not rely on anyone but himself and have to be entrepreneurial, and make workplace culture better by working with generous purpose. So Now talking about, Why To Be a Best Leader become First Be a Great Follower?
Good leadership is needed to solve problems and to navigate unexpected circumstances Followers only need to be competent during the battle and must be able to carry out orders by their leader, with their own ability while at other times; they have no need to be that competent. They could ask for help from their friends but in contrast, Leader cannot ask for help from his followers or else his followers would consider him incompetent. Being a follower is easier than being a leader because leader has to be isolated and should have ability to solve his own problems.
Leadership can be as successful or effective or both
- Successful leadership but not effective: In this pattern, leader’s style may not compatible; but follower does the job because of leader’s power and position. They obey the command and follow his idea.
- Effective leadership: the followers may do the job willingly to cooperate because the leader’s request satisfies the follower’s needs or goal.
- Successful leadership: it emphasizes upon position, power and close supervision.
Characteristics of Good Followers
As leader, it is very important to know about that how to follow and how to lead. Many people believe that if you want to become a good leader then you must be a good follower.
Some characteristic about good follower:
- Well finisher: Good followers always concentrate on their task and complete their task according to preplanned.
- Clear vision: they understand their power and position and it is equally important to understand their role as a leader.
- Loyalty: Good followers always try to avoid telling bad things about their boss/leader in public. It does not means that they are completely agree with their boss/leader but only do not want to do things in public because to influence the public it is needed to become public loyal.
- Good followers are obedient enough and humble.
- Awareness of surrounding: Good follower is well aware of surrounding situations and people. They always try to learn about people behavior and their thinking and how they affect in his work and what is going wrong and then make changes according to demands.
- Own thinking: To becomes a good follower, you are able to think on your own and decide what is right and what is wrong. Good followers always take side to leader and support them when they are doing right.
A Great Leader as a Good Follower
Many qualities are same between leaders and followers. A great leader follows the same trait as followers do but change their style and do some modification in it. Great leader knows their boundary and limitation very well.
Good leadership is the golden key to get best performance. Need to imply your own clear sets of values and belief and also have to make clear vision for all. Develop some creative ideas for the organization to make changes and reach up to desire goal. From this perspective, leaders are always try that people follow the process and in this way leader always think themselves as a follower.
There is very important reason to leaders that they have to follow because no one can do it alone and have to create and utilize the energy, ideas and full potential of everyone.
Leadership requires a close study of human behavior. It is the people who are the factors of importance. There are many different points of view about leadership. One belief is that leadership has to be taught while some are of the view that leaders can’t be made by teaching or training. New Roles of Human Resource Management in Business Development.
In this modern age, new leaders are coming but most of them fail to cultivate their inner strength, ability to guide the people, to lead the people. There are three basic steps which are followed mostly in the process of training. Information is the first step, gets from simple reading and continuous study which then converted into knowledge.
Wisdom is the transformation of knowledge. Trained person has to be able to transfer the knowledge into the practice. As a result of training, one should become more self-confident. On receiving training, knowledgeable person becomes capable of taking his own decisions and at this stage; person visualizes the truth-real understanding.
There are few requirements to reach to the truth, in ascending direction that are desire to learn, listening to the teacher, learning, retention, understanding, reflection, rejection of false views and truth.
Human relationship gains the most attraction for a leader for the obvious reasons that the leader leads people. For any business, workforce is the basic requirement and for accomplishment leader has to understand people.
Common logic reason behind the successful leader is the development of proper appreciation human nature. For this, one should have enough confidence and has to explain to other members about task and targets and how that can be accomplished.
Leader should also explain the subordinates about their position and also impact of success or failure on the ultimate goal. If the goal achieved, that is a success of team not a success of leader alone. Leadership Explained by the Internet.
The leader has to do the required morale boosting apart from handling the work and must to be in touch with his people. It is necessary to show adequate interest in their personal problems. It is better for his people must perceive as their leader becomes the real guardian of their interests.
This is necessity to do this as it helps to maintain respective distance from the people. This concept of distant has been mostly appreciated, and understood by successful leader.
Thus, taking an overall view, the leader has to be a dynamic person and should have capability to turn the adversity in his favors and to gain this. The leader must have the capacity to concentrate, and focus attention on the goal with an aptitude to take timely decisions and have to be sincere in his dealing. He has to show his faithfulness and loyalty towards his mission and the people, and should possess a fair knowledge of his job and profession. Be The Change You Want to See in The World.
So what does a great follower look like? I would suggest great followers share at least five characteristics:
- They are clear: They understand their role, You can’t be a good follower unless you have clearly identified the leader. While you may be a leader in your own realm, everyone has a boss including you. Great followers not only accept this fact, they embrace it.
- They are obedient: While obedience may be a politically incorrect concept, it is essential for organizational effectiveness. No one should be allowed to give orders who can’t obey orders. This is how great leaders model the standards of acceptable behavior to their own followers.
- They are servants: This is crucial, Great followers are observant. They notice what needs to be done to help the leader accomplish his or her goals. Then they do it joyfully, without grumbling or complaining.
- They are humble: Great followers don’t make it about them, he/she also to be humble, shine the light on the leader, make their own boss look good especially in front of his or her boss.
- They are loyal: I have written on this before, Great followers never speak ill of their boss in public. This doesn’t mean they can’t disagree or even criticize. “Yes” people aren’t very helpful in the long run. It just means that they don’t do it in public. Great followers understand that public loyalty leads to private influence.
Many Thinks, Why To Be a Best Leader become First Be a Great Follower?
The Mark Zuckerberg’s of this world corporate leaders propelled into their positions because of what they created are few and far between. Most leaders start in much humbler, entry-level positions and work their way up the corporate ladder, and this is a good thing. Emerging leaders who work their way up learn about what motivates them and their co-workers. They also learn about what makes a team work well together to achieve goals. They also learn what good and not so good leadership is, and this allows them to develop empathy and compassion for those they will one day lead. In essence, they learn key “follower-ship” lessons that will serve them well when they become leaders.
According to Barbara Kellerman, a leadership lecturer at Harvard University, there is a lot a person can learn about being a good leader by being a good follower. Good followers, she says, are passionately committed and deeply involved. They actively support a good leader (one who is effective and ethical). Do Good Always! Bad followers, on the other hand, do nothing to contribute to the group or the organization.
Good followers learn to “read” their colleagues, co-workers, customers, and other audiences. They understand what motivates them and what upsets them, skills that they can use when they become leaders. Good followers also learn important diplomacy skills, like the ability to get along well with others while not ignoring differences for example, working well with a colleague who has different political beliefs. Good followers also need to learn to be courageous. Kellerman notes that good followers can aid the leader when he or she is doing the right thing but they also have to have the courage to stand up to the leader if he or she is doing something wrong (Moran, 2014).
Good followers also learn important collaboration skills that will serve them well as leaders-Good followers and good leaders understand that followers (good and bad) can make or break a leader by influencing how and what goals get achieved-Good followers will assist their leaders in achieving goals. Bad followers can actively sabotage the achievement of goals (Moran, 2014). Good followers also learn to think for themselves and will stand up to a leader who may be heading in the wrong direction (Moran, 2014).
Being a good follower does not end when one becomes a leader. It is important that emerging leaders understand that they must continue to practice good follower-ship in their leadership roles; they become good follower-ship leaders. During a keynote speech in 2012, former HP executive vice president Vyomesh Joshi said the key to being a great leader was to practice good follower-ship. In other words, leaders who have been good followers and who practice good follower-ship principles as leaders understand how to work with people to bring out the best in them.
