Global Followership Conference

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.

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.

This unique dialogic facilitated session consists of a Game Café conducted in the combined styles of World Café and Campfire. The purpose of this session is three-fold. First, we will use a custom-designed game, approached through a 3-round world-café style schema. Second, we will engage in discussions and explore participants’ (students, academics, practitioners, experts, thought leaders) experiences regarding the game they participated in to explore their thoughts and understanding of the dynamics of followership and leadership as real-time responses to conflict. communication, and other group dynamics. We will then relate the game outcomes to the audience’s experiences in their own workplaces. This fun activity will bring both laughs and learning to the audience and help them recognize and aid them in further developing their own leader-follower reaction and interaction approaches in organizations, growing followership learning and methods.

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?

The median age of the U.S. STEM-skilled workforce is rapidly increasing, and proactive succession planning is needed to maintain leadership skill continuity in vital industries and occupations. Succession planning must begin to include followership development to support an uninterrupted pipeline of talent. The presentation will examine the intersection of succession management practices and followership behaviors that can enhance succession planning and leadership transitions in STEM occupations and leadership roles. A conceptual framework outlining the impacts of integrating followership development with succession and leadership transition planning in STEM professions will be presented with practical insights for cultivating beneficial followership behaviors.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.