1. Leaders versus Followers
Mike McArdle

2. Evaluate big five personality characteristics
Learning Objectives:
Evaluate big five personality characteristics
Assess his/her personal leadership style and skills
Adapt his/her leadership style to various situations

3. Followers Do you want to be a leader or a follower?
If you are not interested, and not willing to be in charge, you are better suited to be a follower
Good followers also perform leadership roles when needed

4. “The influencing process is between leaders and followers”
More about Followers
Followers influence leaders
In one definition of leadership:
“The influencing process is between leaders and followers”
It’s a two-way street
Knowing how to lead
Developing leadership skills
Will make you a better leader and/or follower

5. Practice leadership Development Concepts
Self-Assessment 2 – Managerial Leadership Skills
There are no right or wrong answers, so be honest, and you will really increase your self-awareness
 Using the scale, rate each of the 12 statements according to how accurately the behavior describes you
Place a number from 1 to 5 on the line after each statement

6. Leadership
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams

7. More about Leadership
“Leadership is the art of persuasion – the act of motivating people to do more than they ever thought possible in pursuit of a greater good.”
Travis Bradberry
Co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0

8. Bradberry says It has nothing to do with
title
authority
seniority
You are not a leader just because you have people reporting to you

9. Bradberry also says A true leader influences others to be their best
Leadership is about social influence
It is not about positional power
You don’t even need to have people reporting to you to be a leader
A janitor can influence people and lead

10. Bradberry’s Observation
Anyone can become a follower
Even while holding a leadership position
If you are:
A slave to the status quo
Lack vision
Don’t motivate everyone around you to be their absolute best
People won’t follow you when they see those behaviors present

11. Practice leadership Development Concepts
Self-Assessment 3 – Big Five Personality Profile
There are no right or wrong answers, so be honest, and you will really increase your self- awareness
 Using the scale, rate each of the 25 statements according to how accurately it describes you
Place a number from 1 to 7 on the line after each statement

12. Bradberry’s 13-Questions of Leadership
The first 5:
Do you go above and beyond?
Are you confident? 
Are you optimistic? 
Are you open to change? 
Are you decisive? 

13. Decisive Leadership
“Leaders would rather make a decision and be wrong than suffer from the paralysis of indecision.”
Bobby Bowden
Coach of the Florida State Seminoles football team from the 1976 to 2009 seasons

14. Bradberry’s 13-Questions of Leadership
The next 4:
Are you accountable? 
Are you unflappable? 
Are you humble? 
Are you passionate?

15. Bradberry’s 13-Questions of Leadership
The last 4:
Are you motivated from within?
Do you focus on titles? 
Are you focused on people? 
Are you willing to learn? 

16. Motivated from Within
“True leaders keep pushing forward even when there’s no carrot dangling in front of them.”

17. Focused on People
“A leader is only as good as what he or she can achieve through other people.”

18. Practice leadership development concepts
Self-assessment 4 – Motive profile
Return to Self-assessment 3 and place the scores from your Big Five personality profile in the blanks, next to their corresponding needs. On the number scale circle your total score for each need

19. Ten Common Differences between Leaders and Followers
A leader leads by example, a follower depends on others
A leader depends on his courage, a follower struggles to find a spine
Leaders have enthusiasm and are ready to get the job done
Passion drives leaders farther than even their own expectations
Truth will set you free indeed

20. Ten Common Differences between Leaders and Followers - 2
Social Boldness is vital for a good leader to own
Self-awareness is a vital component for a leader, as they need to understand their own strengths and weaknesses
Leaders possess ingenuity, once they have the task at hand they are capable of strategizing on the fly
Leaders are humble enough to ask for help and advice
Leaders act without fear; they are willing to take the necessary risks to take the challenge head on

21. What every Leader needs to know about followers according to Barbara Kellerman
“Good leadership is the stuff of countless courses, workshops, books, and articles. Everyone wants to understand just what makes leaders tick—the charismatic ones, the retiring ones, and even the crooked ones.”
“Good followership, by contrast, is the stuff of nearly nothing. Most of the limited research and writing on subordinates has tended to either explain their behavior in the context of leaders’ development rather than followers’ or mistakenly assume that followers are amorphous, all one and the same.”
“As a result, we hardly notice, for example, that followers who tag along mindlessly are altogether different from those who are deeply devoted.”

