Followership: much more than simply following the leader

Capturing the wisdom of the crowd: health professions’ educators meet at a virtual world café

“…The team, self-titled 'Mentors without Borders' (or MWB), comprised educational leaders who served as mentors at the AMEE workshop, and newer members who joined the community to increase geographic reach. The group followed the paradigm of one leader supported by active followers, who guided the vision, goals and strategies of the team and enabled the leader to lead effectively [17]. The team collaboratively designed the format and content for the virtual workshop, with collective sharing of ideas and delegation of roles and responsibilities using email and a series of Zoom™ meetings.…”

The leadership and followership challenges of doctors in training during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The medical profession has a recognisable and distinct hierarchy with consultants at the top, doctors in training (at various grades) in the middle and medical students at the bottom. Our earlier study found that this hierarchy can create a negative working environment where junior healthcare professionals feel a lack of confidence and are unwilling to challenge their superiors, even if they think their clinical judgement is wrong (McKimm et al, 2020). This workplace culture contributes to communication failures and significant reversible causes of patient harm (Sutcliffe et al, 2004).…”

“…This article builds on the findings of a research study carried out in 2016 (McKimm et al, 2020;Jones et al 2016) which analysed 51 Critical Incident Analyses (CIAs) and 51 analyses of workplace situations (WS) where poor or exemplary leadership was observed. These written pieces were produced by 51 doctors in training, from 5 different cohorts (2009-2014) on an academic programme in clinical leadership and management.…”

“…Our understanding of followership has subsequently developed to explore levels of engagement (Kellerman, 2008); the impact of followers on leaders' behaviour (Uhl-Bien et al, 2014); the role of followers in generating collective emotion, and followership and clinical teamworking (McKimm and Vogan 2020). Paradis suggests that followership is the ability to:…”

“…Being able to work effectively in a team has been essential during the COVID-19 crisis when teams are put under increasing pressure to treat patients quickly, yet safely, whilst often working in new, temporary teams, and outside their usual scope of practice (Paixao et al, 2020). This involves being able to lead, manage and follow well (the leadership 'triad') (McKimm, O'Sullivan 2016), but doctors have not traditionally learned about followership, although this is changing (McKimm & Vogan, 2020;Gordon et al 2015). During the pandemic, doctors at all levels are being asked to follow the leadership of medical directors, NHS chiefs and central governments on an unprecedented level.…”