Followership

The opposite of leadership is followership. I am not sure whether such a word exists in the English language, or if I just made it up, but I think you get the general idea what it means. There are two kinds of followership that I have encountered, idea followership and social followership.

Idea followership takes place when people do things in a particular way either because that is the exact way it has been done in the past, or because it has worked successfully for someone else. If you go to the web site of any IT company, you will inevitably be greeted by a web banner of smiling people milling around computers and laptops. Inevitably.

Why ? Because that is the way that it has always been done.

In any kind of trade shows it has become a standard practice to hand out brochures. Whether somebody reads it or not is a moot question. A few months back, we had put up a stall at an IT job fair. The second day that I went to see how my colleagues were doing, I found all the aisles between the stalls literally carpeted with brochures. These were laid so thick that the red coir carpeting below was no more visible. Enthusiast sales people in the booths were forcefully pushing the brochures onto the visitors who were immediately throwing it to the floor. Immediately!

Then why were they still being handed out? Same answer. Because that is the way that it has always been done.

Idea followership is also sometimes euphemistically referred to as "industry standard". Industry standard? Or industry status quo?

Now on to social followership. Certain species of living beings, such fish and herbivores like sheep, move together in big groups, relying on large numbers of their fellow kind for their safety. Since there are a lot many of them in a group, and they look and seem alike, it's very difficult for a predator to focus on any single individual member and attack it. Therefore it is prudent for a group member to behave and act exactly like the others, and not do anything different, that attracts a predator's attention to itself.

Unfortunately, evolution seems to have hardwired this behavioural pattern in humans also. Which is why, when I ask people in a group to come up with a few suggestions in the light of what I have just presented, everyone remains mum. Or if a is mail circulated in the organisation, asking people to come up with ideas which could be implemented, none are forthcoming. Or at a seminar, you find people filling up the back rows first, even though there are plenty of seats left at the front.

If you keep your head down, just do what you are told to do, and don't do anything that calls attention to yourself, you will be safe, seems to be their way of life.

You are perfectly right. By remaining unnoticed, you will remain safe. There's also a good chance that you will also remain a perfect nobody. Good luck to you, Mr. Nobody. Only, next time when someone is promoted over your head, please spare us all your tantrums about the unfairness of it all.