Leaders, just like any other person are influenced by some external factors around them. This then dictates the actions of these leaders. This occurs in a manner that it goes unnoticed until the act is done. The primary influences include natural tendencies that one learns as they grow up until they become leaders (Barbuto, 2000). These include extraversion, patience and the ability of leaders to be open to new ideas from their juniors.
There are different types of influences; either positive or negative influences (Knoll, 2017). The external environment unknowingly can cause negative, and it may include even people who we love and care about.
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The followers can turn out to be their own devil if they promote unethical leadership by influencing their leaders to that direction (Knoll, 2017). Followers, even as they try to be obedient to authority, need to criticize some leader's decisions when they deem necessary. This will reduce the probability of leaders going out of the targeted destination. Leaders can then take the advice of their followers, and in that case, they can work with their followers to avoid an unethical leadership scenario.
As a leader, I have had my share of challenges which rather than making me weak made me a stronger leader than before. This occurred when my juniors were reluctant to follow my lead and would not do their assignments. However, I exercised enough patience and was able to keep calm in the situation.
In conclusion, a leader may not always be right, but they have been assigned the responsibility of guiding others. In tight situations, success can only be achieved if the leaders are able to look at the bigger picture and make the right decisions. Leaders actually have to be influencers rather than be influenced negatively.
References
Barbuto, J. E. (2000). Influence triggers: A framework for understanding follower compliance. Leadership Quarterly, 11, 365-387
Carsten, M. K., Uhl-Bien, M., West, B. J., Patera, J. L., & McGregor, R. (2010). Exploring social constructions of followership: A qualitative study. Leadership Quarterly, 21, 543-562
Collinson, D. (2006). Rethinking followership: A post-structuralist analysis of follower identities. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 179-189.
Epitropaki, O., Sy, T., Martin, R., Tram-Quon, S., & Topakas, A. (2013). Implicit leadership and followership theories “in the wild”: Taking stock of information-processing approaches to leadership and followership in organizational settings. Leadership Quarterly, 24, 858-881.
Top Five Factors that Influence Leadership Behavior! – LeadAdvantage. (2014, September 4). Retrieved from http://leadadvantageinc.com/top-five-factors-influence-leadership-behavior/
Knoll, M. (2017). How the Influence of Unethical Leaders on Followers Is Affected by Their Implicit Followership Theories. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies , 24 (4), 450-465. doi:10.1177/1548051817705296
Tate, B. W., Lindsay, D. R., & Hunter, S. T. (2010). Implicit Followership Theories: Traits Associated With Effective Followers. PsycEXTRA Dataset . doi:10.1037/e636682010-001
