Explain The Five Essential Qualities Of Effective Followership

Module 6 of the Non-Commissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) focused on the relationship and importance of both leaders and followers. The one concept I found most important in this module was the 5 essential qualities of effective followership—specifically that of self-management. It is imperative that leaders today know when and how to first be followers, and the one quality I know that I need to work on is knowing when it is time to lead and when it is time to embrace humility and be a follower. To begin with, NCOA Course 15 defines the 5 essential qualities of effective followership to be self-management, commitment, competence, integrity, and initiative. While each of these attributes are important to create the whole-person follower, self-management is the quality that I have identified that I need to improve on. Self-management is defined as “the ability to determine one’s own goals within a large context and to decide what role to take at any given time” (NCOA Course 15, Chapter 2, p.71). No matter the position we as leaders find ourselves in, there will be many times when we will not be the one in charge and need to be able to take a back seat in a given situation. If self-management is not effectively employed, problems will not be resolved in a
I will accomplish this by embracing humility and recognize going into the officer world knowing that I do not know everything and each member of the unit I am assignment to has something to contribute. When assigned to work with Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs), Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (SNCOs), and other junior officers, I will submit to the authority of the designated leader of the working group and only submit my ideas and inputs when asked. I will allow the individual in charge to lead the group in the direction that they see fit and submit to their authority by asking