• Logo

How to Harness Followership for Leadership Success

Discover follower-centred perspectives of leadership and learn how to grow as both a follower and leader.

Group of business people in different ethnic group having a brainstorming session in office. Businesswoman talking to her colleagues in a meeting.

How to Harness Followership for Leadership Success

  • 2 weeks

  • 3 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Open level

Find out more about how to join this course

Explore perspectives on followership with the University of Lincoln

Many organisations focus on the strengths of an effective leader to deliver objectives and meet business goals. However, the role of the follower is no less important.

On this two-week course, you’ll examine follower-centred perspectives of leadership, using this lens to frame your professional growth and develop talent and engagement within your organisation.

Develop strong followership skills to inform your leadership style

Investigating followership theories, you’ll learn how success can rest on follower-leader relationships.

You’ll learn about follower typologies and discover how followers can be co-producers of leadership.

With this knowledge, you’ll identify personal traits, both as a follower and leader, that could be developed to benefit everyone within your leadership structure.

Examine group dynamics between leaders and followers

Using concepts including the LMX theory and the skill/will matrix, you’ll explore how leaders and followers interact and the groups that leaders assign to their employees.

You’ll reflect on your theoretical learning in your workplace, recognising issues within your own framework and developing strategies to address any imbalances.

With these skills, you’ll be able to empower followers, challenge them, and encourage them using meaningful feedback.

Investigate the concept of servant leadership

Servant leaders empower others by focusing on the skills of followers first, creating a culture of self-management and personal growth.

You’ll identify the advantages of a servant leadership approach and discuss the benefits of different leadership styles in organisational contexts.

You’ll finish this course able to recognise the advantages of using follower-centred perspectives to inform your development and enhance the talents within your team.

Skip to 0 minutes and 5 seconds Excellent leaders are vital to inspire, motivate and transform workers, and these are common goals of organisations in the entrepreneurial world. The role of the follower, however, is just as vital because without good followers there are no leaders. I’m Craig Marsh and I’m the head of the Lincoln International Business School at the University of Lincoln. I’m Elaine Clark and I’m the director of education for Lincoln International Business School at the University of Lincoln where we ensure teaching quality, future skills and industry.

Skip to 0 minutes and 32 seconds Links are at the forefront of your learning experience and I’m really happy to introduce to you this two week course that I and my colleagues have built for you that focuses on the role of followership and will enable you to learn how to identify areas for development as a leader and understand the context for setting your own learning for professional growth. The course will help you understand the theory surrounding follower centered perspectives of leadership, as well as focusing on how leadership can be used to develop talent and drive engagement. This courses is aimed at supervisors, managers, team leaders or individuals at any level and requires no prior knowledge to starting.

Skip to 1 minute and 9 seconds So if you want to develop your knowledge around the roles of followership within a leadership context, or if you want to expand your knowledge of how leadership roles affect followership within an organization, then this course is for you.

Syllabus

  • Week 1

    Thinking of yourself as a follower

    • Welcome and course overview

      Welcome to the course; let's get you started.

    • What is followership and why is it important?

      This activity will highlight what followership and different key approaches that can be used.

    • How to develop strong followership skills

      This activity will look at developing followership skills and discusses what elements make an effective follower.

    • How to grow as a follower

      This section will look at followers, how to be courageous and a self-leader.

    • Summary

      This section contains a short quiz and a summary of this week's work.

  • Week 2

    Leadership role in developing talent and driving engagement

    • Week 2 overview

      This section gives you an overview of Week 2.

    • Leadership as a relationship with followers

      This section examines how leaders and followers can develop better relationships.

    • Servant leadership

      This activity looks at the term servant leadership, it's characteristcs and how this can help develop followers. It will also identify challenges of this type of leadership.

    • Summary

      This section will provide a summary of the week.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Demonstrate awareness that most theories of leadership tend to concentrate on the individual leader using many different ‘lenses’ to view them.
  • Compare followership from a leader and follower’s perspective.
  • Demonstrate an awareness of the ‘others’, the followers, those who are the object of the leader’s leadership.

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone wanting to learn more about leadership from the perspective of both a leader and follower.

It’s particularly suitable for supervisors, managers, and team leaders wishing to reflect on the concept of leadership through follower-centred perspectives.

Who will you learn with?

I am a Senior Lecturer at Lincoln International Business School. I teach a range of courses including Strategy, Project Management, and Entrepreneurship.

Who developed the course?

University of Lincoln

The University of Lincoln is rated in the top 20 UK universities for student satisfaction in the Guardian University Guide 2022 and the Complete University Guide 2022.

  • Established

    1996
  • Location

    Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK

Ways to learn

Buy this course

Subscribe & save

Limited access

Choose the best way to learn for you!

$109/one-off payment

$27.99

For the first two months. Automatically renews

Free

Fulfill your current learning needDevelop skills to further your careerSample the course materials
Access to this courseticktick

Access expires 12 Apr 2024

Access to 1,000+ coursescrosstickcross
Learn at your own paceticktickcross
Discuss your learning in commentstickticktick
Certificate when you're eligiblePrinted and digitalDigital onlycross
Continue & Upgrade

Cancel for free anytime

Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$27.99

For the first two months. Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$109/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 12 Apr 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

T&Cs apply.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

Do you know someone who'd love this course? Tell them about it...