22. What every Leader needs to know about followers according to Barbara Kellerman - 2
“In reality, the distinctions among followers in groups and organizations are every bit as consequential as those among leaders.”
“This is particularly true in business: In an era of flatter, networked organizations and cross-cutting teams of knowledge workers, it’s not always obvious who exactly is following (or, for that matter, who exactly is leading) and how they are going about it.”
“Reporting relationships are shifting, and new talent-management tools and approaches are constantly emerging.”
“A confluence of changes—cultural and technological ones in particular—have influenced what subordinates want and how they behave, especially in relation to their ostensible bosses.”

23. What every Leader needs to know about followers according to Barbara Kellerman - 3
“Followers can be defined by their behavior—doing what others want them to do.”
“They are low in the hierarchy and have less power, authority, and influence than their superiors.”
“They generally go along to get along”
“History tells us, however, that subordinates do not follow all the time.”
“Increasingly, followers think of themselves as free agents, not as dependent underlings.”
“CEOs share power and influence with a range of players.”

24. About Follower – the research
Abraham Zalenick – 1965 – Harvard
Two axes approach to follower
Dominance to submissive
Activity to passivity Activity
Four groups
Impulsive
Compulsive
Masochistic
Withdrawn Passivity
Impulsive
Dominance
Masochistic
Submissive
Compulsive
Withdrawn

25. About Follower – the research - 2
Robert Kelley – 1992 – Carnegie Mellon
Distinguished according to motivation and behavior
Identified 5 styles
Alienated – Good thinkers, but won’t participate
Passive – No critical thinking and won’t participate
Conformist – Participate, but won’t take orders
Exemplary – Nearly perfect; performs well
Pragmatic – Plays both sides of the fence; can think pretty well and can participate, but…

26. About Follower – the research - 3
Ira Chaleff – 1995 – author and executive coach
Focused on empowering subordinates
encouraging active support of leaders they deemed good
oppose those they deemed bad
Classified according to degree of support and degree challenge - 4 types
Implementers – most common & counted on to get work done
Partners – Strong support & will challenge leaders
Individuals – withhold support from leaders
Resources – honest day’s work, but won’t go beyond the minimum

27. About Follower – the research - 4
Barbara Kellerman – 2007 – Harvard
Align followers on one metric – level of engagement
Continuum –
One extreme - feeling & doing absolutely nothing
Other extreme - Being passionately committed and deeply involved
Degree of involvement largely determines the nature of the superior – subordinate relationship
Knowledge workers care as much or more about intrinsic factors
Especially the relationship with superior
Passion for organization’s mission

28. About Follower – the research - 5
Barbara Kellerman – 2007 – Harvard – continued
5 classifications
Isolates – completely detached
Bystanders – observe but do not participate
Participants – engaged in some way
Activists – feel strongly one way or another about leaders and organizations
Diehards – prepared to go down for the cause; whether as an individual, idea or both

29. About Follower – the research - 6
Character and personality traits
Leader
Integrity
Intelligence
Wise judgement
Effective communications
Decision making
Follower – good from bad
“Good followers invest time and energy in making informed judgements about who their leaders are and what they espouse. Then they take the appropriate action.”

