Followership and Servant leadership

Followership is defined as the will to cooperate in working towards accomplishing an objective and showing a high degree of interactive teamwork. Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy whereby the main objective of the leader is to serve. Leadership is a process that involves influencing followers. Followership and servant leadership are two different words but none of them can exist without the other.

 In servant leadership, the leader puts their focus on the well-being of other people rather than the acquisition of power. In an organizational setting, servant leadership is notable in the nature of the association between the leaders and the workers. In the traditional style of leadership, leaders put their focus more on sustaining hierarchical relationships with followers. Contrary to that, servant leadership promotes cooperation between the leaders and their followers (Nguyen & Wan Kang 1). While servant leaders establish cooperative relations, followership maintains that both the leaders and the followers are in an interdependent relationship. Followers also take an active role in the relationship rather than just be passive participants. Followership helps in complementing servant leadership meaning that the leader to follower relationship is mutual whereby both of them benefit from each other.

There are several ways in which the servant leadership and followership differ. Servant leadership and followership both have different roles and this is between the leader and the follower. The leader’s role includes motivating the followers and providing them with the required support to enable them to accomplish their objectives. A leader is expected to involve the follower in the process of making decisions to ensure that they build a sense of trust between them. Followers develop objectives and strive towards accomplishing the objectives they develop. Servant leaders work towards serving other people and the followers work towards accomplishing their objectives (Crystal 1). This means that servant leadership is meant to work for a collective purpose whereas the followership is meant to fulfill personal interests. Followership is the determiner of how a leader will be perceived and it predicts how a follower will follow and also how they will lead.

In servant leadership, leaders have to encourage other people for them to be successful. They have to create an environment that a team can flourish. A leader in servant leadership should lead by example, develop an environment that is supportive and safe, listen without judging, and respect the capabilities of different people (Gilbert 1). They are also responsible for assisting a team in working together and removing any obstacle that could act as a hindrance to success. Servant leadership is all about empowering other people, supporting them, and be there for them when they need them.

There can be no leaders without followers and it takes the existence of a follower for a leader to accomplish something. For a team to be successful, a leader has to put their ego aside and put the needs of the team before themselves, hence acting in the capability of a servant leader. For leaders to be successful, they have to generate and support followers that are loyal and dedicated to their vision and mission. They have to develop relationships with their followers and build trust and support among them. Just like a good leader, a good follower serves their team, their leaders, and society. This makes them too to become leaders by their aspiration to serve and ensure that the needs and interests of other people are met before their own. Therefore, servant leadership is as effective for followers just as it is for leaders. Servant leaders possess several skills that include good listening skills, being aware of what is supposed to be done, their behavior, and be committed to helping other people to grow (Gilbert 1). Servant leadership also includes some values which include integrity, humility, and honesty to be able to motivate other people in possessing good values and be trustworthy. Followership includes accomplishing an objective while exercising respect for power, positive attitude, integrity, and self-discipline. Both servant leadership and followership because require good morals.

Followership and servant leadership are two philosophies that cannot do without the other. In servant leadership, the leader works towards the well-being of other people whereas, in followership, the followers work towards accomplishing objectives that they have set. Servant leadership includes the motivation of people for them to be successful and not concentrating on their interests but the interests of others. Followership helps to compliment the servant leadership and determines how a leader is perceived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Davis, Crystal J., ed. Servant Leadership and Followership: Examining the Impact on Workplace

Behavior. Springer, 2017.

Jacobs, Gilbert A. "Servant leadership and follower commitment." Proceedings of the 2006

Servant Leadership Research Roundtable. 2006.

Thao, Nguyen Phan Hanh, and Seung-Wan Kang. "When Servant Leaders Inspire Followers to

Become Organizational Citizens? Empirical Evidence From Vietnam." SAGE Open 10.1 (2020): 2158244019900184.