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School for Followership





School for Followership 

If you follow leadership path long enough, the region you end up is called followership. But, should we follow it forwards or backwards? It depends on which side of the term ‘leadership’ you exist in the discourse. In an age where lots of common enough behaviour patterns and mundane human qualities are touted as big skills for the 21st century, it will bring rich dividends if we establish a school for followership. It is a big trait which our brethren are left without today. Every political (and otherwise) stage of today which is teeming with multitudes of leaders is an ample testimony to the dearth of the spirit of followership among us. 

The most visible aftereffects of the paucity of followership traits can be found in politics. The reason could be that there is no systematic ladder which will smoothly take you up to leadership positions in the world of politics. That world is a fairly unpredictable potholed stretch without clear directions or sign boards. The rights and wrongs are all mixed up there and tact is the most important virtue required to hold on. When the media is after the politics in a merciless manner, every turn taken by the political worker can spell bliss or doom, often depending on the whims of the media too. 

But still, politics is exactly the field where followership is most needed. The most crowded stages found today are the venues of political gatherings where each ‘leader’, big, small or medium, would like to possess a piece of the lime light by getting on to the stage. They would like to be seen seated with the big ones and , if possible, rubbing shoulders with them. Since the credibility of politics as an art has taken such a beating in the conscience of the public, rather unfortunately, the number of people on the dais is on the rise, and the number of people in front of the dais is on the decline. More leaders and les followers. More, perhaps, aspiring leaders, and less actual listeners. Does it forebode a good state of affairs in a community?

 Equally significant is the fact that all the organizations today, whether corporate or NGO, are zeroing in on leadership skill as the key skill of the age. I wonder whether this has broken the tipping point and we have lost the equilibrium necessary between leading and following in a society, so that the cacophony of the leadership is jarring the conscience of the country. Even the factionalism which is so rampant in the country could probably be attributed to this ubiquitous self belief where all are found by themselves worthy of leading. 

Lead and follow are two acts which are complementary. To lead one has to follow, and to follow one has to lead. Just like we ask, ‘how followable is a leader, we need to ask how leadable is a follower too. This is not to suggest that a good follower will always be an effective leader too. But for sure, a good leader can’t but be a good follower. A follower has to be patient, to begin with. But are we running out of patience? The rages of temper we witness around suggest that people are finding it hard to think twice before they shoot their mouths and shoes off. Are people in a hurry to lead? Can each one lead? 

It is a bottom necessity of a community that some lead while some are lead. While it is significant that a community should possess effective leadership, it need not be stated that with none to follow the leadership is a void. 

Self knowledge is vital for a good follower. One should know what one is worth. One should know what one can achieve. One should know what one is not worth too! The limits of achievability and otherwise help one to know the value of being and not being a leader.
There was a time when leadership was a lonely road. It is no longer so as the multiplicity of leaders have made it so level playing a field that too much play happens up there. The system thus either turns too pliant a one or one in which a predictable logjam happens. It is a fact that both, too much of lubrication and a stuck up scenario, can result in a non-productive deadlock.
Discipline is an integral aspect of followership. Without a consciousness of the sense of responsibility that one owes to the group and to the higher ups on the social / professional ladder, followership perishes. 





Will a community which comprises fully of leaders come down under the weight of its on contradiction?



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