Global Followership Conference: Full Schedule

10:15am PDT

Not All Who Follow Are Lost: Experiencing the Value of Worldviews for Followership

Wednesday May 28, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT

This interactive session invites participants to engage and experience how worldviews shape our followership. Building on Implicit Followership Theory and the concept of worldview as a set of assumptions influencing our actions (Koltko-Rivera, 2004; Valk et al., 2011), we'll examine how these beliefs impact how we follow. Acknowledging the both secular and religious manifestations of worldview, participants will be invited to engage in respectful dialogue towards increased understanding of diverse perspectives on followership. This session aims to highlight the value of worldview dialogue for followership learning and development (Valk et al., 2011).

Presenters

LaceyGrey Hunter

Lori Throupe

Wednesday May 28, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
RS 102

Guided Discussion

Audience New to Followership

10:15am PDT

The Ethical Backbone: The Role of Moral Courage in Ethical Followership

Wednesday May 28, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT

RN 103

This interactive session will dive deeper into the topic of ethical followership and explore follower moral courage when making ethical decisions. Participants will wrestle with thought-provoking questions about ethical behavior, influence, and courage. Using role play and collaboration, we will examine real-life scenarios from an ethical followership perspective. Participants will leave with insights on enacting moral courage in their own practice of ethical followership. This workshop is ideal for those looking to develop stronger ethical decision-making skills within the context of followership and those who want to explore this growing area of ethical followership.

Presenters

Tiffany Ann Johns

Wednesday May 28, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
RN 103

Guided Discussion

3:30pm PDT

How do we bring what we know about followership into the political arena?

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

RN 103

Many of us recognize that the most dangerous expression of bad leadership and bad followership is in the political realm. Liberal democracies around the world are increasingly losing support as voters gravitate to more authoritarian styles and models of leadership. Our community has learned a tremendous amount about followership. How can we apply this to raising consciousness of the power of followers to create political leadership that uses power beneficially and checks the power of leaders who abuse their power?

Presenters

Ira Chaleff

Wednesday May 28, 2025 3:30pm - 5:00pm PDT
RN 103

Guided Discussion

9:00am PDT

How Do We Retain and Promote Followership Scholarship and Discourse? Opportunities with a Digital Followership Collection

Thursday May 29, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PDT

RS 102

While followership research is increasingly becoming popular, its literature is thinly dispersed, making it difficult to find. Thus, Virginia Tech, through a mini-grant and two years of research, is building a digital followership collection with the goal of supporting and advancing the field. This session will introduce participants to the platform, share its potential benefits across contexts, and demonstrate the prospect of artificial intelligence for sustaining the field of followership.

Presenters

Eric Kaufman

Professor, Virginia Tech

Eric Kaufman is a dedicated leadership educator and scholar. He researches and promotes best practices for collective leadership, with special emphasis on problem solving and team development. Dr. Kaufman’s work advances social science in a variety of contexts, with past projects... Read More →

Israel Oyedare

Thursday May 29, 2025 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
RS 102

Guided Discussion

11:30am PDT

Can Redefining “Follower” Save Democracy?

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

RN 105

This interactive session explores how traditional definitions of leaders and followers may unintentionally encourage passivity, potentially contributing to democratic erosion. Can a new definition of "follower" save democracy? And how can the followership community impact political engagement in democracies

Presenters

Chris Monö

Christian Monö Consulting

Passionately exploring the power of natural followership and collaborationship. More on naturalfollowership.com

Jessica Becker

Thursday May 29, 2025 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
RN 105

Guided Discussion

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

Cultivating Effective Followership: Pedagogical Insights World Cafe

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

RN 102

This session will engage educators in a collaborative discussion on followership pedagogy, exploring key aspects such as texts and materials, course or workshop objectives, activities and assessments, challenges in teaching followership, and the integration of followership into the leadership curriculum.

Presenters

Donald Kudek

Elizabeth K. Hunt

Mike Linville

Suzana Dobric Veiss

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

Guided Discussion

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

10:15am PDT

Thriving or Surviving? Exploring Followership Through the Competing Values Framework

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

RN 105

Cameron and Quinn’s (2006) Competing Values Framework (CVF) offers four quadrants of organizational culture types, each ranging in their focus of external vs. internal and level of control. In this facilitated session, we will engage the audience in a robust discussion on how the four organizational culture types may attract or repel certain types of followers, centering on the followership typologies defined by Chaleff (2009) and Kellerman (2008). The outcome aims to be a greater understanding of organizational culture’s influence in how well followership types thrive in each cultural typology.

Presenters

Susan Barton

Jennifer Cole

Friday May 30, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
RN 105

Guided Discussion

10:15am PDT

Toxic Followership in the Workplace and Beyond

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

RS 102

Reflect critically and sensitively on your own experiences to prevent toxic followership behaviors from arising in response to toxic leadership behaviors.

Presenters

Wendy M. Edmonds

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

Guided Discussion

10:15am PDT

What We Follow: A pracademic discussion on a Framework for Distinguishing the Meaning of Followership

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

RN 104

The terms Leadership and Followership are often insufficiently defined, leading to conflation and miscommunication. This session aims to explore a clearer demarcation by presenting a pracademic approach that combines a framework from practical expertise with academic research to propose a distinction of Followership from other concepts and foster reflection on this distinction with participants. Attendees will gain a unique perspective on bridging the practitioner-academic divide, with practical strategies and academic rigor contributing to a more unified understanding. Join us to advance dialogue and inspire stronger collaboration between these communities.

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 →

Maike Kugler

Professor of Human Resource Management, European University for Innovation and Perspective

Friday May 30, 2025 10:15am - 11:15am PDT
RN 104

Guided Discussion

Audience New to Followership

11:30am PDT

Everyday Followership: How We Lead by Following in Life’s Most Personal Arenas

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

RN 103

Followership is often framed in workplace and organizational contexts, but its impact extends far beyond professional settings. This facilitated session explores followership in deeply personal aspects of life, including healthcare, fitness, religion, and civic engagement. Participants will engage in discussions about how individuals navigate power, responsibility, and decision-making as followers in these areas. The session will examine how effective followership contributes to well-being, ethical decision-making, and social cohesion. Through interactive exercises and shared experiences, attendees will identify strategies for enhancing their followership in ways that support personal growth and community development.

Presenters

Eric Kaufman

Professor, Virginia Tech

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

Guided Discussion

Audience New to Followership

11:30am PDT

Storyfollowing & Storysharing: Exploring Character Identification for Followership & Trust Building

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

RN 105

As a human mode of operation, story is an essential framework and clarifying tool for followers and leaders alike. As relational connections have multiplied and digitized, and story exposure is at an all-time high, our “story intelligence” can become taxed to the point of paralysis. Participants will actively engage others in storytelling games and activities to better understand personal and collective followership by identifying as characters within stories. Through this, we aim to refine our understanding of ourselves as responsible values-actors within our communities and hone our first line of defense against being passive “watchers” in the postmodern age.

Presenters

Lori Throupe

Abby Haney

Undergraduate Student, Christopher Newport University

Psychology and Leadership Double-Major

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

Guided Discussion