"If you scroll through the subject catalog at the Library of Congress, you will find the category ‘leadership’ and hundreds of books on the subject. You will not find a category 'followership,' and you will only find a handful of articles and books on the subject, tucked away under the leadership rubric."
- The Courageous Follow, page XVII
"Courage is the great balancer of power in relationships. An individual, who is not afraid to speak and act on the truth as she perceives it, despite external inequities in a relationship, is a force to be reckoned with."- The Courageous Follower, page 20
To be a partner-follower of a leader requires courage. Without courage, a follower is not apt to challenge a leader’s behavior, policies, or decisions. Chaleff lists the following six kinds of courage that he feels the partner-follower should exhibit in supporting an organization’s leader:
Chaleff devotes a separate chapter to each of these kinds of courage and follows them with a chapter on a kind of courage that the leader needs to exhibit in support of courageous followers — the courage to listen to followers.
"Sometimes, followers who have a lot to offer fail to form a relationship with a leader that permits them to contribute all that they can."- The Courageous Follower, page 82
Courageous followers, like leaders, are not born with the status. They must earn it. To earn the respect of and credibility with a leader is not easy. Chaleff references Baldesar Castiglione, a contemporary of Machiavelli, in explaining that, “it is only through a relationship of service to a leader, rendered in ways the leader can appreciate and value, that a follower builds a platform from which to meaningfully influence the tone and performance of the leader’s tenure.”
For me, the key takeaway here is the awareness that to be seen as a partner-follower by a leader is not just about having the courage to speak up. It’s also about making sure that you speak up in ways that the leader is apt to appreciate and value. To help uncover what those “ways” might be, Chaleff makes several suggestions.
The first suggestion, one that I’ve long practiced and espoused is to seek feedback from others on your communication style.
The second suggestion, one that the rugged individualist in me has not tried, is to observe others who appear to have successfully won a leader’s trust. Chaleff doesn’t recommend that we simply copy these people. Instead, he offers the following questions to guide us in learning from the contrast that might be observable:
"As we develop and form our self-image, we start screening out feedback that contradicts that image. For those who become public figures – CEOs, principals, commanding officers, managing partners, politicians – protecting this public image may seem most important. More screens go up, and the only messages that penetrate are the ones that validate our image of ourselves."- The Courageous Follower, page 90
Whereas insight #1 suggests consideration of our own communication style, insight #2 is specifically about delivering messages in ways that protect a leader’s ego. When you are faced with giving feedback to a leader about his or her behavior, Chaleff suggests two tactics and provides examples of each. The first tactic is to preface the feedback with defusing statements that convey respect and remind the leader of the value of honesty. For example, “You know that I respect what you are trying to do, and I’m sure you’d want me to be honest with you” or “You know how highly I think of your work, and I hope you won’t mind my speaking frankly.”
The second tactic Chaleff recommends is linking the feedback to outcomes that the leader desires, or what motivates them. For example, “I think what you are doing will affect (what the leader values). May I give you my views?”
As a corporate trainer and Organizational Development professional, I like to think that I’m pretty good at communicating with leaders. I plan on using some of the ideas, approaches, and phrases from this book to become an even stronger, more courageous, partner-follower.
Are you an Implementer-follower or a partner-follower? If you are a partner-follower, how are you courageous?
Ira Chaleff is the founder and president of Executive Coaching & Consulting Associates. He has recently been named one of the top 100 consultants by Executive Excellence Magazine (www.eep.com). He practices the high-stakes art of helping talented people prepare for and succeed in senior level roles that demand further professional growth. Whether working with Members of Congress and CEOs, or leadership teams and mid-level managers, he brings clarity to core success issues, and provides savvy and supportive guidance in effectively tackling them.
