How does “Partnership” Relate to “Leadership/Followership”?
We call them “Dance Partners,” yet someone leads and someone follows…
I had a call with a business leader, and we got to talking about leading and following. Being a dance instructor, she immediately grabbed the idea and began to talk about how in ballroom dancing, someone leads and someone follows—yet they’re partners.
My wife is a much better dancer than I am. So, when we first started taking dancing lessons, she had to learn to let me lead (and, honestly, I had to learn how to lead). Ironically, it was insufficient for her to lead. The figures she does as a woman in the pair are designed to play off the man (in this case, me! 😊). So if I don’t lead, our dancing doesn’t really work.
Also, my wife has her Skipper’s license, which means she can sail any boat up to 18.5m anywhere in the world. When we’re sailing, she leads. We’re partners—she “can’t sail this boat to Tortuga all by [her] onesies.” She needs a partner to help her with the boat—a partner who is a follower.
There are several characteristics of partners:
they agree to work together
they agree on the goal they are trying to achieve
they agree on roles and responsibilities
they agree on consequences (rewards/punishments)
etc.
One of these characteristics is “agree on roles and responsibilities”. There are partnerships where the members are equal and unless there is unanimity, or at least consensus, then no decisions can be made and nothing can move forward. And there are partnerships in which 1 person leads and the other(s) follow(s). Each of these has their purpose and place. And the common denominator among them is “the need to be effective and get things done.”
The purpose of having a partnership is not to make things difficult and keep from getting things done—it’s to mitigate risk and ensure the safety and well-being of the organization. And it should facilitate getting things done. If you have a partnership that inhibits growth or slows down the functioning of the organization, then you need to rethink the parameters of that partnership.
Though there are several “bad” partnership scenarios, I can see only 2 “good” ones:
1. the partners operate on equal terms having unanimity or consensus on all decisions,
and
2. the partners operate in a leader/follower paradigm and stick to it.
There are many variations of the these 2 options (including moving back and forth between them or using one or the other, depending on the need).
If you see any others options, please let me know. In the meantime, which model are you using? And are you using your model purposefully or are you just going along with “whatever,” hoping it will all work out?