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Leadership and followership
Leadership and followership

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Week 1: Where are you starting from?

Introduction

Welcome to Week 1 of this free badged course Leadership and followership. Congratulations – you have taken a first important step in exploring these themes and understanding what they might mean to you and your future.

Both leadership and followership have been extensively researched by academics and business experts, and there are many books and research papers available. This course is intended as an introduction to leadership and followership, combining practical advice with a taste of some of that academic research.

If you want to cover any of the topics discussed in greater depth, references are given to support further reading, and there are other OpenLearn courses [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] available. You might also be interested in the Open University’s BA (hons) Business management (leadership practice).

Reflection is an important part of your development as a leader, so you’ll find many reflective activities throughout the course, which are intended to help you build this skill. You may also find it useful to make notes as you go through the course. You can do this using the note-taking tool in the Toolkit or, if you prefer, keep a notebook beside you as you study.

Watch the following video in which Lynne Johnson introduces this week.

Download this video clip.Video player: lf_1_video_week1_intro.mp4
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By the end of this week, you will be able to:

  • recognise different definitions of leadership and followership
  • describe some of the differences and similarities between leadership and management
  • review and reflect on your own leadership experiences and aspirations
  • schedule time in your diary for these activities and use this time effectively.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.