In his book, The Memo, business professor John Wesly Yoest, Jr. describes the art of followership. "Followership is dancing with the leadership of an organization, if not dancing with the stars. In this chapter, dance instruction meets the practice of management. Follow these steps for an interpretation of hands-on management: Practice Frame, Firm with Fun. "Frame. Dancing with a partner starts with a “frame.” This is the simple structure of where hands go. There is actual human contact here (not always recommended with your manager). When learning to dance, the next moves, the dance steps, are first learned and rehearsed without music. Using the frame, there is a great deal of communication between dance partners, but not much is verbal. "The follower is not a passive sheep, blindly following the shepherd-leader. The follower is engaged. He is not alienated. He is, well, a partner in execution. Competence and compliance in followership and dancing follow simple rules. "Firm. The framing between dance partners is nearly rigid. A common mistake seen in dance training is when both the leader and follower have “spaghetti arms.” But dancing, like all human interaction, needs a solid connection. Secure—there is no floppy disco. The following partner will offer a confident push back, which gives the dance leader confidence of a solid construction. "Leaders need to know where the follower is and is going. The partner knows the commander’s intent and can anticipate what his next move will be. The best followers are a step ahead. "Fun. After a short lesson on the rules of the road, the music is brought up and the dancers are lined up. There is much laughter and many missteps. ('I dance on the bottoms of my feet—you dance on the tops…') A bit of practice is needed, but soon the following partner easily predicts the direction that the dance team will take across the ballroom." (Yoest Jr., The Memo, ch. 7)
Business professor John Wesley Yoest, Jr. explains in The Memo how one can continue to practice the virtue of obedience even when one believes one's superior has made the wrong decision. "The staffer must understand that his manager will not always seem to make the right decision. Even after considering all the options and recommendations, the boss will make an 'odd' decision. Sometimes there won’t be time to explain the direction. "Or, more likely, the boss can’t share confidential background information or the timing is wrong. "Or the supervisor is still learning management-on-the-job and the thousands of variables to weigh. And sometimes the CEO just gets it wrong. How can the staffer manage his manager in this situation? "A team of professionals can take most any unusual decision and deliver the desired outcome. If senior management falters on those plan-organize-lead-control skills, the skilled subordinate managers and staff can still accomplish the task through execution. "This is how loyalty can help the mission to succeed. The team will adopt and implement the senior manager’s determination as if the decision were their own." (Yoest Jr., The Memo, ch. 28)
In his book, Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War and Life, Donald Rumsfeld offers an example of the virtue of followership from his time in the Ford administration. This virtue involves keeping the leader’s best interests at heart, rather than simple conformity. “Among President Ford’s close friends in Congress was the Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil, a deft legislator and gregarious Irishman who loved to regale presidents and friends with good stories. In December 1974, the Speaker had invited his friend and former colleague in the House of Representatives, Gerald Ford, to his sixty-second birthday party. “Ford had been President less than four months, and was still settling in to the responsibilities of the office. One of my duties as White House Chief of Staff was to have the scheduling office gather all the details on a function – where it would be, how long it would last, who would be attending, and the like. “The scheduler reported the details back to me and added that the party was being hosted by a South Korean lobbyist named Tongsun Park. I remembered the name from the newspapers and didn’t feel comfortable having the President attend a function hosted and paid for by a man known to be a foreign lobbyist with dubious ties to various members of Congress. “‘Mr. President, I think you should reconsider your decision to go to Tip’s birthday party,’ I told the President in the Oval Office. As a congressman Ford could have attended the event without the scrutiny of the press and public. As the President of the United States, he could not. “Well, no one was a more loyal friend than Jerry Ford. He bridled at the thought of bowing out after he had promised O’Neill he would attend. ‘No, Don,’ he responded. ‘Tip is my friend. I’m going.’ “The President thought that was the end of it, but I felt strongly that he would be making a serious mistake. So I found another occasion to bring up the issue. ‘Mr. President, about Tip’s birthday party, you do know you can’t attend,’ I told him. “‘Damn it, Rummy,’ he said, ‘it’s settled. I’m going.’ “‘Well,’ I replied, ‘then you’re going to have to walk. I’m not going to have the President’s armored limousine pull up to a party bought and paid for by a foreign lobbyist who may well be under investigation.’ “It was one of the few times I saw the genial Jerry Ford get hot. But in the end, he didn’t go. We later laughed about it, and he realized he had let friendship get in the way of his better judgment. “As it turned out, that lobbyist later admitted to bribing a number of members of Congress, some of whom were censured by their colleagues. That was the last birthday party Mr. Park hosted on Capitol Hill.” (Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld’s Rules, pp. 16-18)
“Whenever your supervisor sends you off to perform a specific task, you have two possible responses: (1) you do it exactly as requested, or (2) you come back and talk it over some more…It is simply unacceptable either not to do it, or to do something different instead. If you become concerned that the planned action isn’t worth doing as originally assigned (in view of new data or events), you may discuss, indeed you are obligated to discuss, the entire matter again, stating your intentions and reasons so that your manager can properly reconsider it.” (King, The Unwritten Laws of Business, 23)
In his book, The Memo, business professor John Wesly Yoest, Jr. describes the art of followership. "Followership is dancing with the leadership of an organization, if not dancing with the stars. In this chapter, dance instruction meets the practice of management. Follow these steps for an interpretation of hands-on management: Practice Frame, Firm with Fun.
