Summary PIO / Faris Dzikrur Rahman
/ 29317008
What Every Leader Needs to Know About
Followers
Good leadership is the stuff of countless
courses, workshops, books, and articles.
But overtime, the behavior of the followers
change. Nowadays, they don’t just have a
similar type of things. Rather, they are
pretty diverse and dynamic type of
followers, in which the leader should try to
understand and appreciate the differences
among subordinates. In this article, Barbara
Kellerman categorize followers as:
1. Isolates  These followers are
scarcely aware of what is going on
around them. These types of
followers passively support the
status quo and strengthen leaders
who already have the upper hand.
As a result, isolates can drag down
their groups or organization.
2. Bystanders  These free riders
deliberately stand aside and
disengage, both from their leaders
and from their groups or
organizations. Like isolates,
bystanders can drag down the rest
of the group or organization.
3. Participants  Participants are
engaged in some way. They care
enough to invest some of what they
have to try to make an impact. They
were driven by their own passions,
not necessiraly by senior managers.
They are the fuel that drives the
engine.
4. Activists  Activists feel strongly
one way or another about their
leaders and organizations, and they
act accordingly. They are heavily
invested in people and processes,
so they work hadr either on behalf
of their leaders or to undermine
and even unseat them. Activists
who strongly support their leaders
and managers can be important
allies.
5. Die hards  diehard are prepared
to go down for their cause, whether
is’s an individual, an idea, or both.
They exhibit an all consuming
dedication to someone or
something they deem worthy.
Sometimes diehards can be found
in more ordinary circumstances,
even in traditional organizations in
which they are motivated to act in
ways judged by others.
Each category has its own attributes and
contribution to the organization.
Defining Leadership
Leadership is a relity that people accept
(even long for), but rarely understand
enough to describe. Defining leadership not
as quality, technique, or methodology, but
rather describing leadership as a
philosophy, in no way implies leadership is
something we can not learn or apply. One
useful difference between management
and leadership that other authors
sometimes make is the idea that headship
is not always leadership. Leadership is the
art of influencing people to accomplish
organizational goals, while management is
the science of specifying and implementing
means needed to accomplish the same
ends.
The Leadership Challenge
From the author analysis of thousands of
personal-best leadership experiences, most
successful leaders engage in these five
practices of exemplary leadership, such as:
1)Model th Way, 2)Inspire a shared vision,
3)Challenge the process, 4)Enable others to
act, and 5)Encourage the heart