First Follower: The Person Every Leader Needs To Build Engagement & Momentum

If you're like most leaders, you are facing the prospect of having to keep up with an economy and competitive landscape that's volatile, uncertain, complex and in motion. Not only that, you also are tasked with finding the right solutions and implementing them to keep your boss and/or shareholders happy, key talent in place and your career on track. Sometimes, you start to think it would take you doing something really whacky to make that happen...to ignite a fire underneath your people who seem frozen in place by learned helplessness. But you start to worry about putting yourself out there...and if you start to think about actually acting on that crazy idea you've been nurturing for the last 6 months, this voice begins to whisper a chilling possibility in your mind....
"What if no one follows you?" (Cue the primal scream)
Now stop reading and go to this link and listen to this 3 minute video. Then come on back...go on, I'll wait.
Okay, so what did you learn? Did you notice that the key is the first follower who turns someone who others think is two clicks left of center into someone worth following? Now, of course, the kinds of decisions you have to face as an executive will not be solved by doing a goofy dance in the middle of a park, (if only it were that simple and fun). However, if the situation, urgency and conditions are ripe to start a movement that will drive people toward a necessary goal or shift a culture, here are some thoughts about getting people moving in the direction you want:
(Psst! Some of this concept is spoken about in the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. If you haven't read it yet, I encourage you to do so.)
1. You need to be or find a leader who has the courage to stand by an idea and a plan that may be, shall we say, "non-traditional" and put it out there even if it means you are alone for a while. That alone takes guts, commitment... and a Plan B if it doesn't work out. Only kidding about the Plan B...sort of.
2. You need a first follower or even followers. These people are key, as the speaker explains. The most critical piece of these first followers is how you treat them. Derek Sivers said, "You must embrace them as equals.", as our dancing leader in the video did. This is the person who says, "Hey, it's okay, come on and join us." This is the person who influences others to contribute actively. You can see how he waves them into the crowd. And you can see how it takes off from there. That's because the first followers do something critical to influence the thinking of the people on the sidelines: They lower the risk of loss and danger in standing out. First followers make it safer to take a shot at greatness, doing something never done before.
First followers are what can potentially turn you, who is at first seen as a "candidate for a long vacation", into a visionary worth following and helping to achieve their goal. It can help to talk to those who you believe will join you and step up quickly after you initiate or announce your idea or plan. You may also get some good ideas from them that will help get needed engagement and momentum.
3. You need to be or find a leader who is willing to let go... to turn over the leadership to the first followers because they will determine largely how subsequent followers behave. Did you hear this idea of treating the first followers as equals? Interesting. Did you notice how the leader "disappeared" but you can be sure he was still dancing. It didn't matter that others took over and did some new moves. The leader let the momentum keep going and building. Soon it was uncool to not be with the in-crowd contributing to the experience.
As Derek Sivers says, leadership can be given more credit than its due sometimes and this can be true. While leaders usually get the credit for making something positive happen (because they will get the blame when it doesn't) it is in fact the first followers and those who follow them who often get others' buy-in and tactical traction that turns a radical idea into an actual implemented solution.
This is not to minimize the necessity or value of leaders...this is a timeless cautionary tale however: Too much control can lead the best ideas onto the rocks where they splinter apart. Leadership has many layers and to be most masterful you need to know when to have your hands on the wheel directing the course and when to hand it over and to whom, always making sure you stay engaged to help the team weather the rough seas and stay on course...pull this off well and people will consider that joining you in your goofy dance was one of the best decisions they made.
Is there a movement you want to start?