Following behaviors: uniformity, alignment, and unity Different partnerships produce different types of following behaviors. Collaborators who engage in an economic partnership (we call them, for short, e-collaborators) do not follow the leader in the same way that do collaborators who engage in a work or contribution partnership (we call them,
respectively, w-collaborators and ccollaborators). E-collaborators are interested in the formal agreement and in the extrinsic rewards they are supposed to get in exchange for their work. They are not interested in pushing themselves into a learning experience, and much less in challenging the system at the risk of their rewards. They need to conform to their leader's demands in anything that the leader can formally control, even if they do not like it or think it is wrong, because they do not want to be punished. This pattern of following behaviors is what we call uniformity. Typical consequences of this pattern of behaviors are lack of initiative and groupthink. W-collaborators are interested not only in the extrinsic rewards of the partnership, but also in the intrinsic ones. They want to have a learning experience; they want to be challenged and take responsibility. They want to show that they can handle autonomy, and that they do not need to be closely monitored all the time in order to do things. As long as they develop themselves on the job and they enjoy what they do, they will follow freely the demands of their leader, because both leader and collaborator's interests go in the same direction. This pattern of following behaviors is what we call alignment. Typical consequences of this pattern of behaviors are proactivity, creativity, and commitment to the project or task. C-collaborators are motivated not only by
the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards of the partnership but also by motives that transcend their self-interest, such as the good of the organization or the people that work in that organization. These motives are called altruistic or trascendent (PeÂrez-LoÂpez, 1991). C-collaborators want to work for somebody who is trustful and worth contributing for. They want to identify with a cause that is meaningful and makes a difference. As long as the leader shows integrity in his or her
behavior and decisions, they will follow not only his or her demands, but also what the leader does not ask for but they perceive it is important, even if it is hard and they do not enjoy doing it. This pattern of following behaviors is what we call unity. Typical consequences of this pattern of behaviors are availability, extra-role effort, and commitment to the team or company. Unitytype following behaviors also include constructive conflict, whistle-blowing, and negative feedback, whenever the collaborator perceives that these behaviors are needed for the good of the organization.
Another kind of following behaviors have to do with the stability of the partnership, or what we could call loyalty to the partnership. These behaviors depend on the type of collaborators that form the partnership. E-collaborators show less loyalty to the partnership than w-collaborators; and the last ones show less loyalty to the partnership than c-collaborators (Chinchilla, 1997). Thus, relational leadership looks not only at the leader's influence to motivate collaborators but also at his or her influence to retain them in the partnership. In a world of increasing mobility of key collaborators, the capacity to
retain good collaborators, i.e. the capacity to create loyalty, becomes a critical function of the leader.