OLS-57900 Week 14 - Followership
Key Takeaway 1: The Complex Decision Worksheet recommends 6 steps to solving complex issues: (1) Name it to better define scope of the problem; (2) Define the Ideal (yet reasonable) Resolution to give yourself a target for best outcome; (3) T/F table to discern fact from friction to alleviate any distress; (4) Identify worst case scenarios and alternatives so you have a plan should a worst case scenario materialize; (5) Control and Can't Control matrix to focus efforts; and (6) Next Action to define the next action or set of actions to take to get to resolution (Anderson, 2023).
Key Takeaway 2: Diverse organizations show an increase of financial performance by 25% to 36%. Groups / organizations who lack diversity are lackluster because they are not as creative, do no foster different viewpoints, lack healthy tension, and do not stress test their ideas as much because like people tend to be more agreeable (Anderson, 2023).
Key Takeaway 3: Followership is about how individuals accept influence of others to reach a common goal. Today, leadership is seen as a shared process between leaders and followers who act indepdently. Thus, it is just as important to understand followership is as it is to understand leadership so leaders can more effectively work with followers, especially since there is an ethical dimension to followership. Exhibit 1 shows the four different typologies of followership with Kelley being the most recognized (Northouse, 2019).
Exhibit 1: Four Typologies of Followership
Analysis: The Complex Decision Matrix is a good way to step through a problem with a lot of sensitivities. I like deciphering what's true and what's false and being able to articulate what you can control and what you can't. A lot of actions and decisions can be defined just from those dimensions alone.
100% agree that understanding your followership makes you a good leader. In my mind, this goes to influence. By understanding what drives your followership, you can better choose which leadership method will best resonate and what levers to pull to incentive and motivate. Of the four typologies, I agree that Kelley best resonates with me in how I view followers.
Application: I would be interested in applying the Complex Decision Matrix at some point, although I don't know if it applies to all complex decisions that I encounter. I do like the idea of better understanding my followership. I do, however, feel that it's not as straight forward as a 1:1 mapping. I feel like I would need to group my followership into the different behavior groups and address each individually, similar to different customer segments in a marketing strategy.
References
Anderson, R. M. (2023). Leadership Mindset 2.0. Columbia: Executive Joy! https://rmichaelanderson.com/leadership-mindset-2-0/
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice 8th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.