Act As Leader Even If You Are Follower
Sunday, January 22, 2012, 2:00 AM | Leave Comment
I don’t know what the ratio between a leader and followers would be but I guess it can be one leader to the nth power of followers. Followers are easy to find – the whole world is full of them, billions of them. The leader can be one who is followed by many. To be sure, not everyone can become a leader.
However, the leader’s qualities have changed in recent times for the better and followers have some say in it. They do not want leaders who are full of authoritative ideas and who impose new management techniques on others. Leaders must have old-fashioned values but should respect talents and contributions given by followers.
Followers want leaders who are creative but can take risks. They reject leaders who are intimidating or manipulative. They want to be recognized fully in the development and progress of the organization.
Hierarchical vs Team Structure
To be fair, not all leaders are alike. Some are just as bad as anybody can be. The C-Level executives are not always the best leaders. Sometimes you feel like they need more training and education than their followers.
There are some organizations where there still exists hierarchical structure. In today’s more modern organizations, we find team structures with more than one leader. So in that kind of set up, followers can have chances to become leaders more easily than in organizations where there is hierarchical structure.
Superficial or Real Differences?
Having said that, there are distinct differences between leaders and followers which has created a huge gap between the two groups. Leaders and followers must narrow down the gulf between them. Leaders must give training to followers and encourage them to pick up continuing education.
Think about the following differences and see where you, as leader, can adapt to them and those as followers can change their attitudes and mindset to not blindly follow their leaders. These differences can be considered superficial or they can turn out to be a reality that we mostly face in our organizations.
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When true leaders make a mistake, they are not embarrassed by it. On the contrary they learn their lesson and try not to repeat it. When followers make a mistake, they are hesitant to admit it. Instead, they try to blame it on others. However, not every leader believes this though.
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A true leader works harder and smarter than a follower and has more time on hand. A follower is always too busy to even think and do what is necessary.
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A true leader tries to solve a problem. A follower goes around it and never directly attempts to solve it.
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A true leader makes commitments and always tries to keep them . A follower, on the other hand, makes and forgets promises.
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A true leader always strives to be the best whereas a follower believes other folks are as bad or worse.
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True Leaders always listen. Followers talk more than they listen.
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True Leaders give respect to those who are superior to them and always try to learn something from them. Most followers have always resented those who are superior to them.
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True Leaders feel responsible for more than their job and for more than their pay. Followers are content to work for the hours and money they are hired for.
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True leaders always try to find the best way to do the job they were held responsible for. Followers stay with the way the job has always been done before.
In a Nutshell
All followers can develop leadership qualities with training and education. Monitoring your own leadership qualities and working with those around you can lead you to become one of the best leaders in the organization. Some experts have defined leadership as a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.
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