Motivations for followership. Why do followers follow, what drives them to follow?. In addition to the four directors we talked about earlier (people, principle, purpose, profit) there are underlying motivations that these directors appeal to that drives followership. Here are six of the more common followership motivations:
Six Followership Motivations – Reasons Why followers follow:
- Fear of Retribution
This is the lowest form of followership when people follow out of fear. Its what happens in dictatorships or with authoritarian insecure leaders. - Hope / Desperation
This is the next lowest form of motivation. This is where people follow because this is their “last resort” and have no other choice, in their opinion. They are not really sure that following would result in any success. - Faith in Leader
This is where the leader exudes the type of confidence, credibility or charisma that causes the follower to put their trust in the leader and follow. This type of followership can easily be abused if a leader is not ethical or of a high moral character. - Reward
This is the flip side of the “fear” motivation. Reward can be tangible, as in compensation or rewards can be intangible like a “sense of belonging” or “a sense of value”. - Philosophical Alignment
When a person agrees with the philosophy or the teachings of a leader r organization and bases their decision to follow on this agreement. - Vision – buy in
When someone likes where an organization is heading or what they are trying to do. This vision forms the basis of their followership.