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Leaders and followers in a coop system

Thursday, 23 February 2012 00:00

SURIGAO City -- The leaders are those elected and appointed officers, and the followers are the employees and the members of the cooperative. Thus, when a leader is mentioned, it refers to the board of directors or manager or a member of a committee and the followers are the employees and coop members. It is an accepted fact that in the cooperative, leaders and followers need each other because both of them are directly involved in the leadership process. The leaders need the followers, and the followers need the leaders as well. It is pointed out that the leaders are not above or better than the followers. The leaders and followers should be understood in relation to each other because they are like two sides of the same coin. It's the same with the cooperative's board of directors and manager--they also need each other, they are also like two sides of the same coin. However, the leaders have to follow a leadership process in order to create influence and to move the followers into action towards goal accomplishments of the cooperative. Followers, on the other hand, are subjects to leadership styles and skills of the leaders to produce efficient cooperative performance, movement and change.

There are two forms of identified leaders and these are:

• assigned leader - is based on a formal title or position in a cooperative organization; and

• emergent leader - is the result of what one does and how one acquires support from followers. The leader must perform both roles as assigned and emergent since they are like two sides of the coin. An assigned is inutile if he is not also an emergent leader. Relevant to the aforecited forms of identified leaders are the two kinds of their powers which are:

• position power - is the power of the leader which derives from having a title or position in the cooperative organizational system which include reward and coercive power.

• personal power - comes from followers which is referred to expert power. When the followers believe that the leader has something of value, they give personal power to him/her. In fact, one thing about an emergent leader with personal power is that the leader will always want to be perfect in the view of the followers because they have high expectations of him/her. This becomes a dilemma for a leader due to failures. It is for this reason that the leader should not allow any room for mistakes, and once it happens, the leader must be ready to say, "Sapagkat ako'y tao lamang."

Actually, most of the leaders who attained success in the coop operation is not just because of their own abilities, but they also benefit from the support of their followers. It takes two to tango, isn't it? Leaders, indeed, need to work with their followers to be successful. Some of those who were unable to build and guide their followers, they encountered a dismal flop in their cooperative operation. It has been observed that leaders who work from their own self-interest do not succeed in running the cooperative.

It cannot be denied, however, that no one can actually force someone to be a leader. Since each how his or her way of belief and perspective. But, nevertheless, he/she has the capacity to possess as a natural leader and that his/her leadership skill only needs to be topped and nourished. A leader is a unique person and a unique path of leadership is open to him/her. Since nobody can teach has to lead, because, if there is an exact formula on how to be a leader, then everyone will be a leader and there will be no followers. But there are certain guideposts that an individual can take note in order for him/her to develop his/her leadership capabilities. These include the following: be prepared, be proactive and be reflective, among others. And, to be an effective leader as well, he/she must think creatively and make decision that in some ways influence the followers to achieve certain outcomes. That is why it is good for the leader to study the cooperative thoroughly an acquire an in-depth knowledge of it before accepting the challenge as a leader.

Develop in him/her this dictum: AIDA - Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action. To become good leaders in the cooperative, first and foremost, they must not do everything alone or independently. There are several ways that they can do to resolve the issues or problems; but, they must be open to other's opinion, suggestions and expertise regarding the issue or problem. Like for instance, an issue or problem which must be resolved urgently at a certain point in time, wherein they cannot handle it given the demands of their work and/or it may not be within the scope of their expertise, they therefore, should find means how others can help them. In this case, they may now involve the coop - employees and the membership.