Yes and

Leadership is a “yes and…”

I’ve never done improv. I understand that one of the fundamentals is not to leave your partner hanging but to build on their (however crazy and potentially ill-conceived idea) by adding to it. Not “yes but” rather “yes and”. I have engaged in relationship counseling. One of the communication skills emphasised was to say “and” not “but”. “And” opens up possibilities in the discussion “but” makes me right and closes other possibilities down.

Good leadership is a “yes and…”

Which is why it is so important to see followership as fundamental to leadership, indeed Leadership emerges from leadership and followership interacting with each other. (Another word would be helpful – we make “leadership” do too much work!) Followership and followership behaviours are different from leadership and leadership behaviours. Both are important, neither occurs without the other. They are not static: in this moment I lead and you follow, next you follow and I lead. Nor is followership attached to a position in an organisational hierarchy or a job role. Managers are not (necessarily) leaders, positional authority is not the same as leadership.

There is a lot to like in Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Amy C. Edmondson’s recent HBR article The Best Leaders Are Great Followers. They point to a less traditional way of leading which includes deep and active listening, purpose (not ego), understanding and respecting the work that get things done, questioning and challenging (and being open when others do that too).

They see these skills as followership skills which make leaders better at leading. I don’t disagree… Yes and… followership is intrinsically valuable not merely a precursor to leadership. We all need to follow and lead well. The facilitators and inhibitors of effective followership that I identify in my research echo the skills that Chamorro-Premuzic and Edmonton highlight. I see them as contributing to leadership AND followership.