That They May Flourish: A Servant-leadership Approach to Flourishing Followership

That They May Flourish: A Servant-leadership Approach to Flourishing Followership

Toni Er I 2024

Abstract

Followers play an integral role in the leadership process and the success of organizations. Yet, followership has not received as much recognition and attention as leadership because of the heroic view of leadership and traditional notions that followers are passive and lesser than leaders. Growing followership research shows that followers can be active co-producers of leadership outcomes and can flourish with the right leadership style and organizational culture. This paper proposes a conceptual Flourishing Followership Model comprising external and internal factors that encourage effective follower behaviors and argues that servant leadership is the most suitable leadership approach to help followers flourish. It includes strategies for servant-leaders to use when developing followers so that they may flourish.

Keywords: effective follower behaviors, flourishing followership, implicit follower theories, role orientation, servant leadership