Are you a leader or follower at work? There is often a widespread belief in business that it is better to lead than to follow. Businesses need positions of both types of people for a business to function successfully. A leadership position is usually identified by specific roles of managers and supervisors, hence the definition of leader. Followers tend to be characterized by someone who is given information and direction with the task of developing or completing an assignment with pre-planned productive results, they are the ones who put the plan into action and create the results. Both positions are essential for success and completely dependent on each other, but is one more important than the other? In a business organization, a leadership role is often characterized by a person who has the fundamental ability to plan, implement, delegate, supervise, influence and hold other employees accountable towards a specific business goal. The character of a strong leader should have dominant personality traits to execute the skill sets taught. For someone to take on a leader title, not only must he be able to take on very important responsibilities, but on average a successful leader is only fit to hold the position when he can easily influence others to follow his direction. A person must be able to persuade and influence people naturally, and the person is much more successful when he has confidence in himself, in his own ideas and abilities, which are all visible. Additional skills are obtained through training to improve the talent of instructing others effectively. A leader must be seen as an expert who has all the right information and ideas based on his or her vision. Imagining opportunities can be one thing... middle of the paper... must support the follower and followers must support the leader. A leader would not be a leader if there was no one to follow, and a follower would not be able to follow if there was no leader. Even the boundary between the two roles is not insurmountable. In most cases a leader was once a follower who decided they had the ability and desire to step out of their current role and take on the responsibility of helping others be more effective. The transition from leader to follower depends on personal and situational factors. Likewise a leader is usually also a follower of his own leader and at the same time is a leader to other followers. The entire chain of command is completely dependent on the other parties and roles as a whole. One might agree that for organizational success there must be someone who says “let's do it,” and others who agree and follow through..
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