The Vital Power of "Followership"

Earlier this week during a community discussion in Teacher Tom's Club, a colleague mentioned how much she loved observing the way different children emerge as play leaders depending on the situation. A child who follows in one circumstance leads in another.

Both are vital skills. Most of us, if pressed, hope our own child learns how to lead. The ability to lead with confidence and compassion is a relatively rare and vital talent. And, I think, most of us would prefer that our child not be a "follower." The word connotes mindless devotion or giving into peer pressure. We want our children to be strong, to know their own minds, to say "No!" when it doesn't feel right. Yet it's also true that most of us spend much more of our lives as followers rather than leaders.

Indeed, there is great power in following, more than is generally credited. The ability to unselfishly look at what someone else is doing and, with an open mind, say to yourself, That looks great. I want to do it too! is really the foundation upon which all meaningful human activity is built. "Followership," the capacity to be inspired by what others are doing, is every bit as important as leadership.

Below is a video created by entrepreneur and author Derek Sivers. I've watched it many times over the past decade. It always strikes me that as much as we claim to value leadership, we spend most of our time with young children helping them learn to contribute as followers in an empowering and meaningful way. In our leadership roles as teachers we are at our best when we understand that the children following us are our equals. And if we really observe what's going on in our classrooms,  we find that the children are, more often than not, following not us, but the other children.

When we fail as teachers, and we all do, I think it's often because what we're doing simply isn't great enough or instructional enough to attract that first follower. But when we succeed, once we've inspired that first follower, watch out!

But just watch the video, it says it much better than I can:

"The first follower transformed the lone nut into a leader. The best way to make a movement is to be the first follower and show others how to follow." As the tipping point is passed in this video and all of those people who were once uncomfortably, perhaps mockingly, watching a lone hippie dancer begin to leap to their feet and rush to be part of his movement, it moves me almost to tears. What a powerful thing we become when we are able to move beyond our self-consciousness, our sense of shame, and leap into something new, even if, this time, it's only because we feel hidden in the larger group. Maybe next time, we'll be the first follower.

Indeed, as teachers we do spend most of our time helping our charges learn followership skills. And that's as it should be because they, like all of us, will spend most of their lives not leading, but making judgments about who and what to follow, then following them, not just because others are following, but because they see a lone nut doing something great and have the courage to stand up and join in.

That's why we must, as much as possible, give kids a choice about whether or not, and when, to follow. Compelling children only teaches obedience to leaders, a dangerous thing. But choice and variety in the classroom gives children the opportunity to really practice how to follow. It's a process that requires thinking for themselves, not following blindly, and knowing when to jump in and expand upon the great thing the lone nut is doing.

And when its our turn to be the the lone nut, we'll know how to treat our followers.

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