Followers and Respect

Disciplines > Leadership > Followership > Followers and Respect

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When a person is evaluating a situation and deciding whether to collaborate (and hence become a follower), they judge both the leader and also the solution the leader is offering to determine what action they will take.

The resulting style of followership can be displayed in this grid:

Respect for the leader

When the leader is respected, which means they are at the very least trusted and probably liked as well, then this enables the leader to make proposals that followers will take seriously.

If the respect for the leader is strong, then the followers will likely accept the solution being offered, even if they are not that convinced by the arguments that the leader is putting forward.

If the leader is not respected, then people will follow them only if they see no other viable choice.

Respect for the solution

When the solution is respected, then the respect for the leader is not as important, although if the leader is not respected then the followers may doubt the ability of the leader to make the right choices along the way. Blind hope is what happens when they cross their fingers and hope that the leader will not make mistakes.

The best outcome, of course, is both that the leader is respected and also that the solution they are proposing is also respected, in which followers will buy powerfully into the solution.

See also

Trust principle, Logic principle