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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