Leaders and Followers: Building Stronger Organizations Through a Balanced Approach

The concept of leadership dominates organizational discourse. A quick search on Amazon reveals over 60,000 books on leadership, each dissecting the qualities, strategies, and traits that define great leaders. By contrast, there are only a few hundred books on followership, a term so overlooked it often feels like an afterthought. Yet, any leader’s success is inseparable from the role of followers. Without effective followership, leadership becomes little more than an impossible journey of chasing the future while dragging dead weight.

It’s time to illuminate the pivotal role of followership in organizational success. Followership is more than just a word. Merriam-Webster defines it as “the capacity or willingness to follow the leader.” But it’s not a simple follow-the-leader game; it’s a shared purpose that forms the critical link between leader and follower. Without this common goal, the relationship is dysfunctional from the start. Organizational size and complexity can amplify this vital link. The terms leader and follower are role descriptions, but both are essential, and each must fulfill its responsibilities to create synergy.

Consider the downfall of organizations like Nokia or General Electric, often cited as leadership failure cases. These companies suffered from more than just poor strategic decisions. Beneath the surface lay a failure of followership, where employees hesitated to challenge entrenched choices, adapt to market shifts, or execute innovative strategies. In contrast, the Apollo 11 mission offers a stellar example of effective followership, where unwavering commitment to shared goals turned an ambitious vision into a groundbreaking success. Similarly, Pixar’s creative teams thrive on open dialogue and constructive dissent, demonstrating that strong followership fuels innovation.

Why has followership been relegated to the shadows? Are we overlooking the essential role followers play in organizational success? Part of the leadership conundrum is not a lack of leadership skills but an undervaluing of followership. It’s time to shift the narrative and give followership the attention it deserves, emphasizing the urgency for a balanced approach. Let’s motivate ourselves to make this change.

Reframing the Leadership Narrative

Leadership has been glorified to the point where it often feels like an impossible standard to meet. Leaders are expected to be visionaries, problem-solvers, motivators, and ethical stewards while delivering results in increasingly complex environments. This broad scope of expectations often leads to role distraction and dilution, burdening leaders with responsibilities far beyond their core mission: taking the organization where it has never been. In this overloaded model, leaders are judged not only by their ability to achieve outcomes but also by their capacity to compensate for organizational dysfunction, including ineffective followership.

This imbalance creates systemic issues. Leaders who fail often exit with golden parachutes, while their followers bear the brunt of the consequences, including job losses and financial instability. The 2008 financial crisis provides a stark reminder: many leaders walked away with lucrative exit packages while employees and stakeholders suffered.

Organizations must recalibrate this dynamic. When leaders focus too heavily on internal agendas rather than external mission-driven goals, organizations transition from winning cultures to participation cultures. Priorities shift from achieving shared outcomes to personal interests and measuring activity, weakening organizational commitment to purpose. Rebalancing these dynamics is not a suggestion—it’s a necessity. HR professionals play a pivotal role here, helping to identify and develop potential followers, enhance followership skills, and facilitate cultural shifts. By collaborating with HR, leaders can ensure followership becomes an integral part of organizational strategy. Let’s commit to this goal.

The Case for Followership

Despite its critical importance, followership rarely features in conversations about organizational success. Effective followers translate leadership directives into actionable outcomes, yet their role is undervalued and underdeveloped. According to a 2020 Harvard Business Review study, organizations investing in leadership and followership training report higher employee engagement and better business outcomes. This highlights the missed opportunity: job interviews and professional development programs seldom assess or cultivate followership skills, perpetuating the myth that leadership alone drives success.

Followership is an active, engaged process that begins with the interview. Just as employers assess potential employees, followers should evaluate a leader’s leadership culture before accepting a role. Good followership requires clarity, mutual commitment, and accountability. Followers who stay in toxic environments without challenging the status quo share responsibility for their dissatisfaction.

