08 October 2015
Followership
How the new business school idea will work in practice
By Chin Chin
Imagine the scene. You have been called in to your boss’s office so that he can congratulate you on your excellent work. I have used “he” for verisimilitude as, statistically (and what a damning indictment of contemporary society it is to have to say this) the boss is more likely to be a “he” than a “she”. Whether “you” are male or female depends, of course, on you.
“Well done, well done” he booms, simultaneously twanging his red braces and passing wind in an alpha male display of leadership ability. “Your contribution to the business is excellent; your efficiency is a legend; your work-rate has boosted the performance figures; you are our number one profit centre; it is you who fulfils all the orders. As a special reward, the company is going to pay for you to go on a prestigious course.”
“Wow, a leadership course!” you enthuse. “A real chance to pick up tips from the leaders of yesterday and to share a glass of wine with those who aspire to be the leaders of tomorrow. Maybe even a slightly warm gin and tonic at a four-star seaside hotel in the off season. Wow squared!”
“Er, not exactly” comes the reply. “You see, the company has lots of leaders, very good ones – all with low golf handicaps and the ability to stand back from day-to-day operations so that they can think conceptually. We don’t need to train another. No, leaders need followers; so we are going to send you on a new course to develop “followership”, the latest business school idea. The universities are all over it.”
The slight disappointment that you will not be spending the rest of your career on the golf course quickly evaporates at the prospect of being at the cutting edge of a new trend. Still, there are practical matters to be considered. “Well, that’s really exciting. Where is the course to be? Blackpool? Bournemouth? Or one of the lesser resorts, like Canvey Island?”
“No, actually it will be at Milton Keynes. Great place, always at the forefront of new thinking. That’s why it is named after two of our greatest intellectual talents. Think of what a hothouse it must have been when they both lived there, better than Oxford and Cambridge combined, literature and economics being developed together, it sounds like a company mission statement. Anyway, that’s where the course is. Great hotel, just between two roundabouts. Position chosen specially to represent the rotation of ideas; brilliant if you think about it.”
You duly think about it and are suitably impressed by the imagery. But another question has bubbled to the surface. “That sounds terrific. But what does a followership course teach you?”
The boss hasn’t thought about this one and has to improvise. “Well, er, following, I suppose. Taking orders from leaders and then, er, following them. That’s how the best organisations work. Take the example of…….” He tails off, seeking for inspiration.
“The SS?” you suggest.
“No, no, not the SS, more like… Well, anyway, here is the course literature. I’m afraid I have to go to a strategy meeting now. Let me know if you have any questions once you have read it.”
You take the literature away and before long you are immersed in the theory of followership. There is a lot of academic material. You read stuff by the Durham University Business School and by US experts. Followers, you learn, are those with expertise who should be bringing out the best in their leaders by alerting them to possible flaws in their decision making, rather than just doing what they are told. Essentially then it is communication up the chain of command so that those at the top can have a clear view. The trouble is that when that chain of command is a long one it could be difficult to know who is a leader and who is a follower. Does one draw an arbitrary line somewhere across the middle of the command chain, or is it the case that everyone (apart maybe from the chairman of the board) is a follower to those above and a leader to those below? If that is right, surely followership should be taught to everybody just as leadership is?
An hour later you go to see your boss to impress him with your grasp of the subject.
“I’ve worked it all out” you say. “And it’s my duty as a follower to point out to you that you should be coming on the followership course with me.”
“You’re fired,” he replies.
