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I was asked a very interesting question over the weekend; What happens when those that are following want to lead too? I asked for clarification and the question came from the idea of the run I describe in my post on January 9, 2009. In it, I describe my normal process of selecting a route to run. My friend, and frequent running partner Rex, wanted to know what happens when somebody is running with me and they want to run a different route than the one I selected for the day. He was likening the real life work experience of having people want to lead when they are expected to follow. He said it is very easy to run a course by yourself but more difficult to get people to follow you on your chosen course.

His question caused me to think a lot about the whole idea of leadership. I don't think we can call ourselves leaders if nobody is following us. And I don't think we can ever become a good leader if we don't learn to follow. Yet rarely do we hear about the characteristics of a good follower. To illustrate my point, I did a google search this morning on the term leadership and discovered that there were 163,000,000 hits on this term. I then did a search on followership and found that it had only 148,000 hits. That is quite a significant difference. It demonstrates what I already thought – everybody wants to be a leader, but very few people want to be a follower.

Ok so I identified the obvious now my question is so what? Rex wanted to know what I do when somebody who I am suppose to be the leader of decides that they want to do things their own way. It was more than the person wanted to be a leader. I think he meant that, for whatever reason, the person did now want to be a follower. Depending on the circumstances, this may or may not be a problem.

It is a problem in a corporate setting when an employee does not willingly follow the line of legitimate authority. When I am working with a client who is experiencing this type of challenge I see just how difficult this can really be. But this is where I ask, "whose problem is this?" and "as a leader, what is your contribution to this problem?" 

Most people understand that it is career suicide to willingly disobey a boss. The circumstances must be pretty bad for someone to actually do that. When this happens I want to look for my contribution because it is really the only thing I can change. I am not responsible for everything, the person involved also is contributing to the problem, but I cannot change him or her. I can only change me. So the real question I ask myself is – "am I behaving in a way worth following?"

Developing a following requires a lot of work. People do not follow for very long just because they have to do it. They want and deserve a leader worth following. My primary job as a leader is to develop behaviors and characteristics that outstanding leaders possess. Sometimes is is uncomfortable to be a leader and that is why many people choose to pass when leadership opportunities come their way. In order to thrive as a leader I must be willing to grow in ways that are sometimes difficult to see. And, when I see them they are usually even more difficult to accept that I need to grow in that area.