Global Followership Conference: Full Schedule

11:30am PDT

Creating Engaging & Effective Followership Teams

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT

Creating teams that can dynamically plan and implement organizational programs is a key performance strategy to achieve organizational goals. Using Followership principles, developing teams can thrive in environments that typically slow in progression as complex implementation issues takeover timelines. Team creation processes seek specific attributes of team members to match the right people to right teams for optimal project workflow. Diverse team development has four essential characteristics that team members can flex-in and -out of as the teamwork evolves to implementation. This workshop will provide opportunities to practice creating teams that demonstrate followership acumen through intentional team-creation and teamwork.

Presenters

Pamela McAffee

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
RN 102

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners

11:30am PDT

Engagement: A leadership-followership systems approach

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT

RN 105

Employee engagement is a hot topic for organizations because it significantly impacts just about every outcome from customer satisfaction to profitability to turnover. However, the way we think about it and try and improve it in organizations is driven by top-down, leadership thinking. Frankly, it doesn't work (well). In this highly interactive session you will learn how to apply a followership-leadership lens to engagement that changes everything. You take away practical ideas that can be implemented immediately and, for researchers, it opens up an entirely new way to research it.

Presenters

Samantha Kerr Hurwitz

Chief Encouragement Officer, FliP University

Ask me about my origin story - how did I "find" followership and why it mattered (still matters!!!) to me so much. ORAsk me about why we felt it was important to start the Global Followership Conference.ORAsk me about why we believe that EVERYONE should learn BOTH leadership and followership... Read More →

Marc Hurwitz

Chief Insight Officer, Flip U

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
RN 105

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners

11:30am PDT

Organizational Leadership and Followership: Partnering to Achieve Success

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT

RN 103

In this facilitated discussions, participants will explore what leaders and followers need from each other to partner to develop and enact strategy, design and deliver on culture, create and recreate structure and processes, and empower and enact high performance.

Presenters

Jeffrey McClellan

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
RN 103

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners

1:45pm PDT

Followership for High Performance (1 of 2)

Wednesday May 28, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

RN 104

What do you really think about followers? Who are more important to an organization: leaders or followers? Are you a leader or a follower? Key topics explored in this session include follower as role, reimagining leadership as a system, unspoken follower perspectives, and the key characteristics of effective followers. Learn how a focus on followership and follower development may be more important to high levels of organizational performance than leadership development. Recipients of the 2023 Followership Trailblazer award and co-authors of the landmark textbook, The Essentials of Followership, already in its 2nd edition, Mark and Mike have designed this deep dive session especially for those new to followership and for those seeking effective models of presenting it to others.

Presenters

Mark Rennaker

Mike Linville

Wednesday May 28, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
RN 104

Deep Dive

Audience New to Followership, For Practitioners

1:45pm PDT

Looking@Leadership + Looking@Followership

Wednesday May 28, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

RS 102

Using images with an active learning approach, this interactive experiential session will enable you to explore and discover what represents leadership + followership to you, your organization, and how it impacts what you do when leading + following. Everyone’s perception of both leadership + followership influences their thoughts, feelings, and behavior which also impact a variety of unique perspectives, contexts, and situations. This workshop session will bring to life different learning activities that visually and interactively increase the value and perception of both followers and followership as well as leaders and leadership—working together.

Presenters

Frank Kick

Wednesday May 28, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
RS 102

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners

3:30pm PDT

Followership for High Performance (2 of 2)

Wednesday May 28, 2025 3:30pm - 5:00pm PDT

RN 104

Presenters

Mark Rennaker

Mike Linville

Wednesday May 28, 2025 3:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
RN 104

Deep Dive

Audience New to Followership, For Practitioners

10:15am PDT

The Role of Succession Planning in Cultivating Leadership and Followership for Organizational Sustainability

Thursday May 29, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT

RN 103

Succession planning is a strategic and often overlooked process that ensures the sustainability of leadership and followership within organizations. In the absence of effective succession planning, we risk losing not only future leaders but also the opportunity to empower followers to take on more active, engaged roles. This workshop will explore how succession planning functions as a bridge between leadership and followership, emphasizing its role in sustaining nonprofit and NGO organizations. It will include opportunities for attendees to share their best practices as well!

Presenters

Aleen Bayard

Thursday May 29, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
RN 103

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners

10:15am PDT

Unlocking Empowerment and Self-Awareness in Organizations

Thursday May 29, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT

RS 102

This interactive workshop explores the often-overlooked concept of Followership through the lens of empowerment and self-awareness. Participants will learn to cultivate effective followership using tools designed to deepen personal insight and foster organizational health. Coaches, trainers, leaders, and individuals seeking to develop a stronger sense of empowerment and purpose will benefit from this session. Key takeaways include understanding the language of empowerment and creating the self-awareness necessary for both leaders and followers to thrive. Participants will engage in live exercises, small-group discussions, personal reflection exercises, and real-life stories and scenarios to demonstrate principles and spark dialogue. Attendees will gain practical strategies they can immediately apply in their roles and organizations.

Presenters

Kim Bland

Thursday May 29, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
RS 102

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners

11:30am PDT

Elevating HR: Leveraging Followership for Strategic Influence

Thursday May 29, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT

RN 103

This facilitated session explores how the human resource function can transition from a support function to a strategic partner by leveraging the power of followership. Participants will share interactive discussions and exercises to identify what they envision a more strategic role to be, how to pursue it using followership techniques, and what obstacles they will need to overcome along the way. Participants will leave with insights on where their HR function is going and how to get there with the help of followership.

