As a lieutenant, I often find myself in peculiar situations when it comes to leadership. “LTs” are required to be leaders, while at the same time soaking in all of the lessons provided to us by senior NCOs and senior officers.
At times, we are called upon to make decisions in challenging situations. It is during these moments that we learn what qualities are necessary to be a good leader. At the same time, these situations become shining examples of an often overlooked, but important, trait of leadership — followership.
It has been said that it is impossible to be a good leader without first learning to become a good follower. For this reason, young officers and enlisted members should strive to learn how to be a follower as early as possible. The military makes every effort to instill these qualities in Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen during basic military training programs. We are taught to follow simple orders and to rely on training cadre before making a single move. As followers, we learn the qualities of being reliable and loyal to a common cause. These are attributes that help achieve mission success by bringing trustworthiness to the organization as a whole.
I was fortunate enough to attend the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for my commissioning program before entering the Air Force. My “plebe” year at school focused on teaching followership. As a plebe, I, along with my classmates, had to follow the orders and directions of the upper class cadre without question. By following commands and learning by example, the cadre taught us how to follow.
In turn, this allowed us to develop our own leadership style by emulating these mentors and learning from their examples. From this, we identified what is good or poor leadership. As we advanced through school, the leadership requirements increased little by little. Good followership was awarded with small leadership responsibilities, which grew larger as we flourished. By the time we became first-class midshipmen, we had developed a strong leadership foundation by learning to follow those around us first. We were able to identify the good and bad attributes of a leader — lessons that would help us avoid the same mistakes when we took commands of our own.
I fully realized the importance of followership when I arrived at Ramstein for my first duty assignment. Officers and senior enlisted often think about being the picture-perfect supervisor or commander. Every leader makes mistakes. It is the leader who is a good follower who learns how to overcome their mistakes and improve their leadership, because they have followed and witnessed how other leaders improve in spite of failures.
We are all a part of a team and strive to complete a mission. Each one of us has a different skill we can bring to the table. It is imperative that we take a step back and listen to the experienced subject matter experts around us when the time calls for exceptional followers.
Every one of us is a follower. Even if we are the type of person who likes to be in charge, being a follower is just as important to the mission.
Warren Bennis, an American scholar, organizational consultant and author of “On Becoming a Leader” stated: “In many ways, great followership is harder than leadership. It has more dangers and fewer rewards, and it must routinely be exercised with much more subtlety. But great followership has never been more important.” By being a good follower and learning from your leaders, you can become a better leader yourself, and ultimately ensure the overarching mission is accomplished.
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As a lieutenant, I often find myself in peculiar situations when it comes to leadership. “LTs” are required to be leaders, while at the same time soaking in all of the lessons provided to us by senior NCOs and senior officers.
At times, we are called upon to make decisions in challenging situations. It is during these moments that we learn what qualities are necessary to be a good leader. At the same time, these situations become shining examples of an often overlooked, but important, trait of leadership — followership.
It has been said that it is impossible to be a good leader without first learning to become a good follower. For this reason, young officers and enlisted members should strive to learn how to be a follower as early as possible. The military makes every effort to instill these qualities in Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen during basic military training programs. We are taught to follow simple orders and to rely on training cadre before making a single move. As followers, we learn the qualities of being reliable and loyal to a common cause. These are attributes that help achieve mission success by bringing trustworthiness to the organization as a whole.
I was fortunate enough to attend the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for my commissioning program before entering the Air Force. My “plebe” year at school focused on teaching followership. As a plebe, I, along with my classmates, had to follow the orders and directions of the upper class cadre without question. By following commands and learning by example, the cadre taught us how to follow.
In turn, this allowed us to develop our own leadership style by emulating these mentors and learning from their examples. From this, we identified what is good or poor leadership. As we advanced through school, the leadership requirements increased little by little. Good followership was awarded with small leadership responsibilities, which grew larger as we flourished. By the time we became first-class midshipmen, we had developed a strong leadership foundation by learning to follow those around us first. We were able to identify the good and bad attributes of a leader — lessons that would help us avoid the same mistakes when we took commands of our own.
I fully realized the importance of followership when I arrived at Ramstein for my first duty assignment. Officers and senior enlisted often think about being the picture-perfect supervisor or commander. Every leader makes mistakes. It is the leader who is a good follower who learns how to overcome their mistakes and improve their leadership, because they have followed and witnessed how other leaders improve in spite of failures.
We are all a part of a team and strive to complete a mission. Each one of us has a different skill we can bring to the table. It is imperative that we take a step back and listen to the experienced subject matter experts around us when the time calls for exceptional followers.
Every one of us is a follower. Even if we are the type of person who likes to be in charge, being a follower is just as important to the mission.
Warren Bennis, an American scholar, organizational consultant and author of “On Becoming a Leader” stated: “In many ways, great followership is harder than leadership. It has more dangers and fewer rewards, and it must routinely be exercised with much more subtlety. But great followership has never been more important.” By being a good follower and learning from your leaders, you can become a better leader yourself, and ultimately ensure the overarching mission is accomplished.