Partnership is the pinnacle of courageous followership and leadership. It is the hallmark of healthy relationship in which neither leader nor follower accepts dependency from or forces dependency upon the other.
In Ira Chaleff’s The Courageous Follower, the first courage of the follower is to assume responsibility. Unless and until you assume full responsibility for yourself, you force others to assume responsibility for you. That is dependent relationship.
After you look inward and assume responsibility for yourself, you can begin to look outward. The first outward look the courageous follower should make is to the purposeful leader. Truly purposeful leaders are rare, and they need and merit our help to advance our shared purpose. Here are some ways we can serve our purposeful leaders (p.7):
- Assume new or additional responsibilities to unburden the leader and help the organization
- Stand up for the leader and the tough decisions she/he must make for the organization to achieve its purpose
- Be as passionate as the leader in pursuing the common purpose
- Stay alert for areas in which your strengths complement the leader’s and assert yourself in these areas.
Your responsibility as a purposeful actor is to be resourceful and help any way you can to further the purpose. When you have a leader that is aligned with the purpose, align yourself with the leader by offering your full service.
When you have a leader that is NOT aligned with the purpose, your responsibility to the purpose does not change, but your responsibility to the leader does. You have a responsibility to challenge that leader, which I will discuss in a future post.
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