Presenters

Kyle Payne

Owner, Quality Culture

Kyle is a professional speaker, coach, facilitator, and consultant. He develops leaders through engaging and highly-interactive workshops and has established a strong reputation for fostering a safe and productive learning environment for participants. He has published groundbreaking... Read More →

Monica Turner

Thursday May 29, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
RN 103

Guided Discussion

Audience For Practitioners

2:45pm PDT

Strong Followers, Strong Teams: How Powerful Followership Transforms Conflicts

Thursday May 29, 2025 2:45pm - 4:15pm PDT

RN 103

Conflict isn’t just a leadership challenge—strong followership plays a critical role in transforming tension into progress. In this interactive session, we’ll explore how effective followers contribute to conflict resolution, strengthen team dynamics, and drive success. You’ll learn practical strategies for bringing up conflict, naming the difference between position and interest, and fostering collaboration even in high-stakes situations. Through real-world examples, participants will leave with a new perspective on conflict as a powerful force for positive change. This session will equip participants with the tools to turn conflict into an opportunity for growth.

Presenters

Lindsay Burr

CEO, Yarbrough Group

An engaging facilitator and Polarity ThinkingTM Master Trainer, Lindsay brings a depth of knowledge and a global perspective that supports seeing the known in a new way. Lindsay will unpack the key concepts of Polarity Thinking and change how you think about leadership and followership... Read More →

Thursday May 29, 2025 2:45pm - 4:15pm PDT
RN 103

Guided Discussion

Audience For Practitioners

2:45pm PDT

How to talk about followership in a way people will get it

Thursday May 29, 2025 2:45pm - 4:15pm PDT

RS 102

A key challenge in shifting attitudes toward followership is the language we use to describe it. Almost all of the attendees at the Fourth Global Followership Conference have experienced negative blowback about our own “F-Word”. Unless we can articulate the value of followership in fundamentally different ways that are clear, compelling, and resonant, our effectiveness as change agents will remain limited. To address this challenge, we must develop language that counters the negative perceptions of followership—passivity, weakness, conformity, and more. In this workshop, Gloria Williams and Tim Hurson will guide participants through dynamic, hands-on activities designed to spark insights, generate actionable ideas, and draft first-pass ‘scripts’ for productive conversations about followership. By the end of the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to refine and test engaging, connection-rich discussions that highlight the tangible benefits of adopting a followership stance.

Presenters

Tim Hurson

Consultant and Facilitator

In third grade, Tim spread pasted sheets of paper, sticky-side up, on his classroom floor. He was thrilled with the results. Not much has changed, though he now focuses on more productive activities as an innovation consultant and facilitator for businesses and social purpose start-ups... Read More →

Gloria Williams

Thursday May 29, 2025 2:45pm - 4:15pm PDT
RS 102

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners

10:15am PDT

How to Introduce Followership to New Audiences (1 of 2)

Friday May 30, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT

RN 102

Marc and Sam co-created the Generative Partnership Model and are known for their engaging, “pracademic” sessions. Having taught followership together with leadership for nearly two decades, they will share their most effective and successful methods for introducing followership to new audiences. You'll leave this session with an overflowing toolbox of best practices and reliable strategies to inspire groups large and small.

Presenters

Samantha Kerr Hurwitz

Chief Encouragement Officer, FliP University

Marc Hurwitz

Chief Insight Officer, Flip U

Friday May 30, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
RN 102

Deep Dive

Audience New to Followership, For Practitioners

10:15am PDT

Why Values Alignment with the Leader and the Organization Matter

Friday May 30, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT

RN 103

This session will help participants discover the values that are important to them, their leader and organization. It offers insights into how misalignment of workplace values often results performance issues and misunderstandings. The session introduces the Structure Produces Behavior model which explains how values lead to everyday actions.

Presenters

Basil Read

Friday May 30, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
RN 103

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners

11:30am PDT

How to Introduce Followership to New Audiences (2 of 2)

Friday May 30, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT

RN 102

Presenters

Marc Hurwitz

Chief Insight Officer, Flip U

Samantha Kerr Hurwitz

Chief Encouragement Officer, FliP University

Friday May 30, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
RN 102

Deep Dive

Audience New to Followership, For Practitioners

11:30am PDT

The Four Tiers of Followership

Friday May 30, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT

RN 104

In a world that has shifted away from a “time and effort” economy to an “outcomes” economy, The Four Tiers of Followership helps individuals and teams focus less on what they do, and more on how they do it. The Four Tiers of Followership quickly enables one to locate themselves and others inside fundamental orientations and roles of followership. This framework helps demystify what makes some types of followership more valuable in an organization than others, creating a common language for closing expectation gaps many experience with regard to the value of contributions, ongoing learning, promotions, and compensation.

Presenters

Eric McDermott

Founder/CEO, NEXTpectations

By day, Eric is an equity partner at a financial services firm with more than 60,000 clients. But behind the suit, in his other company, Eric was named "Best Business Influencer of the Year" winning two Stevies (the Oscars of the business world) for his social media channels. Having... Read More →

Friday May 30, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
RN 104

Workshop

Audience For Practitioners