Followership at the Strategic Level – Paul McGachey

Paul McGachey shares his theoretical research on Ira Chaleff's Courageous Follower model plus lots of terrific examples from his own professional work demonstrating what it takes to follow courageously at the higher levels of an organization, whether that's  in the US military or in the business sector. Paul is a scholar-practitioner with 18 years of experience in the United States military and is currently pursuing a PhD in Education and Human Resources at Colorado State University. His primary research interests are followership and scenario planning, a tool that uses multiple future scenarios to drive strategic action and decision-making.  

“The follower has to see themselves as an active participant in the organization.”

“If you’re in a relationship with a leader who does not want your feedback, you need to resist the urge to take a passive role, just because that’s how the leader or the organization sees you.”

“You need to build that leader-follower relationship and that’s going to be built on trust and results over time.” 

“As you build a follower role orientation within yourself and within your organization, you’re going to gain more influence over your leader.” 

“Scenario planning has been very successful at changing mental models.”

“Regardless of whether you have input in the vision, you have direct action in the implementation and culture of the organization.”

 
Episode References 

• Robert Kelley, Power of Followership - https://www.amazon.com/Power-Followership-Robert-Kelley/dp/0385413068
• Robert Kelley, “In Praise of Followers,” Harvard Business Review - https://hbr.org/1988/11/in-praise-of-followers
• Ira Chaleff, The Courageous Follower - https://www.amazon.com/Courageous-Follower-Standing-Our-Leaders/dp/1605092738 

Connect with Paul McGachey

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulmcgachey/
• Email: paulmcgachey@gmail.com