How to Harness Followership for Leadership Success

Explore perspectives on followership with the University of Lincoln

Many organisations focus on the strengths of an effective leader to deliver objectives and meet business goals. However, the role of the follower is no less important.

On this two-week course, you’ll examine follower-centred perspectives of leadership, using this lens to frame your professional growth and develop talent and engagement within your organisation.

Develop strong followership skills to inform your leadership style

Investigating followership theories, you’ll learn how success can rest on follower-leader relationships.

You’ll learn about follower typologies and discover how followers can be co-producers of leadership.

With this knowledge, you’ll identify personal traits, both as a follower and leader, that could be developed to benefit everyone within your leadership structure.

Examine group dynamics between leaders and followers

Using concepts including the LMX theory and the skill/will matrix, you’ll explore how leaders and followers interact and the groups that leaders assign to their employees.

You’ll reflect on your theoretical learning in your workplace, recognising issues within your own framework and developing strategies to address any imbalances.

With these skills, you’ll be able to empower followers, challenge them, and encourage them using meaningful feedback.

Investigate the concept of servant leadership

Servant leaders empower others by focusing on the skills of followers first, creating a culture of self-management and personal growth.

You’ll identify the advantages of a servant leadership approach and discuss the benefits of different leadership styles in organisational contexts.

You’ll finish this course able to recognise the advantages of using follower-centred perspectives to inform your development and enhance the talents within your team.

This course is designed for anyone wanting to learn more about leadership from the perspective of both a leader and follower.

It’s particularly suitable for supervisors, managers, and team leaders wishing to reflect on the concept of leadership through follower-centred perspectives.

This course is designed for anyone wanting to learn more about leadership from the perspective of both a leader and follower.

It’s particularly suitable for supervisors, managers, and team leaders wishing to reflect on the concept of leadership through follower-centred perspectives.

• Demonstrate awareness that most theories of leadership tend to concentrate on the individual leader using many different ‘lenses’ to view them.
• Compare followership from a leader and follower’s perspective.
• Demonstrate an awareness of the ‘others’, the followers, those who are the object of the leader’s leadership.