What Teams Look for in Leaders Before They Choose to Follow
In Australia, we’re not big on hierarchy. No one really follows a leader just because of a title.
I quite like that about us as a nation. But as leaders, we need our team to follow. Meaning, they trust where we’re going together, and they are contributing to that pursuit wholeheartedly.
Our resistance to hierarchy aside, people want to be part of something bigger than themselves. We are all constantly assessing our leaders, both consciously and unconsciously, to decide:
Are they competent?
Are they consistent?
Do they care?
Are they safe to challenge?
In other words, do I trust them enough to follow them? We all do it.
This is great news if you think about it — it means that every day is an opportunity to inspire your team to follow you. It may sound like a lot of pressure, but we’re not talking about making speeches or speaking in motivational quotes, waving your hands.
The decision to follow happens in the micro-moments.
How Micro-Moments Shape Leadership Influence
I’ll give you an example.
It happens when you might say in a meeting: “what am I not seeing here” or “who sees this differently”? And then, rather than quickly jumping to defend your stance, you sit with it, you consider it, you invite them to tell you more.
Inviting Challenge as a Trust-Building Leadership Skill
Inviting challenge – and handling it well – is a subtle, but really powerful way to cultivate followership. As you can see, there’s no Ted talk involved, it’s a trust-building moment where your team feels valued and invited to contribute, even to influence.
Have you tried this technique before? What did you notice?
Let me know if you’d like me to share more simple, practical ways to inspire followership, and to turn a group of individuals working together into a team.
And if you need a hand identifying the specific ways you can get your team to follow you, getting support from an expert is often a good idea. Explore how we can work together here.
Juliet Robinson
Leadership and Change Specialist
PS: And by the way, this – followership – is one of the key ingredients that makes a team a team. People are on the same bus, heading towards the same destination, and everyone knows it, they know why, and they each know how what they do contributes to how they will get there. That shared direction and purpose creates an identity = a team.
