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those people with the skills and traits
of good leaders. Second, they teach
those people leadership skills. Third,
they teach them about followership.
If this is already being done in other
organizations where rank and leader-
ship are of great importance, like the
U.S. military, shouldn’t law enforce-
ment consider doing the same?
Followership is not a new con-
cept. In November 1988, Robert Kelley
wrote “In Praise of Followers” for the
prestigious Harvard Business Review. In
this piece, Kelley made the case that
in searching so zealously for better
leaders, organizations tend to lose
sight of the people these leaders will
lead. He puts this in context by saying
that “without his armies, after all, Na-
poleon was just a man with grandiose
ambitions.”[5] Most people can agree
that, even though Napoleon, was not
a “good” leader based on his personal
agendas, he was a great tactician and
an effective leader. Napoleon was able
to lead men into battle, even if they
knew they would face certain doom,
as evidenced by the Battle of Waterloo.
One could argue that Napoleon had
great leadership skills, but the true
source of Napoleon’s power came
from his followers. Consequently,
the power leaders have is not going
to come from within themselves, but
rather from those who follow the
leaders.
Every individual is both a follow-
er and a leader every single day. Even
those who lead a group or organi-
zation is led by someone else. For
instance, police chiefs are, by virtue
of their job, leaders, but they are also
followers. All police executives have
someone to report to, whether it is a
city or county manager, a mayor, or
other elected officials or boards—and
this dichotomy is something that must
be understood in order for leaders to
improve. In other words, leaders need
to not only understand and recognize
the concept of followership, but also
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recognize their role as followers.
According to Kelley, there are five
types of followers, who are grouped
by a combination of their critical
thinking and their passive or active
conduct.
1. Sheep: passive, uncritical, and lack
initiative or sense of responsibility
2. Yes People: depend on the leader
for inspiration and are aggressive-
ly deferential
3. Alienated Followers: critical think-
ers who are passive and cynical
4. Survivor: go with the flow and
survive change well
5. Effective Followers: independent
thinkers and problem-solvers, risk
takers, and responsible enough to
succeed without strong leadership
As these descriptions clearly
demonstrate, effective followers are
the ones that must be cultivated—and
the ones leaders should strive to be.[6]
An effective follower is distin-
guished by his or her enthusiasm,
intelligence, and self-reliant participa-
tion in the pursuit of an organizational
goal. Effective followers differ in their
motivations for following and in