Good followers are worth training - employees as followers, not leaders

Nation's Business, Sept, 1988 by Pam Carroll

Good Followers Are Worth Training

Are you going to be a follower all your life?

The question is rhetorical and would insult most people. But in many companies, workers' willingness to follow--their capacity for "followership"--is regarded as a virtue, not a weakness. Many companies bulging with middle managers are finding that those who can follow a firm's leaders rather than compete to become leaders themselves are important for maintaining stability in the business. More and more firms are encouraging followership to improve company performance.

The widespread American notion is "that leadership is the prize and that those who don't make the leadership grade are second-class citizens--followers," says Robert Kelley, adjunct professor of business at Carnegie Mellon University and president of the Pittsburgh-based Consultants to Executives and Organizations, Ltd. "But the reality of today's business world is that we can't all be leaders."

And not all should be leaders, Kelley adds.

Effective followers, unlike "blind sheep" or "yes" people, are those who really care about something--a cause, an idea, the company, the company's products, even the leader.

"Effective followers maintain their independence as critical thinkers. They are team players, up to the point where they think something unwise or unethical is being done," says Kelley.

Commitment becomes integral to the person's decision making and overall job performance, he says, and it may be highly valuable to the company.

"Because they care," Kelley explains, "effective followers are highly capable self-managers who require minimal supervision--a real cost-saving benefit. They feel involved and responsible for their own work, which makes them more productive. Effective followers are stimulating people to work around. Their commitment is contagious."

Recognizing the value of good followers, some companies are training employees in followership. For such training to succeed, corporations must adapt to a partnership concept of employee relations. They must make it easy for employees to contribute their ideas on company operations, and they must have ways to handle disagreements between supervisors and subordinates.

In addition, rewards and incentives must consistently reinforce effective followership. Too often, says Kelley, management sends mixed signals to followers: Some are promoted and rewarded with perks, others are fired and replaced with "yes" people.

Training people to be good followers has payoffs, Kelley says, citing the example of one of his clients, a Houston printing company named COPI. It was in financial trouble when it was purchased in 1983 by Andy Plata. As new printing contracts came in, salespeople began neglecting to service existing clients. Plata, president and CEO, instituted followership concepts, emphasizing the responsibility shared by all employees for the company's effectiveness and success. Workers were encouraged to set their own goals, and they were expected to state their views on improving company operations.

Plata reduced the number of middle managers, eliminated sales commissions--and some salespeople--and instituted a revenue-sharing program in which everyone from the CEO to the secretaries is paid according to the company's performance. Every employee must provide customer service that will generate referral business.

COPI's turnaround to become one of the most successful companies in the industry depended on a full commitment to the new style of management.

Similarly, results began to show up soon after consultant Robert Doyle of Portland, Ore., began introducing followership concepts through management seminars at Columbia Carolina Corporation, a producer of hardwood and plywood in Old Fort, N.C. Don Carter, personnel manager, observed less conflict and more cooperation.

"This is a long-term commitment, not a bandage," says Doyle. He advocates eliminating barriers between superiors and subordinates, and encouraging those lower on the company ladder to express their views on business operations--and those higher on the ladder to listen.

At Columbia Carolina, production workers are taking the initiative in seeking causes of productivity problems, are brainstorming solutions and are implementing corrective measures. Though results are hard to measure, Carter reports that rejections of company products dropped 25 percent shortly after employees were told that the level of such rejects had risen too high.

"Training effective followers demands an investment of company resources, but the returns are significant," says Kelley.

"Effective followers," Kelley says, "aren't watching the bottom line. They're looking at the top line--the maximum they can do to take the company forward."