30. About Follower – the research - 7
Follower – good from bad (continued)
“Bad followers will do nothing whatsoever to contribute to the group or organization.”
Or actively oppose a leader who is good
Actively support a leader who is bad
“Contrary to what the leadership industry would have you believe, the relationship between superiors and their subordinates is not one-sided.”
Followers are not all the same and should not be treated as such
Like leaders, followers act in their own self-interests
Followers do not lack power and influence

31. Practice leadership development concepts
Self-assessment 5 – Motive profile with Socialized Power
Return to Self-assessment 3 and place the scores from your Self-Assessment 2 in the blanks, next to their corresponding needs. On the number scale circle your total score for each need

32. Adapt Leadership Style
Effective leaders share their ideas and strategies with employees.
“Developing your leadership skills enables you to respond quickly to both threats and opportunities. By recognizing when to use each style appropriately, you maximize your chances for success and long-term achievement. You also enable the growth and development of your subordinates as well as the company as a whole. Develop your leadership skills by getting the training, mentoring and experience you need to manage your team. On a daily basis, adapt your leadership style based, on the situation at hand, to you ensure that you make the best use of the available resources, tools and techniques to generate a positive outcome.”

33. Leadership Approaches
Participate Leadership
Avoid conflict
Ensuring consensus
Build personal relationships
Care for people’s feelings
Motivating others by encouraging involvement
Transformational Leadership
try new techniques
team lacks creative problem solving skills
conducting workshops and exercises designed to promote innovative thinking
resolve issues, such as low customer satisfaction, product defects and process delays
help employees handle change
present a clear vision
describe required actions
help them overcome their objections
setting a good example

34. Leadership Approaches - 2
Transactional Leadership
focus on achieving daily goals
get operational work done efficiently
clarifying goals
establishing realistic expectations
assigning qualified personnel
allocating sufficient resources and funding
articulate a clear direction that your team can follow
After your organization experiences long periods of chaos and disruption
creates stability necessary for growth and development
Autocratic Leadership
during an emergency
ensure the safety and security of your employees

35. 5 Different Types of Leadership Styles
Laissez-Faire
Lacks direct supervision of employees
Fails to provide regular feedback to subordinates
Works with highly experienced and trained employees requiring little supervision
Not all employees possess those characteristics.
This leadership style hinders the production of employees needing supervision
Autocratic
Make decisions alone without the input of others
Managers possess total authority and impose their will on employees
No one challenges the decisions of autocratic leaders
Countries such as Cuba and North Korea operate under the autocratic leadership style
Creative employees who thrive in group functions detest this leadership style

36. 5 Different Types of Leadership Styles - 2
Participative
Often called the democratic leadership style
Participative leadership values the input of team members and peers
Responsibility of making the final decision rests with the leader
Participative leadership boosts employee morale because
Employees make contributions to the decision-making process
It causes them to feel as if their opinions matter
Helps employees accept changes because they play a role in the process
This style meets challenges when companies need to make a decision in a short period
 Transactional
Certain tasks to perform
Provide rewards or punishments to team members based on performance results
Managers and team members set predetermined goals together
Employees agree to follow the direction and leadership of the manager to accomplish goals

37. 5 Different Types of Leadership Styles - 3
 Transactional - continued
The manager possesses power to:
Review results
Train or correct employees when team members fail to meet goals
Employees receive rewards, such as bonuses, when they accomplish goals
Transformational
Depends on high levels of communication from management to meet goals
Leaders motivate employees and enhance productivity and efficiency through communication and high visibility
Involvement of management to meet goals
Leaders focus on the big picture within an organization and delegate smaller tasks to the team to accomplish goals

38. How to win subordinate’s Respect
According to Regina Anaujionu writing in Small Business for Chron.com:
Learn your job well
Set an example of timeliness
Find out what motivates your subordinates
Learn what you can about each employee’s unspoken needs

39. How to win subordinate’s Respect -2
 Show trust by giving each employee as much autonomy and control over own work as you can
Get involved in learning more about your workplace, industry and job – daily
Give your employees positive feedback when improvement in efficiency occur
Continually solicit feedback from each employee about new policies

40. Five things to never tell your subordinates
 Your financial triumphs & complaints
Your frustrations about another employee
Your feelings about higher-ups’ decisions
Your career plans
Confidential information from the executive suite
Per Liz Ryan as written for Forbes (6/23/2015)

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