Followership Published Oct. 20, 2008 By Major Robert "Bone" Sheehan 606 Air Control Squadron/Chief, Combat Readiness SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- We begin our careers learning that leadership is the bedrock foundation to build upon. Whether it's basic military training or a commissioning source, leadership stands out as the fundamental difference that makes our military life unique from most other professions in the world. Regardless of our rank, we are told the military needs leaders, and therefore by virtue of our rank and position, we are leaders. From day one the leader is established, and the chain of command is explained. Everyone has their role, from the most junior enlisted member to the commanding officer. I find it interesting that one leadership lesson must be learned over and over again...the key to good leadership is the loyal and sincere art of followership. I am convinced that followership is the key to leadership. It starts with the youngest peer groups in our junior enlisted ranks, non commissioned officer corps, and company grade officers. We all know the rules, the standards and what is expected of us. Although we try to police ourselves at our own level, and the lower the better, how often must your supervisor step in to remind you of what you need to do? Our goal should be to make our supervisors' and bosses' lives easier by doing what is expected of us every day. When the orders come down the chain, regardless of what form they are in, we all know what to do; be good followers. Even supervisors are accountable to someone above them. Accountability is key to followership, and trust is key to the supervisor's relationship with their subordinates. If we do not support the boss, the success of the mission is directly affected. We can make the day more complicated than it needs to be. We waste time trying to get the job done with less than 100 percent effort. Or worse yet, we may degrade the mission. I believe everyone reading this has been there; convinced the boss didn't understand mission priorities or realize there was a better way to accomplish a task. You can inject any circumstance into this type of situation. The boss has issued a task; hopefully they have given direction and made this expectation, standard and suspense clear. The reason you need to do something when asked is not important. If you have not been a supervisor yet, learning why that is lies ahead of you. For those that are first-time supervisors, I believe you have already experienced this, and I hope you have asked yourself how good of a follower you were in your early days and have now become. So, how does this relate? It is a leadership challenge to switch roles from leader to follower many times a day, from helping out your fellow Airmen by pointing out the obvious safety violation, to setting the example by making sure the jet is ready to launch to complete a combat sortie. It is making sure the simple tasks in front of you are taken care of so we can all put our time and energy into the effort required to manage and execute major tasks. It's your responsibility as a follower to support the boss and not be the distraction that makes their job tougher or complicates the environment we all work in. We all have a boss. When we all work on becoming a better follower, we acquire the ability to complete a task or conquer challenges more effectively. Followers need to know and understand their bosses' priorities so they can be effective leaders and accomplish the mission at hand. At the same time, we enable our leaders to focus on more important details and other tasks coming down the chain. We will all be more effective if everyone remembers that before a good leader...you must be a great follower.