Followers And The Co-Construction Of Leadership Summary

When researching leadership studies and the overall leadership process, it is safe to say that leaders and followers are the building blocks of leadership. One can assume that just as a follower needs someone to lead them, a leader can’t lead without followers. However, in most leadership studies and research, the results and information are usually leader centered. Heller and Van Til define leadership as an action more readily defined through the eyes of a follower.
“While individuals may look to a leader to frame, and concretize their reality, they may also react against, reject, or change the reality thus defined. The leader must lead, and do it well to retain leadership, the follower must follow, and do it well to retain followership.”1
Followers hold the power when it comes to what leadership can get subordinates to do. One must be accepted as a leader, not just a boss. In the reading, “Followers and the co-construction of leadership,” Susanne Kean discusses the different types of followership and the real power it subjectively has over leadership and other management outcomes in the workplace.

“Collinson (2005), drawing on Giddens research, asserts that asymmetrical power relations are a two-way process. Subordinates do resist, refuse or sidetrack attempts at leadership suggesting that the notion of leaders holding all the power is counterintuitive (Bratton et al. 2005).”7
Apparently, it is very important for leaders to gain the respect and trust of employees so that they will have no doubts about becoming willing followers. There will be no advancement of the organization until followers have accepted a leader and a general flow of tasks. According to the journal article, “Who Is Worthy of Being Followed? The Impact of Leaders’ Character and the Moderating Role of Followers’ Personality,” they discuss the importance of followers finding worth in the leader to accept their subordinate position in the organizational hierarchy. In a summary of the research, they addressed highlights of the impact of leader character on follower perception and behavior.
Following is a complex process which was based on followers socially co-constructed views of leaders, the different ways they were doing following by, for example, supporting others or being diplomatic in suggesting changes and ideas from their own ranks, standing by, indicating disengagement with their leaders, or by actively resisting following because, for example, the change was not in the interest of nurses. In the light of current follower typologies, it is important to remember that followers do not necessarily fit into one category but might well move between categories, depending on the situation. This suggests a self-interest of followers which is influenced by their own and shared belief(s) and value(s) systems but also by the situational context. A key message for leaders in community nursing is therefore that successful leadership is the result of a co-constructed process between leaders and