Knowing when to lead and when to follow

  • Published
  • By Chief Master Sgt. Mike Lightner
  • 60th Operations Support Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Many of us spend a large portion of our day as a follower and very little time filling a traditional leadership role. Yet the Air Force invests a lot of time and money with the hope of making us great leaders with little attention given to the art of followership. Why do you suppose that is?

In most cases, everything we need to know about followership we learned growing up.

When we were young, our parents, guardians, teachers and coaches taught us the basics about multi-tasking, meeting suspenses, being a team player, sportsmanship and, for some of us, lessons on following rules. After graduating high school, some of us went directly into the military, some went to college and others went to work in the private sector. No matter how we ended up in the military, it's safe to say when we got to basic training, we learned more about following directions, doing what we were told and yes, even more about following the rules.

The point is most of us have a good foundation to lean back on, however the art of followership is so much more.

The first part of being a successful follower is somewhat easy. As followers, we must seek out opportunities to solve our boss' problems. We must act first and question later on issues of critical importance when the time for talk is over and the boss has made the call. We must push forward to make sure his/her directions/intentions are followed to a T.

This last part can be hard, especially when we don't agree with the decision, policy or course of action. It's during these times when the art of followership is most critical. Our ability to salute smartly and make it happen defines us not only as individuals, but as military professionals.

The second part of followership can be much harder and makes most of us feel uncomfortable. As followers, we must ensure our leadership is informed, especially when things aren't going well. Most of us have been raised to be leaders and problem solvers, therefore, the thought of taking an issue to our boss we couldn't fix does not sit well. In fact, many of us would see this as being incompetent or a failure.

This line of thinking couldn't be further from the truth. After all, as followers how could we expect our leadership to make the best decisions if they don't know all the facts? By keeping the boss in the dark or not giving them the entire story, we are only setting them and the rest of the team up for failure. As followers we must always remember "nothing ever got fixed by covering it up."

Although we learned the basics of followership growing up, leadership at all levels is charged with the responsibility for practicing and teaching the art of followership. We do this not by simply talking about it. We do it by demonstrating it each and every day. We must ensure our Airmen know the art of followership is more than simply following rules. It's about duty, integrity, and self sacrifice; all the things that make our Air Force, the United States military, and our country the best in the world.