leadership too soon , who did not learn the vital lessons of followership ?
With the glorification of leadership today ( and an overemphasis on leadership training ) there is both a large gap and undervaluing which occurs in the development and training of followers . These findings suggest a need to evaluate and examine whether leaders are demonstrating , coaching , and mentoring others to not only learn how to lead , but how to follow well .
Most people spend the majority of their time not in a leadership role but rather in a follower ’ s role . Every leader first emerges as a follower , hopefully learning the skills and trade of being an effective follower . Even great leaders begin their leadership journeys by first following the direction , instruction , advice and leadership of others . This is both before they officially lead and even as they are leading . Joseph served as a slave before he served a starving generation . David fled into the caves before he prevailed as king . Yeshua served in the Temple before He served as the Temple . Abraham Lincoln labored as a farmer and carpenter before he labored for a broken country , and even Nelson Mandela was bound by the bars of a prison cell before he was bound by the hearts of a nation .
In both workforce and organizational development practice today , there is a major emphasis and focus on leadership development , skills , competencies and models as these pertain strictly to leaders . All of these emphasis are greatly needed . Conversely , there is minimal emphasis however on the ones upon which much of these leadership development tactics are centered – the followers . Followers make up much of the workforce , organizations and congregations . This is even seen with leaders who spend much of their time serving in the role of service as with followers themselves . With an over-glorification and a romanticization of the role , position and responsibilities of a leader , many of the skills , competencies and knowledge in organizational development focus primarily on
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