Walk Before You Run: Why Followership Should Be the Cornerstone of Your Leadership Curriculum

Followership: an undervalued concept in effective teams within the military and NHS

INTRODUCTION

Leadership is accepted as a crucial component of effective working within teams. Followership's contribution to successful performance is increasingly recognised but understudied. This study evaluated followership levels in military doctors at different stages of their careers and made recommendations for how followership concepts can be used to develop the self and better understand the challenges of small team working.

METHODS

A self-report study in which Kelley's followership questionnaire was distributed to 64 military doctors in three cohorts. 53 results were assessed using Kelley's followership framework. Subgroup analysis was undertaken to look at differences depending on service, age, gender and career stage.

RESULTS

The study demonstrated a predominant exemplary followership style within military doctors. No statistical difference was identified at the 0.05 level in followership by career stage, age, gender or service in the sample group.

CONCLUSION

This study gives insight into the attributes of doctors within the Defence Medical Services and laid out a methodology for further cohort evaluations of followership. It made recommendations on the areas of the field that require further research and how followership concepts may be included in further development courses and reporting for military medical personnel.

Learning to Lead: 10 Leadership Lessons From Operation Bushmaster

Medical students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences participate in a leadership curriculum designed to develop leadership skills. Operation Bushmaster is a 5-day field practicum designed to test these skills. In this article, we describe 10 leadership lessons learned during Operation Bushmaster applicable to all leaders.