Leadership is organizing work in a group, where a leader is a person who is listened to and trusted by his/her followers. It is assumed that results depend on followership which is an essential component of leadership. The success and failure of the head can be explained from the perspective of subordinates; therefore, it is crucial to compare and contrast these terms. Leadership and followership are the opposite terms, but at the same time, they form the joint concept.
Regarding differences, first of all, a leader is a person who influences people through ideas for improvement. A follower is an individual that makes the leader take actions, being guided by the latter. The critical skills and qualities for the leader are confidence, independence in the decision process, the ability to maintain positive relations with the team, and the energy to make people believe him/her (Pietraszewski, 2020). In contrast, the qualities of followers are loyalty and obedience (Pietraszewski, 2020). In addition, they should understand the guidelines given by their leader to achieve the goal (Pietraszewski, 2020). Overall, the differences concern mainly the functions of both sides and the qualities needed for successful work.
Concerning similarities, as a result of the nature of these concepts, leaders and followers inspire each other. The leader encourages followers to take specific actions, while the latter can assure the leader that he/she sets the right directions for further development (Brutus & Vanhove, 2017). Thus, the ability to cooperate is essential for both parties as it serves as the basis of a good atmosphere in the workspace and leads to success.
To sum up, every organization needs a leader to set directions for its followers. Simultaneously, the concepts of followership and leadership are interconnected as a director always needs people to inspire and engage. Parties solve emerging problems together when the leader proposes possible solutions and followers choose among these options. The head should work in communication with subordinates; the team participates in the discussion of tasks and decision-making. Such an approach makes it easier to solve problems and maintain favorable relationships in the organization.
References
Brutus, T., & Vanhove, A. (2017). Leading by serving: Redefining the roles of leaders and followers in today’s workplace. In C. J. Davis (Ed.), Servant leadership and followership (pp. 261-288). Palgrave Macmillan
Pietraszewski, D. (2020). The evolution of leadership: Leadership and followership as a solution to the problem of creating and executing successful coordination and cooperation enterprises. The Leadership Quarterly, 31(2), 1-14.