Thank you for bringing forward this key element in small group dynamic leadership competency that is necessary to all clinical situations yet is underrepresented by the quest for dominance within the designate leadership role.

The National Outdoor Leadership School (www.nols.edu) has been teaching Active Followership as an integral part of leadership roles for decades as a part of their 4:7:1 approach (four roles, seven skills and one style).

The Active Follower is as described in the article here and is able to adeptly shift roles when required of them to ‘Serve the Mission’ and as supported by idea is that one shouldn’t abdicate all responsibility just because you aren’t currently the designated leader. Serve the mission -for us the patient; craft the team and shift roles as required to use its attributes where and when needed.

‘An active follower is a supportive and involved team member who asks questions, offers ideas, participates in discussions, is vocal about their needs without being demanding and is willing to modify personal goals for the sake of the group. An active follower is also able to say no or refuse to follow when he or she thinks a leader is making a bad or dangerous decision’.

Just wanted to leave a link to a youtube video on the importance of the first follower. While leaders are needed at many levels, they can’t go it alone. It takes the followers to make things happen. In this video, the narrator clearly outlines the various roles of each follower and why they are integral to a movement. So even though the leader may start a movement, it won’t catch until the first follower shows himself. Thanks for listening!