Followership within the LEADS+ Developmental Model
The base of the LEADS+ Developmental Model is formed by our conceptions of what we call essential followership and strategic followership. Often individuals in AHCs engage with the work and mission but may not be specifically displaying (or feeling ready to act upon) their leadership capabilities. Aligned with the concepts of distributed leadership, Dickson et al. have noted that that anyone can exude informal leadership skills and that learning to lead means that you must also learn to follow.47 That is to say, that while anyone can be a leader, not everyone must lead in all circumstances, on all teams, and in all contexts. When individuals cannot be the leader —i.e., when there is a more appropriate individual to lead, or the individual’s energy or capacity is depleted—they must become effective followers. There is an emerging literature on the concept of followership - the capabilities to support the leader and team. While some scholars criticize the term as being outdated due to increasingly flattened hierarchies in specific cultural contexts48,49, there are distinct situations when team members deliberately choose to follow the lead of another to implement a strategic direction, rather than be the first to exercise the power or influence needed to achieve a strategic goal.