Followership: The Mirror Image of Leadership

Garry Briese
Briese & Associates, LLC
All-Hazards/All-Stakeholders Summit
Emergency Management Magazine

The success of organizations is more the
result of good followership rather than
great leadership
It is the actions of followers that
determine the success of a leader

Leadership…..influencing others
Followership…..seeking or accepting
influence
People do not like to describe
themselves as a follower

Followers have all the power, leaders only
think they have power
The encouragement & acceptance of
followers who speak or act
independently shows precisely the style
of leadership the organization values

Single most important characteristic
of a good follower
Followers who tell the truth & leaders
who listen, are an unbeatable
combination

Don’t blame your boss for an unpopular
decision or policy
“I know this is an unpopular decision,
but that’s what she wants, sorry.”
Absent person example of trust

Your job is to make your boss, and your
organization, successful
Resist the temptation to tell your boss what you
think he or she wants to hear
An obligation to speak up, but disagree in
private

Don’t allow problems to go unsolved
“It’s not my responsibility or my problem…”
Do what needs to be done
Try to provide answers, not only
questions

Your biases impact every decision
you make
Instead of assuming…..ask
Give the benefit of the doubt

The higher you are in an organization,
more and more people will be less and
less inclined to talk openly with you
The good, the bad & the ugly

Garry Briese
Briese & Associates, LLC
gbriese@brieseandassociates.com