Leadership and followership

From the editor

As we launch into a new year, we are more aware than ever of the need for strong nursing leaders and practitioners, those whose vision of the future remains clear and hopeful. Characteristics of such leaders include expertise, credibility, resilience, honesty, and strong interpersonal skills. Carole Anderson clearly articulated nursing's obligation to the next generation of nurses in an editorial in Nursing Outlook (A New Vision for Collective Bargaining. Nursing Outlook 1999;47:197). Especially in times of shortage, she admonishes nurses to step back from the difficulties and instill in students the intrinsic rewards of nursing. She exhorts every practicing nurse with the obligation to teach students. Each nurse must be both a creative leader and loyal follower.

In the following guest editorial, Shirley Travis, president of the National Gerontological Nursing Association (NGNA), considers the importance of being both leaders and followers. She emphasizes that every organization must have leaders and followers, but each must move out of a single role if they are to grow. NGNA has been significant in the evolution of geriatric nursing for more than 10 years, and the organization's leadership and membership have contributed greatly to the quality of geriatric nursing. __________________________

Leadership and followership Shirley Travis, PhD, RN, CS

The National Gerontological Nursing Association (NGNA) strategic plan calls for one message from the president each year to be dedicated to the topic of leadership within our organization. I have always found this to be an interesting topic because I see leadership and followership as two ends of a continuum on which each of us constantly moves throughout the day. Sometimes circumstances call for leadership, and, thankfully, sometimes followership is the better choice. I think the real question we each have to ask ourselves is whether we spend more time on one end of this continuum than on the other. Can you be an effective leader if you always end up on the leadership end? Are you holding back if followership tends to be your course of action?

Let's first address the overtendency for leadership. Again, no one is ever exclusively the leader or the follower. Life just doesn't work that way. In general, effective leaders were effective followers first and know when to follow and when to lead throughout life. If you are one of those personalities who landed in a leadership role early and stayed there, an honest reality check about your effectiveness is probably in order.

Here are some advantages to being a good follower. You get to listen to the ideas of others without having responsibility for bringing the group to consensus. You get to do some of the work that needs to be done using the same high performance standards you demand of others. You get to observe different leadership styles. Often you can pick up a pointer or two.

Conversely, if you find yourself wanting less time in followership mode and more time in leadership, and you think you need some help to get there, finding a good mentor is the first step. Mentors can be friends who give you warm, fuzzy support. Most likely a mentor is someone who has achieved something you want to achieve and has agreed to help you work toward that goal. Friendship can come later or not at all. Most mentors do not agree to the role to increase their own workloads. They expect the mentee to be committed to a development goal and the work ahead.

When you find a strong mentor, you will know by the increased volume of work you experience and, to some degree, the added stress of doing things for the first time. I recently read in one of those inspirational daily calendars, “Do one thing every day that scares you to death.” I couldn't agree more. The most important mentors in my life took me places I had never been before to do things I had never tried and then said: “Work harder,” “You can do better,” or “Go higher.” A strong mentor will point the way, give you directions, and get out of your way until you need the next signpost.

If you have already made some preliminary strides toward developing your leadership side and you are ready for time in an organizational leadership role, here are some helpful hints.

Our organizations need all of us to be effective leaders and followers. There are plenty of opportunities for both.