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204 PART 3: THE PERSONAL SIDE OF LEADERSHIP
titles or seniority in the organization; sometimes it comes from one’s knowledge
and contributions.

Position Sources
Often the formal position of a follower in an organization can provide sources
of power. For example, the location of a follower can render him or her visible to
numerous individuals. A central location provides influence to a follower, because

the follower is known to many and contributes to the work of many. Similarly,
a position that is key to the flow of information can establish that position and

the follower in it as critical—thus, infl uential—to those who seek the informa-
tion. Access to people and information in an organization provides the follower
in the position a means to establish relationships with others. With a network of
relationships, a follower has greater opportunity to persuade others and to make
contributions to numerous organizational processes.

Strategies for Managing Up

There is growing recognition that how followers manage their leaders is just as
important as how their leaders manage them. Most followers at some point
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complain about the leader’s deficiencies, such as the leader’s failure to
listen, to encourage, or to recognize followers’ efforts. Effective
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Action Memo
followers, however, transform the leader–follower relationship by
striving to improve their leaders rather than just criticizing them.
Leader’s Self-Insight 7.2 gives you a chance
follower.
To be effective, followers develop a meaningful, task-related rela-
to see if you’re guilty of being an annoying
tionship with their bosses that enables them to add value to the or-
ganization even when their ideas disagree with those of the bosses. 34
You might have experienced this with a special teacher or coach. For
example, students who are especially interested in a class sometimes
challenge the professor on a topic as a way to expand the professor’s thinking and
enhance the learning experience for everyone.
Followers should also be aware of behaviors that can annoy leaders and in-
terfere with building a quality relationship. A business magazine recently inter-
viewed powerful people about their pet peeves and identifi ed 30 misdemeanors
that followers often commit without being aware of it.
Most relationships between leaders and followers are characterized by
some emotion and behavior based on authority and submission. Leaders are
authority fi gures and may play a disproportionately large role in the mind of a
follower. Followers may fi nd themselves being overcritical of their leaders, or
rebellious, or passive. Irvin D. Yalom, a professor of psychiatry and author of
the novels Lying on the Couch and When Nietzsche Wept, once had a patient
in group therapy who ranted at great length about her boss who never listened
and refused to pay her any respect. Interestingly, this woman’s complaints per-
sisted through three different jobs and three different bosses. The relation-
35
ships between leaders and followers are not unlike those between parents and
children, and individuals may engage old family patterns when entering into
leader–follower relationships. Effective followers, conversely, typically per-
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ceive themselves as the equals of their leaders, not inherently subordinate.
Exhibit 7.3 illustrates the strategies that enable followers to overcome the
authority-based relationship and develop an effective, respectful relationship
with their leaders.