Embracing Followership

Followership is Not New

May 1, 2017 by A.H., posted in reflections, study01, study12

I had a recent interaction with a website editor that made me smile.

In creating the content tags to be used for future posts, the editor didn’t want to include ‘followership’ as one possibility because it’s too new of a term and thus needs further development and explanation; he posited that readers will need instruction and understanding before they’ll connect with the concept.

Being personally passionate about the topic of followership, I must admit that my initial reaction was umbrage, a bit annoyed and aggrieved that something so intrinsic to life, work, and relationships could be thought to be too new to highlight. But eventually, as I reflected on the journey of ‘followership’, I smiled. Continue reading “Followership is Not New” →

At Our Best When We’re Out of Sync

April 22, 2017April 22, 2017 by A.H., posted in analogies, reflections, study02, study03, study07, study10

My wife and I are currently expecting the birth of our first child. As a result, we’re taking more walks than usual, in order to encourage our little one to make her arrival (see my video on the author page). We enjoy walking while holding hands, and my wife has made a keen observation: it’s most comfortable for us to walk together when we’re exactly out of step with one another. Continue reading “At Our Best When We’re Out of Sync” →

Encouraging Ownership

April 12, 2017 by A.H., posted in reflections, study04, study05

One sentiment that has led to unhelpful division between leadership and followership is to believe that leaders are the ones who have (and sell) the vision, while followers are the ones who work to fulfill it.

When the organization’s leadership is setup as the only ones through whom vision can flow (I was part of one such organization), there is an inherent disempowering of followers, and an implicit message that vision–and thus the ultimate driving force behind any endeavor–is the purview of the leaders alone. Continue reading “Encouraging Ownership” →

A Critical Oversight in ‘Team’

March 27, 2017 by A.H., posted in reflections, study01, study12

It’s often said: There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’. When we think about team, we’re supposed to think about the collective unit, a group joined together, without individual ambitions getting in the way.

But, we don’t actually do that.

Nor should we. Continue reading “A Critical Oversight in ‘Team’” →