When it comes to professional development, it seems that wherever you look developing leadership skill is the focus. Training seminars, blog articles (like many that I write!), and tens of thousands of books are devoted to the topic. That’s because the skill is important for advancing in one’s engineering career and for accomplishing goals.
But I’ve always believed that there’s more to the equation than just being a leader. I started formulating these thoughts about mid-point in my Air Force career and they ultimately surfaced in an article I wrote for National Society of Professional Engineers’ PE magazine in their December 2009 edition. The bottomline from that article? Before you can be a leader you need to be a follower.
Building Your Followership Skills
If you’re working for or reporting to someone else you are definitely a follower regardless what position you hold in the organization. The majority of engineers - you included - will pass through this stage on the way to becoming an engineer leader. And it’s in this stage that we all have the opportunity to develop the skills that will make us highly effective leaders.
What makes a good follower? Let’s start with what a good follower is not: someone who follows with blind obedience or the “herd mentality.” On the contrary, a good follower embraces responsibility, works to maintain trust at all levels, and never forgets their true convictions. Learning to serve and follow builds humility and empathy—two traits that will translate directly into effective leadership.
A good follower also understands these qualities:
Knows Their Job. One needs to be technically proficient and the expert in their area of responsibility. Spend the time understanding what you’re supposed to be doing so you can be the best at that job. This opens up opportunity and arms you with a skill you can use to help others develop their skills when you are in a leadership position.
Knows Their Leader’s Vector. This allows them to anticipate the leader’s, and organization's, needs and to generate solutions in advance. Doing so keeps their leader on the path of their boss, or clients, helping them be successful, which in turn can spell success for the follower.
Knows How to be a Good Listener. The follower anticipates the needs of their leader by paying attention and practicing reflective listening. This is a technique in which a person seeks to understand a speaker's idea, then offers the idea back to the speaker to confirm the idea has been understood correctly. This skill is golden in the leader and it starts right where you are today in your follower role.
Maintains Honesty and High Integrity. The follower stays true to their convictions and never allows their leader, or peers, to doubt their moral compass.
Maintains Respect and Loyalty. A good follower thinks critically and respectfully lets their leader know when they disagree on an issue. This point is different in every situation, but the astute follower knows how far they can push a disagreement without being disrespectful or being disloyal.
Never Lets Their Leader Make a Mistake. The good follower doesn’t let their leader make a mistake because they’re reluctant to make a tough call on an issue or because they aren’t willing to do the homework to prevent the misstep.
Never Surprises Their Leader. There are enough unknowns in life, so the good follower doesn’t add to it by surprising their leader with issues, good or bad. Doing so can lead to mistrust, eventually leading to a loss of confidence.
Servant Leaders Have to Start By Learning How to Serve
Followership, at the core, is about developing discipline and mastering the ability to deliver the goods under direction. It’s also about learning about leadership – from the ground up by serving someone else. Once you understand these fundamentals not only will you excel as a member of any project team or company, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a highly effective leader yourself.
Seldom do organizations seek engineers who excel at working solo and are unwilling to take direction - either from organizational leadership or clients. In one form or another, organizations want people who can be servant leaders, the type that Richard Greenleaf exposed us to in his influential book Servant Leadership.
There’s no better crucible in which to develop one’s servant leadership skills than through followership.
Reference:
Christian Knutson, P.E., PMP is a leader, civil engineer, project manager, coach, and author. He has extensive experience in leadership, project and program management, engineering, and homeland security earned from a 20-plus year career as a civil engineer field grade officer in the U.S. Air Force. He now coaches engineers enabling them to create an engineering career and life of fulfillment at The Engineering Career Coach.
Image courtesy of Master isolated images at FreeDigitalPhotos.net