While he addressed the Leadership Kentucky class, graphic (mural) artist Sherrin Bennett of Interactive Associates, Point Richmond, California, depicted Dr. Taylor's presentation and ideas on a chart. That chart is presented here in 1/3 (approximate) scale. You can click on that images and see the chart full scale.
When I teach leadership more than 50% of it is about followership. "We’re always frustrated because leaders don’t do what we want; but I’m convinced we’re failing our leaders."
| We have books like, Where have all the leaders gone? by Warren Bennis
If this were called "Followership Kentucky, no one would have signed up. Our first responsibility is to make ourselves heard, to create conflict, and to work toward decisions. Monday morning quarter backing destroys our role as a follower. The second element of Leadership is loyalty. Loyalty to the idea we "belong" to. We tend to divorce ourselves from decisions to talk about what "they" did. |
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Followership is not having your agenda completed but compromising, reaching consensus on what needs to be done. Some thoughts on doing that:
What’s the most important attribute of leadership? What do people want out of their leaders? The research says that the #1 attribute is integrity. The most important and difficult thing in any organization is creating trust. Integrity is being consistent, doing what you say you will do. The prevailing human needs in organizations are: consistency, stability, and boundaries. But people are today being asked to "be flexible." Still, they need stability and trust.
Leadership involves:
*There is a popular notion: We can motivate others. We can only motivate self. "Expectancy Theory" is the only model of motivation that I believe works.
Keep the vision in front of people and you can do anything you want. Be a storyteller. Remember the slogan (and tee shirt) "GE is me."? Having a "symbol" is very important.
We also need standards. Tell people what is "good," "better," and "best."
Also, when you run for re-election you’ve got to watch your accumulated negatives," interjected a class member.
Today, in performance appraisal systems you can’t have any one who’s "average" anymore. Then "above average" becomes the average.
There are multitudes of rewards—not just pay rates. Find out what people really want. Connect with people and find out what "internal rewards" would create satisfaction in them. If you can’t match rewards to satisfaction, if people have "bad attitudes," then create an environment/situation where they "want" to leave.
Remember, we all have to deal with the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately syndrome: financial rewards are not very long lasting.
Never underestimate the power of values. Values:
Values are developed from:
President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s distinguishing decision was the creation of the Interstate Highway system. In the process:
In many instances, it destroyed "community" and undermined then-existing sets of shared values—community values.
Values and concerns about them can be hard to get a handle on. When we have "values" concerns, they are often difficult to define; we might look rather at more definable quality of life indicators. Differences in values are always critical variables. We have some real generational differences at work in our society.
Some differences in values between the generations:
OLDER/EARLIER
YOUNGER/TODAY
So there’s this emerging issue:
*Individual performance appraisals versus group/team performance appraisals.
The question that must be resolved:
How can we create an environment where both sets of values exist?
Kentucky has a tendency to create a sense of low confidence for itself. "Let’s stop beating ourselves and go out and do what’s needed.
Leadership is not "given" to us. Leadership is a choice we make. If we want to do it, we need to make the choice. But remember, good followers are needed too!