Five Ways To Move From Admirer To Follower

Leaders are usually a transformative force, but their strength and Achilles heels are rolled into one — followers. The more the number of people scurrying around backstage, the longer will the chief be in focus. There are some basic tenets which could elevate one from the status of admirer to follower, says Devina Sengupta.

Be the Fall-Back Guy A true follower is one who can shoulder responsibilities and perform they way chief would have, in the absence of the leader. The leader should be able to delegate the most important tasks knowing that a follower will execute them to the tee in his absence, says Eras Lodhi, coach and consultant of Mumbai-based Leadership in International Management.
 
Cover Up for the Leader The coach is no superhuman and has failings as well. A true follower should be able to identify them and compensate for them with his own work, says Kunal Banerji, CEO of Asbsolute HR International. For Banerji, a test of the follower is if he can spot the weakness in his leader and manage to cover it up with his own strengths so that there are no lacunae in the team.
 
Implement Teachings The follower should practise what his guru preaches. Over a period of time, he has to start acting the way his mentor would have in certain conditions to be called a true follower, says Amitabh Das, CEO of Bangalore Vati consulting. “The follower determines how great a leader is by living what is said by the leader,” says Sandeep Gautam, assistant manager, HR for Tata Power.
 
See the Larger Picture “Make sure you understand the vision and the end goals of the leader,” says Manjunath S, HR head of Bangalore based IT firm Netapp. Realising and appreciating the larger picture is one way the follower can see the direction taken by the chief and work towards it.

Be Objective Blind faith in any leader can lead to a deeper plummet if the leader takes a single false step. A follower should look at the mentor critically and see the flaws as well, which will allow him to give the leader another chance even if he slips on a few occasions.


(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 07-10-2011)