California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2018_Spring Magazine_Final | Page 38

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 38 California Police Chief | www.californiapolicechiefs.org 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