“To Understand Follower-Ship, Leaders Need to Grasp
The Survival Benefits of Social Coordination”
I recently read an article, An Evolutionary View-What Followers Want from Their Leaders, that explains the three characteristics dating back to the ancient tribes that every follower needs from their leader.
Roughly two million years ago, the hunter-gather living style did not have formal leadership roles. With tribal-warfare being the major cause of death during the Old Stone Age, tribes needed to establish leadership to survive and that’s where social coordination was formed.
“Social coordination is best facilitated by a decision-making process in which one individual initiates a plan and others agree to pursue it…In this way, leadership evolved as a resource for group success and survival”
The following explains the three core qualities that every tribe follower needed from their leader:
- Choosing when and where to move
- Peacemaking within the group
- Defending against rival groups
Leadership still continues to shape around the core values (along with many others) that will create inspiring leaders:
- Direction: When your followers aren’t sure what path they should go down
- Peacemaking: When your followers are having issues with other individuals in the group
- Protection: When your followers are threatened by competition or even bad luck
The article was fascinating because it illustrates that for the past 2.5 million years the needs of followers have not changed.
With these three basic needs in mind, the authors want you to reflect on your leadership values and ask yourself one question: Why would anyone follow me?”
For more information on An Evolutionary View-What Followers Want from Their Leaders: http://www.hoganassessments.com/sites/default/files/What%20Followers%20Want.doc.pdf
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