Followership

Talking about all of these different leadership theories has brought up a lot of (if not exclusive) emphasis on leaders as the most important factors in leadership. Followers are very rarely acknowledged, and if they are, they are assumed to be pretty much the same. This complete lack of acknowledgement is peculiar because a leader is only a leader if he/she has followers! However, new ideas regarding followers are beginning to crop up, that, among other things, state that followers differentiate just as much as leaders do.
According to a new typology describing followers, there are a few categories followers fit into: Isolates (completely devoid of awareness or involvement), Bystanders (aware but not involved), Participants (aware and somewhat involved), Activists (aware and very involved), and Diehards (Utterly aware and involved). I have experienced most of these stages or descriptions at my time at my former job at a movie theater, where I worked for two and a half years. When I was first hired, I was very much the Activist. I was super invested in the job, I volunteered to work longer hours and I went above and beyond on a daily basis. This was because it was all so new and exciting. Over time, that initial enthusiasm waned. I was in the Participant stage for a long time, especially in comparison to the other new hires, simply because I enjoyed the job and I felt that a raise or promotion was within reach. As a Participant I was highly valued, and as a result garnered more hours than many of my coworkers. After about a year and a half, I dropped into Bystander mode, and then finally into Isolate mode. As an Isolate I still performed well, but I rarely interacted with my fellow employees if I could help it, I wasn’t overly concerned with the success of the theater, and I dreaded going to work most days. In essence, I was burned out. Most theater employees at some point hit that low stage and never get out of it, and so often quit, like I did. This in part explains the high turnover rate at movie theaters.
I can honestly say I have never been a Diehard; I have never been so wholly devoted to the job, cause, or leader. However, I have met a Diehard before. Although the General Manager of the movie theater I worked at was a leader in the context of our theater, he was an employee, a follower, of those higher up on the hierarchy. And he was completely devoted to the success of the theater, he was there all the time, he would help out us lower level employees when we were extremely busy, and he got to know regulars by name. His extreme dedication was a little bit infectious, and so our managers and Team Leaders all stepped up their game, and so we Team Members eventually did too. As a result, our theater became the most highly valued in the company, and we became the scale that all of the other theaters were measured by.