1.4 The Leader-Follower Relationship

Followership is crucial for organizational success, complementing leadership by implementing visions and providing feedback. Effective followers demonstrate self-management, commitment, competence, focus, and courage to challenge constructively, as seen in practices like Google's "20% time" policy.

Leader-follower relationships are interdependent, involving mutual influence and clear communication. Trust-building strategies include transparency, consistency, empathy, recognition, and empowerment. Power dynamics in leadership encompass various types of power and influence tactics, shaping organizational culture and employee engagement.

Understanding Followership and Leader-Follower Dynamics

Concept of followership

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• Followership actively supports and implements leader's vision, complements leadership role, essential for organizational success (Google's "20% time" policy)
• Importance in leadership enables effective execution of strategies, provides feedback to leaders, contributes to organizational goals (Toyota's Kaizen system)
• Effective followers demonstrate self-management, commitment to organization, competence, focus, courage to challenge constructively (Whistleblowers)

Leader-follower relationship dynamics

• Interdependence involves mutual influence between leaders and followers, reciprocal relationship nature (360-degree feedback)
• Communication patterns include upward and downward communication, feedback loops (Open-door policies)
• Role clarity defines expectations for leaders and followers, aligns goals and objectives (SMART goals)
• Situational factors affect context-dependent interactions, require adaptability in different environments (Remote work transitions)

Building Trust and Managing Power in Leader-Follower Relationships

Trust-building strategies for leaders

• Transparency promotes open communication, shares information and decision-making processes (Town hall meetings)
• Consistency ensures reliable behavior and decision-making, follows through on commitments (Regular performance reviews)
• Empathy understands followers' perspectives, demonstrates genuine concern for well-being (Employee assistance programs)
• Recognition acknowledges contributions, provides constructive feedback (Employee of the month programs)
• Empowerment delegates responsibilities, encourages initiative and autonomy (Self-managed teams)

Power and influence in leadership

• Types of power include:
  • Legitimate power from positional authority
  • Reward power
  • Coercive power
  • Expert power
  • Referent power (Charismatic leaders)
• Influence tactics employ persuasion, consultation, inspiration, collaboration (Transformational leadership)
• Power dynamics balance power between leaders and followers, potential for power abuse (Checks and balances)
• Ethical considerations emphasize responsible use of power, accountability in leadership (Corporate governance)
• Follower responses to power include compliance, identification, internalization (Organizational citizenship behavior)
• Impact on organizational culture shapes norms and values, affects employee engagement and motivation (Company values statements)