Leading by Following: Mastering the Underrated Art

Like any great organization, the military offers countless programs to develop leaders. Without good leaders, the mission will fail. At all our Professional Military Academies, at every level, we teach leadership. However, we rarely spend time on an equally important topic—followership. It doesn’t matter how high in any organization you go; we are all followers and leaders. Several characteristics make someone a good follower, and we fail as an organization by not exploring them. And we can explore followership without diminishing our ability to lead. Being a good follower will make you an even better leader. Focusing on followership has always come secondary to leadership because it feels like we are subordinating ourselves to someone else when we are all followers. Shouldn’t we want to grow as followers and thus become valuable members of the team?

Let’s focus on three followership skills that one can teach. If applied, they will allow you to become the follower every leader wants on their team.

1. Competence: You should want to become a subject matter expert in both your area of technical expertise and organizational competencies. Technical expertise is your job; it is what you are paid to do. Organizational competencies are the organization’s inner workings, such as the evaluation system, promotions, awards, etc.

2. Communication: Master the art of communication in spoken and written words. You want to be understood no matter how you communicate.

3. Commitment: Support your leadership’s decisions. No leader wants you and your team to fail. If the leader has made a decision that is not illegal, immoral, or unethical and does not hinder the mission, then the default should be to support it and make it happen.

These three character traits are teachable skills. With the appropriate focus, anyone can grow their competence, communication, and commitment.

Competence:

Does anyone want to be known as incompetent? To become competent from the first day at a new job, you should learn as much as possible about the job. Good followers seek new opportunities to gain experience and develop their technical skills. You get better at your job by doing your job. If your job has technical manuals, you can also spend time reading to understand them. Once you have a baseline understanding, you will learn more when training others on tasks and procedures. The same goes for developing your organizational competencies. Take the time to learn everything you can by reading the applicable guidance. When you have a problem, take it upon yourself to find a solution before asking for help.

Part of being a good follower is preventing and solving problems without supervision. Subordinates earn micromanagement when they are incompetent. Solving problems at the lowest level unburdens higher leaders and allows them to focus on future issues that could impact the team’s success. Competence will build trust with your leadership and will likely result in greater freedom to operate, allowing you to make more decisions.

Communication:

Does anyone want to be misunderstood when they speak or write? Consistent reading and writing can help develop communication skills. When communicating, it is essential to remember who your audience is and what you are trying to convey. All communication should be as simple as possible to aid in understanding. These are the keys to becoming more articulate.

Good followers must be able to communicate up and down the chain of command. When a follower communicates well, they can articulate the team’s needs to their leaders so that they will understand the importance of the request. This up-the-chain-of-command communication will likely result in the team receiving what is needed to accomplish the mission. Additionally, the ability to be understood down and across the organization will enhance clarity and unity, thus building mutual understanding of what it means for mission success.

Commitment:

Good followers are loyal to their leaders. No leader wants their team to fail the mission or make life harder for their teams. If the leader wants to make a decision that is not illegal, immoral, unethical, or hindering the mission, then the follower must support that decision. If the follower disagrees with the decision, they should privately articulate their opinion to the leader. However, if the follower cannot persuade the leader to change their mind, then the follower must support the leader’s decision. Followers must commit to a shared mission with their leaders. This shared commitment will create unity of effort, enhancing the teamwork between leader and follower.

Call to Action:

By combining all three skills, we create a teammate who knows the job well, can communicate up and down the chain of command, and is committed to the team’s success. Being a good follower is not demeaning; it enhances an organization’s ability to excel. We must never lose focus on being good followers; our leaders and teammates deserve that. These three skills—competence, communication, and commitment—will make you a better leader. A team with these skills will have strong mutual trust and understanding that will enable that team to be unstoppable. Let’s talk more about followership with our teams.