Venue: a hospital. CEO and a group of donors enter a room and are stopped by a nurse. She asks them if they have cleaned their hands. CEO says yes. The nurse goes on to ask them to do so again before her. Donors ask if this is really necessary, but in the end they all do as requested. That nurse has taken ownership of her role in the moment – caring for a culture of safety. After the event, hospital’s CEO presents this story to staff across the organisation. He wants followers like that nurse – who take responsibility for their work, who show up for their work being critical and challenge him as well.
“I am here to lead. They are here to serve.” This is the view of leaders who do not want followers to stand up for their work, to be critical and question the moves. Most probably we all still have such expectations towards a role of a leader stored somewhere in our subconscious. That there is a leader who has a task to guide, to tell what needs to be done. And a follower who just follows. Yet the modern view of leadership through the modern theory of influence and relationships recognises something quite different: a leader should enable everyone to be responsible and facilitate work of his or her working colleagues.
Bruce Avolio, an academic and professor at the University of Washington, has spent many years researching leadership, and seems to now be increasingly focusing on followership. In a talk in Umeå, Sweden, he presents a series of interesting stories and findings from years of research on the subject. Reading through the content he has produced with various colleagues will give you a different perspective on leadership.
Paradim 