A Leader Is A Follower Who Learned

We may have come across a picture of a “boss” directing his people to pull the cart he is sitting on, beside the picture of a “leader,” in front of his entire team, pulling the cart as well. In this modern day and age, the term “leadership” has been redefined — from being the head and the stereotypical “do this or do that” into being the guy that everyone can count on, which is better although there are disadvantages, too. Today, most agree that the model leader is that guy who is ready to get his hands dirty to help and teach his subordinates the proper way to do it (assuming, of course, that the leader does know more). But where did this idea come from? Quite probably it came from down under — among the followers.

Leaders today are once followers who have learned a few tricks, a few skills, a lot of understanding of what it feels like to be a follower, and the drive to improve everything around him. We can divide the numerous qualities that followers-turned-leaders possess into two:

Cooperation. We all know that when the word “follower” is involved, “following” is the first thing that comes to our mind. This is true, hence the term. But if we are talking about what it takes to be an excellent follower, then it means and takes more than just that.

A good follower follows, but the better follower cooperates. This means that doing what you are told is not enough to call yourself an excellent follower. You must cooperate and it entails understanding all the roles involved in a task, the goal of the project, and the strategy to be laid out by the leader. You must learn how to cooperate with your colleagues. This means that if you know some of their works rely on your output, both in time and quality, then you must do them well and fast. In addition, to cooperate means that you ready yourself to catch those peers having a hard time in performing their task. Once you have finished your own task, check out your colleagues and ready your helping hand when the need arises. An excellent follower is someone who promotes interdependence among his colleagues. (But this does not mean you have to be always dependent on each other. This just means that everyone is not only focused on work, but also on assisting colleagues.)

Understanding. A learned follower is one who knows how to hold back his tongue and tries to see multiple points of view in any given subject matter. Betterment of the company and his colleagues takes precedence over his personal convenience and preferences. He understands that some of the managerial decisions imposed by the company may seem bad, but is just actually for the company to continue performing well in the future. He understands rather than complains about how things are going. He reflects on that understanding, and uses it to think about how he can develop it more.

An excellent follower is also someone who knows every person’s value in the company, most especially his own. He knows that his work is vital in the company one way or another, and that it pushes him to do better. He recognizes the importance of every detail in the company. And as a former follower, he does his best to improve it for the company to grow.

If you have ever wondered why your colleague who possessed almost the same qualifications as yours was the one promoted? Maybe it’s because he or she learned how to be a better follower in the organization. Being the follower that the boss can count on means a lot at work, as well as to your boss personally. Understand that almost all the leaders you can think of were once followers who took the time to learn the craft and assimilate all those learnings for themselves from their leaders. A leader is a follower who learned to take all his learnings and skills to the next level. He takes his experiences being a follower as he takes on the next level. He is also someone who knows what the other followers feel, as he used to be, and employs this understanding to better lead his subordinates.

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. C-6,Sunday, August 16, 2015. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.