Executive Summary Followership is a critical area for the investigation and comprehension of leadership and yet research in the field is limited and dominated by a few theorists such as Kelley (1992, 1998) and Hollander (1978). This paper investigates the contemporary views on followership and draws on educational research to provide a more comprehensive understanding of followers as learners. Kolb's (1974) Experiential Learning Model (ELM) is used to augment Kelley's (1992) Followership Model to strengthen the theoretical foundations of followership and to provide insight into the relationship between leadership behaviors and follower development. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. The paper argues that viewing followers as learners will provide opportunities to advance our understanding of a neglected area of leadership, and should enable followership to finally come of age.
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