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INFLUENCING YOUR FOLLOWERS | TWO KINDS OF FOLLOWERS

INFLUENCING YOUR FOLLOWERS | TWO KINDS OF FOLLOWERS

In my previous essay, I discussed influencing your followers and promised to further look at the two kinds of followers that every leader will encounter in the cycle of leadership. Today, I am going to begin a work based on that promise.

There are two kinds of followers in leadership. Remember that I had said that a follower is a neophyte who enters the cycle of leadership because he or she needs to be inspired  and raised to grow in the direction of an intended purpose in order to be transformed into his or her ideal self to eventually become a leader. Being a neophyte in this sense is not necessarily a function of age, in principle, but a state where the individual is new in the terrain of leadership. These kinds of followers include:

1. Adult followers
2. Non-adult followers

Adult followers
These are followers who have already determined a path for their lives before realizing that they have to make a U-turn in the right direction, hence, the need to be led by a leader, whose goal is to help them discover themselves. They are often mature adults who are already working on one career or the other with their actions framed toward ensuring they have security in the areas of man’s basic needs. They seem to know what they want and are on the lookout for it. They understand the need for a fulfilled life, which forms the motivation for their entry into the cycle of leadership. The difficulty the leader will face with this category of followers is associated with assuring them that their future is secure and the value of letting of old paradigm that seemed to have worked for them. Also, because they have experiences that they have embraced, the leader will be faced with arguments, following the way they know that life works and functions. So many of these followers are encountered in leadership settings where there are voluntary memberships by virtue of religion or profession.

Non-adult followers
These sets of followers are rather simple in every wise with limited knowledge about how things work and function in the terrain of leadership. They are immature in their spiritual and intellectual awareness even when they may appear to be physically mature. They still have not understood why they act the way they do, and hence, can be easily manipulated, which consequently puts a lot of burden on the leader to ensure that he provides them with guidance into discovering their ideal selves. These sets are most vulnerable to deception and manipulation amongst the class of followers by political leaders who take advantage of their state. People who fall into this category are people from the rural areas with limited awareness and enlightenment in understanding how life works and functions.

No matter what kind of followers the people you are leading are, your goal is to transit them from being followers into disciples who have made a decision to learn the principles that produce the required results in leadership following a day to day encounter with you.

In my next essay, I am going to be discussing on the dynamics of influence on your followers. So, be on the lookout for more essays.

Elvis C. Umez
Leadership Consultant
School of Leadership Development (SOLD)
IDB Consult

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