Nurse leaders’ perceptions of existing followership practices: A descriptive qualitative study

The success of healthcare organizations depends on partnerships between leaders and followers. Nurses need to be competent in both leader and follower roles because leader–follower relationships in nursing are interdependent rather than linear. However, nursing followership has been understudied. To explore nurse leaders’ perceptions of existing followership practices. This descriptive qualitative study purposively selected 10 nurse leaders (top and middle management). Face-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were used to collect data. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s method. Participants perceived followership as a hierarchical role but were able to describe the characteristics of the “ideal” follower. Participants described the presence of leadership and follower support while functioning in the follower role. However, lack of leadership supervision and poor teamwork were reported to negatively influence the follower role. There was no formal followership training for participants to become effective followers. Moreover, nurse leaders lacked leadership knowledge and skills as they did not receive formal training while still followers. Followership education can dismantle the hierarchical view of the follower role. Leadership and follower support enhances follower role performance. Future research should explore followership development needs for nurses in hospital settings. Lack of understanding the follower role is a limitation in healthcare teams. Nurse managers need to understand followership as a complimentary role to leadership and provide support to followers.