Engagement Newsletter No. 3: Introducing Followership​

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Many union leaders today see the need to build stronger connections with their members, developing greater organizational depth, leverage, and strength in a more challenging labour environment. This newsletter will introduce one of the foundational principles of building engagement: understanding the notion of "followership" and how your members determine their roles in the organization. While the leader has important responsibilities in organizational development, that influence is more effective when properly targeted at the goal of building membership relationships. 

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Very early in my research on union engagement I was searching for a more precise definition of the relationship between leaders and members - puzzled by the unique fact that across Canada, and many jurisdictions elsewhere, employees are members of the union in a "union-shop" structure. Members pay dues as a condition of employment, giving the union resources to effectively represent their interests. This reflects the transactional model I introduced in the first newsletter. To build engagement requires, as a start, the building of a purpose for members to "volunteer" more of their effort in the daily operation of their union. How best do we view this process - through their eyes... as followers. 

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In the study of organizations, the position of “leader” has traditionally been considered part of a hierarchical structure – a chain of command where someone who possesses authority by occupying a “higher position” gives instructions to members who are expected to be passive and obedient. Such a structure satisfies the instrumental nature of employment – “work for pay” – but does little to encourage a meaningful or lasting commitment to the organization. Since the “work for pay” relationship does not exist between union leaders and members, how do we build engagement? To start, we need to put the union leader-member relationship in context. 

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While the organization’s bylaws or constitution may prescribe certain expectations of members, a union leader cannot “order” members to attend a meeting, read a newsletter, or promote the interests of the organization. The relationship between the union’s leader and members is limited, and not at all like the one between employee and employer. To bring the member into a “follower” role, the member needs to be persuaded that there’s a value to investing the additional time and effort – after all, historically the business structure of the organization has only expected the payment of dues. Therefore, in our analysis of member engagement we characterize members as “volunteers.” By framing the leader-follower relationship in a volunteer context, we open the door to a study of what attracts people to certain organizations.

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People are attracted to, and engage with, volunteer organizations where they feel that there is value in its purpose, mission and vision. The strength of those feelings typically influences the degree of investment the person is prepared to make – general interest may be sufficient to make a financial donation, or to read literature produced by the organization. A higher level of interest may result in the person volunteering a more valuable asset - their time. Levels of commitment, particularly early in the followership relationship, will be transitory.  Someone’s commitment may be focused on one issue, after which their interest will wane.

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Therefore, in the volunteer framework the member and leader have an exchange relationship – the member becomes a follower, at least for the one issue that brought them in, and the leader articulates the purpose, mission or vision. Of course this leads to the question: has your organization determined its purpose, mission or vision? And, if you have, is that part of the communications strategy you have with your membership? Of course, this is a simplified description of the leader-member exchange theory, as it is described in the scholarly literature on leadership, but it is important in that it defines one of the key motivations in the process of members transitioning to followers. Contrary to common perception, members do not follow the organization’s leader in as much as they follow the organization’s purpose, vision or mission. It is the challenge for the leader to articulate those aspirations, bringing the message to the members and encouraging their involvement.

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If we position our organizations in their present state and consider how we are to get to our desired state, we start with the realization that having structured our organizations in a transactional, “as needed” business structure for so long, our task to build engagement is really starting from the ground up. Unless your union has only recently been certified, it is unlikely that anyone in your membership was present when the union was created – the point where, among the membership, the awareness of the organization’s purpose is often at its peak. It may be that before we articulate our organization’s mission and vision, it will be necessary to invest time to educate members on the organization’s purpose.

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Conclusion

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This newsletter introduces the concept of exchange in the relationship between the leader and member in our efforts to transition the member to follower. By framing the analysis in the context of volunteers, we are able to consider what attracts people to certain organizations. For unions that attraction focuses on the organization’s purpose, mission or vision. In this way, we understand that while the leader plays an important role, it is the organization’s aspirations that have the greatest effect in attracting engagement. For the leader, the tasks if to articulate those aspirations, bringing the organization closer to its members. Having a strong sense of followership between the members and union is important to the organization when unity is key – during collective bargaining, or other weathering challenging times.

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Dr. Bill Cole is the principal at COLE LABOUR with more than forty years of experience working with labour unions across North America. His research has included member engagement, union leadership and members as followers. He also has extensive experience in collective bargaining and dispute resolution in the public and private sectors. Check out his website at colelabour.ca 

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For more information about COLE LABOUR, visit our other website at www.colelabour.ca