The British Army ‘Followership’ Doctrine Note (2023) offers a compelling framework for cultivating followership. It emphasizes four key areas: Character (integrity, self-discipline, and loyalty), Action (self-management and professional standards), Team Considerations (collaboration, trust, and adaptability), and Task Considerations (critical thinking, disciplined initiative, and risk-taking). This structured approach demonstrates how followership can be systematically developed to complement leadership, ensuring alignment with organizational goals. Corporate environments can draw valuable lessons from such frameworks to foster cohesive, mission-oriented teams.

Developing followership potential begins with acknowledging it as a skill that requires intentional cultivation. SpaceX’s audacious mission to land a Super Heavy booster rocket exemplifies the impact of effective followership. While Elon Musk set the vision, his team’s dedication and ingenuity made the impossible reality. Similarly, Disney Imagineers’ commitment to transforming expected experiences into unimagined experiences showcases the creative engine that drives organizational success. These examples demonstrate how effective followership can turn ambitious visions into reality and drive organizational innovation.

Followership in a Digital World

Technology is transforming the workplace, and followership is no exception. The rise of digital assistants powered by artificial intelligence reshapes followership by automating tasks traditionally performed by humans. These tools enhance efficiency and highlight irreplaceable human qualities like creativity, empathy, and adaptability. For example, Salesforce’s Einstein AI helps sales teams prioritize leads, freeing human followers for strategic, relationship-building work.

However, over-reliance on technology poses risks. Complacency can emerge when human followers defer entirely to algorithms, potentially compromising critical judgment. Ethical concerns, such as biases in AI-driven decisions, become more pressing as digital tools gain prominence. For instance, hiring algorithms may inadvertently reinforce biases if not carefully monitored. It’s important to recognize these risks and ensure that technology is used to enhance, not replace human followership.

The coexistence of human and digital followers presents exciting opportunities. AI can enhance decision-making by providing data-driven insights, allowing human followers to focus on strategic endeavors. Leaders must foster a culture where human and digital capabilities complement each other, avoiding competition.

Preparing for a Hybrid Workforce

The integration of human and digital followers demands adaptability. Human followers must develop technological literacy and collaboration skills to thrive alongside digital tools. Leaders, in turn, must adopt a nuanced approach to maximizing hybrid teams, ensuring both human and digital contributions align with organizational values and missions.

Educational institutions and professional development programs must also adapt. Integrating courses on AI collaboration, ethical technology use, and adaptive thinking into curricula prepares individuals for the realities of a hybrid workforce. Organizations should provide ongoing training and mentorship to help followers navigate this evolving landscape.

Redefining the Leadership-Followership Balance

Rebalancing the dynamic between leadership and followership is critical for organizational success. This begins with recognizing followership as a skill that can be developed and celebrated. Organizations should invest in training programs that cultivate qualities like critical thinking, accountability, and collaboration. A conceptual framework for evaluating followership might include metrics such as alignment with organizational goals, proactive problem-solving, and team collaboration effectiveness. These metrics validate the importance of followership and provide actionable insights for improvement.

Leaders must evolve their thinking by prioritizing followership development. Patagonia’s culture of encouraging employees to challenge ideas and contribute meaningfully reflects the value of a balanced leadership-followership dynamic. By investing in followership, organizations build resilient teams equipped to navigate complexities.

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Leadership and followership are two sides of the same coin, each indispensable to organizational success. While leadership often takes center stage, followership deserves equal recognition and investment. Organizations can build stronger, more resilient teams by redefining the leader-follower dynamic and embracing technology.

So, how could you start? Perhaps take a page from a military playbook in how raw recruits are transformed into a highly organized unit. Teach followers the basics of shared outcomes, personal attributes, and required competencies. Teach team commitment and individual accountability and celebrate winning. Followership development doesn’t just happen. Predictable outcomes don’t just happen. Leaders determine what happens. Leaders can choose to live with what they inherit, or they can choose to invest in and develop the team they need.

Leadership ultimately sets the direction, but followership drives the engine of progress. Recognizing the value of both roles and preparing for their evolution in a hybrid workforce is not just a necessity—it is the path to lasting success. It is time to elevate followership to its rightful place in the organizational conversation, ensuring that leaders and followers are equipped to meet future challenges.