Discussion: Followship

Here's another interesting idea: Suppose someone knows that he comes from a background with really crummy power dynamics. Having no good examples, he's not good at following even when the leader is decent and the task reasonable -- and he's not happy about that. Are there things he can do to work on it?

Most of the people I've seen trying to do this start by trying to be very formal, with explanations/expectations all very carefully agreed upon between him and the leader he's chosen. They also often try to do it in a very limited setting--a role playing game, their persona in the SCA, or for one limited goal or project. I assume that they then evaluate the results, whether formally or intuitively, but I do see that they need less formal structure eventually.

I don't know if this is a universal way to do it, but at least by strictly defining how they should act, they get a chance to experience something different than what feels "natural" based on past bad experiences.

And if it works poorly, then, well, it was an experiment, or it was the "actions of the character they were playing", and they can distance themselves from the failed expectation and also from other people's concerns that they will repeat that behavior. (At least, so long as they don't repeat that behavior.)