Good Followers

TGI Friday everyone! I love Fridays because I can afford to sleep late at night since I don't have to wake up early on Saturday. My mum also come back home earlier on Saturdays and it's been fun having her around.

I and my colleague were discussing different leadership styles yesterday, what we expect from our leaders and how they carry out their duties. While thinking of it earlier today, I realise there's a lot of talk about what a good leader should be like but little about how one can be a good follower.

Everyone is a follower in one way or the other. We may be followers under our president, lecturers, bosses, parents, older siblings etc. As a follower, you will tend to expect a lot from the leaders. You will want them to do things for you and satisfy everyone but some people make their jobs difficult to carry out because they are not holding things up on their end. It's easy to demand for things and want it to happen and on time but even followers have a role to play. So today we'll be talking about the characteristics of a good Follower.

COMPETENCE

A good Follower is one who will follow the directions of a leader and do a good job. A leader is usually put to blame when a job is not well done and for this reason, a lot of followers do not feel like it is their responsibility to carry their duties out effectively since the blame will not be on them; they believe they are "helping" the leader with whatever they do. So, a good follower should not have that mindset. A job belongs to the whole team and everyone should play their part. A good follower should do what they can do best, they should not go after other things they are not good at just because it looks good.

LEARN

We are in a constant state of learning and we should be able to embrace the opportunity to learn something new. A good follower should be willing to listen and learn from their leader and even their fellow followers. They should also try to gain skills that will help the team in other to boost their progress. This will make you a good follower and in turn, a good leader.

SUPPORTIVE

A good follower should be ready to support the leader in their endeavours as their win is a win for the team. They should show up for the leader when necessary to ensure the progress and development of the team.

RESPECTFUL

A good follower has to respect their leader. Respect for constituted authority is a value everyone should have as this ensures that things are going smoothly and the team will be able to achieve their goals timely and efficiently.

COURAGEOUS

A good follow however respectful should still be able to have the courage to call a leader out on their excesses. The leader might not make the best decisions sometimes or might even go rouge. A good follower must therefore be able to raise any concerns they have both about the leader or the work or other followers.

TAKE INITIATIVE

A good follower doesn't always have to wait till they are told what to do. They are able to try to figure things out and work with little to no supervision. When they see something that needs to be done, they do it without waiting for instructions. They are helpful and always do all that is expected of them. A good follower therefore takes the initiative to keep things moving and make things work.

PARTICIPATE

A good follow must participate on the activities of the team. You can not be a good follower in you a only there as a figure head. You have to do what you are expected to do in order for the team to achieve their goals. A good follower can participate by joining in voting in good and competent leaders, by doing the work assigned to them by the leaders, by helping out other followers who need it and by making suggestions where necessary rather than sitting back and watching things go bad.

I hope these points are useful. Have a wonderful day!