ReplyDelete"Frame. Dancing with a partner starts with a “frame.” This is the simple structure of where hands go. There is actual human contact here (not always recommended with your manager). When learning to dance, the next moves, the dance steps, are first learned and rehearsed without music. Using the frame, there is a great deal of communication between dance partners, but not much is verbal.
"The follower is not a passive sheep, blindly following the shepherd-leader. The follower is engaged. He is not alienated. He is, well, a partner in execution. Competence and compliance in followership and dancing follow simple rules.
"Firm. The framing between dance partners is nearly rigid. A common mistake seen in dance training is when both the leader and follower have “spaghetti arms.” But dancing, like all human interaction, needs a solid connection. Secure—there is no floppy disco. The following partner will offer a confident push back, which gives the dance leader confidence of a solid construction.
"Leaders need to know where the follower is and is going. The partner knows the commander’s intent and can anticipate what his next move will be. The best followers are a step ahead.
"Fun. After a short lesson on the rules of the road, the music is brought up and the dancers are lined up. There is much laughter and many missteps. ('I dance on the bottoms of my feet—you dance on the tops…') A bit of practice is needed, but soon the following partner easily predicts the direction that the dance team will take across the ballroom." (Yoest Jr., The Memo, ch. 7)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteBusiness professor John Wesley Yoest, Jr. explains in The Memo how one can continue to practice the virtue of obedience even when one believes one's superior has made the wrong decision. "The staffer must understand that his manager will not always seem to make the right decision. Even after considering all the options and recommendations, the boss will make an 'odd' decision. Sometimes there won’t be time to explain the direction.
"Or, more likely, the boss can’t share confidential background information or the timing is wrong.
"Or the supervisor is still learning management-on-the-job and the thousands of variables to weigh. And sometimes the CEO just gets it wrong. How can the staffer manage his manager in this situation?
"A team of professionals can take most any unusual decision and deliver the desired outcome. If senior management falters on those plan-organize-lead-control skills, the skilled subordinate managers and staff can still accomplish the task through execution.
"This is how loyalty can help the mission to succeed. The team will adopt and implement the senior manager’s determination as if the decision were their own." (Yoest Jr., The Memo, ch. 28)
Case Study
ReplyDeleteIn his book, Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War and Life, Donald Rumsfeld offers an example of the virtue of followership from his time in the Ford administration. This virtue involves keeping the leader’s best interests at heart, rather than simple conformity. “Among President Ford’s close friends in Congress was the Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil, a deft legislator and gregarious Irishman who loved to regale presidents and friends with good stories. In December 1974, the Speaker had invited his friend and former colleague in the House of Representatives, Gerald Ford, to his sixty-second birthday party.
“Ford had been President less than four months, and was still settling in to the responsibilities of the office. One of my duties as White House Chief of Staff was to have the scheduling office gather all the details on a function – where it would be, how long it would last, who would be attending, and the like.
“The scheduler reported the details back to me and added that the party was being hosted by a South Korean lobbyist named Tongsun Park. I remembered the name from the newspapers and didn’t feel comfortable having the President attend a function hosted and paid for by a man known to be a foreign lobbyist with dubious ties to various members of Congress.
“‘Mr. President, I think you should reconsider your decision to go to Tip’s birthday party,’ I told the President in the Oval Office. As a congressman Ford could have attended the event without the scrutiny of the press and public. As the President of the United States, he could not.
“Well, no one was a more loyal friend than Jerry Ford. He bridled at the thought of bowing out after he had promised O’Neill he would attend. ‘No, Don,’ he responded. ‘Tip is my friend. I’m going.’
“The President thought that was the end of it, but I felt strongly that he would be making a serious mistake. So I found another occasion to bring up the issue. ‘Mr. President, about Tip’s birthday party, you do know you can’t attend,’ I told him.
“‘Damn it, Rummy,’ he said, ‘it’s settled. I’m going.’
“‘Well,’ I replied, ‘then you’re going to have to walk. I’m not going to have the President’s armored limousine pull up to a party bought and paid for by a foreign lobbyist who may well be under investigation.’
“It was one of the few times I saw the genial Jerry Ford get hot. But in the end, he didn’t go. We later laughed about it, and he realized he had let friendship get in the way of his better judgment.
“As it turned out, that lobbyist later admitted to bribing a number of members of Congress, some of whom were censured by their colleagues. That was the last birthday party Mr. Park hosted on Capitol Hill.” (Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld’s Rules, pp. 16-18)
Case Study
ReplyDelete“Whenever your supervisor sends you off to perform a specific task, you have two possible responses: (1) you do it exactly as requested, or (2) you come back and talk it over some more…It is simply unacceptable either not to do it, or to do something different instead. If you become concerned that the planned action isn’t worth doing as originally assigned (in view of new data or events), you may discuss, indeed you are obligated to discuss, the entire matter again, stating your intentions and reasons so that your manager can properly reconsider it.” (King, The Unwritten Laws of Business, 23)