Health professions educators, including basic scientists, clinicians, and individuals with training in health professions education (HPE), usually follow a leader. In academia, hierarchical structures can include provosts, deans, chairs, professors, associate professors, assistant professors, postdoctoral and graduate students. Individuals in leadership positions often lack leadership training. Yet, they are tasked with training the next generation of healthcare professionals, many of whom acquire leadership positions early in their careers. In the health professions, leadership is not seen as a scholarly pursuit, followership even less so. The effects of poor leadership or followership skills are far reaching, can be detrimental for confidence-building and self-esteem, and can result in dysfunctional healthcare teams. Institutions have more followers than leaders; therefore, acquiring skills to become an aligned and engaged follower is an essential skill, regardless of one’s role or position.

The purpose of this session is to introduce the concepts of good leadership and followership and engage the audience using reflection exercises and discussions related to these concepts. Our focus session will benefit the participants through the collective expertise of the presenters, combined with engaging exercises and discussions, to raise awareness of the importance of good followership and leadership skills in HPE.