The demanding nature of the modern workplace is threatening to unbalance the leader-follower equation. Motivated by the fear of failure, leaders and followers reluctantly come together, not to address the issue, but to engage in finger pointing, faultfinding, and face saving. Meanwhile, the problem festers and their working relationship suffers as a result.

The life of any organization—its principles, ethics, style, values, and morality—is shaped by the leader-follower equation. Each side has a responsibility to convey factual information to the other in a timely manner and to work cooperatively toward the same purpose.

Follower-centered problems

• Few companies ever take the time to teach followers how to communicate with leaders in a constructive manner.
• Followers are too frequently on the receiving end of poorly implemented change strategies that are revised or replaced so often they make no sense.
• New hires are expected to work together and build teams on their own with little or no help from their leaders.
• Followers are seldom exposed to problem solving and conflict resolution methodologies as part of their formal job training.
• Followers who lack relationship-building abilities tend to concentrate on each other rather than the task at hand.

Leader-center problems

• Leaders are too often unapproachable, hard to locate, or otherwise make it difficult for followers to communicate with them in a timely fashion.
• Leaders talk about teamwork and expect their followers to work in teams, but seldom work in teams or act in a team-like manner themselves.
• Giving timely evaluations, addressing poor performers, and correcting inappropriate behavior are job factors that leaders too often avoid and seldom perform well.
• The importance of delegation is frequently disparaged or given only token support by those leaders who still find it hard to give up the old command and control system. 
• Fielding complaints, being open to criticism, and communicating negative information in a constructive way are leadership skills that are highly valued but rarely practiced.

Your company would benefit greatly if its leaders and followers were to see themselves as corporate citizens working as a team. A good way to impart this attitude is to tackle the two lists cited above. As corporate citizens their needs and wants should be the same—to do good work and to prosper as the result.