Leadership is a much-discussed topic with many publications and studies focused on defining what it is and how to best practice it.  Often missed is the fact leaders do not exist without followers.

Followership does have some focus in literature and research over the last decade.  It is defined as the willingness to cooperate in working toward the accomplishment of defined goals while demonstrating a high degree of interactive teamwork.

Effective followers are active participants (partners) in creating the leadership process. That is, leadership and followership are intricately entwined.

Chicken or Egg

Do leaders create followers or do followers create leaders?  The answer is probably a bit of both.  To be effective followers require someone to follow but must be motivated to do so.

Leaders need someone to lead (i.e., a follower) but must also be motivated to do so (i.e., lead).

In some cases leaders are appointed or elected and by dint of position are classified as a leader.  In these cases the followers are typically not chosen by the leader but pre-existing.

In other cases followers and leaders develop their roles in tandem choosing each other.  These typically become the most effective and high performing teams.

That is where leadership and follower-ship is not designated but rather arises organically.  Both leaders and followers recognize each others strengths and weaknesses and play off of those.

In this way everyones best is leveraged.  The power of the whole prevails and most often the result is greatness.