Click here to watch the full video.

Tango is a close, improvisational dance that requires excellence in both the leader and follower role. Ira has produced a video in which one of the leading Tango practitioners in the US demonstrates the ways in which following well brings out the creativity of the leader and following poorly undermines the leader and the dance.

Tatyana is a teacher  in Russia who also enjoyed working as an election monitor until she was asked to inflate the vote count for Putin’s United Russia. She was offered a bribe seven times her official compensation. When she declined to do so, she was brought before the education official in charge of her school and told she needed to get an extra 200 votes.

Her reply: “Not a single parliamentary deputy is worth my imprisonment.”

“Fine,” they said, “Someone else would do it, but you keep your eyes closed.”

Instead Tatyana kept an eagle eye on the ballot box. Her reward: Her principal was pressured to not give her an annual bonus. She liked the principal and quit to protect her from further pressure. She took her story to the newspapers. Thirteen school principals wrote an open letter criticizing her. She stood strong. A citizens group, The League of Voters, has published her case and offered legal assistance.

The twist to this story that I find interesting is that Tatyana will still vote for Putin. “I still believe in him” she said.

So Tatyana could refuse to be complicit in fraud while still supporting both her principal and Putin. It is a noteworthy example of the variety of choices one can make when confronted with an ethical situation.  Neither courage nor ethical stances need be absolute to make a difference.

Do you have a story of a time you took a stance that drew attention to an unethical situation even if you couldn’t turn around the whole situation?

Read about Tatyana and her story in The Washington Post, February 28, 2012

What will 2012 bring?

In this context, the subject of “Followership” has become more urgent to study, understand and teach. In September the Navy retained me to give a keynote address and facilitate breakout groups for 400 Naval Public Affairs Officers. This month, the Consular Affairs Bureau at the Department of State invited me to talk on the topic “Follow Courageously”. The video of this talk is being made available to every US Embassy and Consulate to use. “Follow Courageously” is one of Consular Affairs’ 10 Leadership Tenets and it is the one on which staff are being asked to focus this year during their Consular Leadership Day activities.

2011 saw the words “follower” and “followership” enter the social media lexicon as a natural role that we assume in relation to others and that they assume in relation to us. The power of social media to help people self-organize into economic and political forces became irrefutable. A 23 year old young woman was able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of customers in days to get the mighty Bank of America to reverse its decision on assessing additional fees on debit cards—another watershed event.

The Occupy movement went a step further and shunned the whole notion of formal leaders. Note though, there is still horizontal leadership and this then requires a whole new way of doing followership. The result is exquisitely greater attention to group process and consensus building.

Whatever else 2012 brings, it will require governents, schools, businesses, non-profits and social movements to create environments in which participants at every level can meaningfully express their views. If those conditions are not created and supported, the conversation will quickly migrate into the public online forum and from there to the streets.

For those of you managing, training, consulting, coaching, researching or organizing in the group dynamics space, it is a time to think deeply about how individuals and organizations create the conditions of respectful candor in service of their collective mission. Whether we think in terms of followership or membership or citizenship, the world has shifted and we, our organizations and our clients need to shift as well.

The very fact that Jenkins’ column appeared on the front page is a sign of the increasing recognition of the ultimate primacy of followers. Jenkins quotes anthropological research by Christopher Boehm on the range of strategies used in traditional societies as “leveling mechanisms” when leaders misuse their power. Another important book on anthropological record of leadership and followership that I recommend is Naturally Selected by Mark van Vugt and Anjana Ahuja.

The Maryland and DC coaches Jenkins cites became increasingly abusive in their desperation to achieve results. Followers may respond to this type of behavior in the short term but ultimately tune out and shut down. Tebow, on the other hand, is a source of inspiration and strength to his teammates.   Jenkins observes, “A leader is worth nothing without voluntary commitment, because the followers are actually more in charge of the outcome.”

She’s right of course. But the power of followers goes beyond simply supporting the leader or withdrawing that support. Followers can also shape leaders to be more of their better selves, and draw less of their dark side (that most of us have) and which tends to emerge under excessive stress. How?

Followers can be very clear that they, too, want to succeed, and will vigorously support the leaders’ efforts to make the team successful. But they will not tolerate any bullying behavior. I have seen this work with junior staff towards the member of Congress for whom they worked, for teachers with their principals and for administrative staff with their senior executives. This is much more effective than people often believe possible. And the literature on bullying behavior says that if two or three people stand together against the bullying behavior it almost always stops.

So followers, continue to use your power to support good leadership, and, if necessary, withdraw support from bad leadership. But remember that you can also help leaders use their gifts well while getting them to stow away their toxic behaviors – - as they will not be countenanced here!