After completing exercise 18-4 in the textbook to evaluate job performance, I scored a 144. According to the textbook, a score that ranges from 135-150 is deemed “Outstanding” and gives the explanation, “Extremely high performers receive these scores. These individuals produce top results” (Manning, 2019). I would agree with this explanation to describe my level of job performance. I’ve always taken my responsibilities seriously and professionalism and excellent job performance are areas I don’t like to let slip. I have held each job for 5+ years and enjoy having longevity in my positions. Having both leader and follower positions, I can say that I enjoy both for different reasons and I see the value in both, as Professor Rollings explained when she said, “leadership is an art, so is followership.” To me, qualities in a good follower often make a good leader, showing the two roles are closely related. Based on the conclusion of a study done on the leader-follower relationship conducted by the Royal College and Technology, they concluded from their data that, “… there is cooperation between the leader and follower and a flexibility of attitudes and actions” (Stephenson, p. 16). The two roles are interwoven and based on situations, personalities, acceptance, etc.. Ways to improve my followership is to work on improving my listening skills. As I’ve learned in this course, my listening skills are not perfect and I have room for improvement. I am working on eliminating distractors. Another way I can improve is although I am following and listening to direction and guidance from my leader, I can still be creative and innovative. Sometimes, I leave that to the leader if I am the follower although as a follower it’s important to still bring ideas to the table. “Effective followers make their leaders better by contributing innovative ideas and actively questioning leaders ’ rationale in decision making” (Alegbeleye & Kaufman, p.3, 2020). References: Alegbeleye, I., Kaufman, E. (2020). Relationship between middle managers’ transformational leadership and effective followership behaviors in organizations. Journal of leadership studies. DOI 10.1002/jls.21673. pp. 1-15 Manning. G., & Curtis, K. (2019). The art of leadership, 6th ed. NY, NY: McGraw-Hill Education. Stephenson, T.E. The Leader-Follower Relationship. Sociological Review. Vol. 7 Issue 2, p179-195. 17p. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.1959.tb01027.x.
