Leading as a Follower, Following as a Leader
Tip O’Neill is credited with saying the famous political quote “All politics is local” and he couldn’t have been more correct. This summer, I am working on the re-election campaign of State Representative Pat Boyd (D-50) in the northeast corner of Connecticut. My particular position and work within the campaign means that I have am not only a follower, but also a leader (local campaigns are interestingly organized). I answer directed and work most often with the campaign manager, my boss, while also working for the candidate himself. Yet, I also have someone who answers to me in a sort of odd way. Technically, I out rank another member of the organization, yet we share the same boss. This creates a unique leader and follower relationship.
Seeing as how I have a boss that I directly answer to means that I am, naturally, a follower. I have actually known him for years and we can often be very informal, yet he maintains an extremely professional relationship and it is always clear who is the “boss”. With that said, I gladly am his follower and learn a great deal from him everyday. The other member of the group, who I “outrank”, also is a follower of our shared leader and clearly also follows my lead. Being far more experienced, I clearly have an informal influence on her. One main area from which I influence her is my loyal following of our boss. Having such an informal relationship with him and yet still following his leadership with little question and great professionalism has created a clear influence and added to her learning experience. To her, I am leading as a following.
However, I also find myself following as a leader. What I mean by that is because I am a leader to this other member of the team, I look to my boss for inspiration. Inspiration not for how to best do my job, but instead inspiration for how to be a strong leader. Being the person to whom somebody looks up and learns from is a large weight that I am not used to. By learning how to be a good leader in this workplace makes me following as a leader.
Our team is small, yet mighty. I look forward to work everyday and cherish the professional (and friendly) relationships I have grown with my boss and those with whom I work. The leader/follower dynamics are unique, fluid, and influential. We work closely together, takes order in a top down approach, feel free to speak up, have fun, and are leaders/followers to each other in many ways.
Sounds like an interesting environment that has afforded you opportunities to lead and follow. There are some part that are bumpy to read with extra words/grammatical issues – but I get what you are saying. In some ways you have assumed an informal leadership position, though you answer to a formal leader within the organization. Not sure from this whether you tend to work independently and/or with others or if the work is fairly structured/directed or more autonomous. Also haven’t learned much from this about the communication at the site (if it is effective, methods/modes of communication, etc.). I encourage you to consider to reflect on these things and to identify specific examples that illustrate concepts/ideas/theories from leadership studies as such reflections will aid you with the academic assignments this fall.