Follower Type Questionnaire Test

In about four minutes, the Follower Type Questionnaire Test uses 20 questions to explore your engagement and independent thinking within a group or organization. Your result can clarify how actively and autonomously you tend to contribute, supporting focused self-reflection about your role.

Questions: 204 minutes

Follower Type Questionnaire Test: agreement scale card

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Active EngagementAE

Measures how actively a follower engages in group or organizational life by taking initiative and participating in processes.

example score28/60

28/60Moderate engagementexample score

10 – 19Low engagement

20 – 40Moderate engagement

41 – 60High engagement

A score of 28 indicates moderate engagement, suggesting you typically do what is necessary and participate selectively rather than consistently taking initiative.

Independent ThinkingIT

Measures how independently and critically a follower forms judgments rather than simply aligning with the leader or group.

example score24/60

24/60Moderate independenceexample score

10 – 19Low independence

20 – 40Moderate independence

41 – 60High independence

A score of 24 indicates moderate independent thinking, suggesting you often form your own view while still being willing to follow the leader when it seems practical.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Team leads and managers

38%OF USERS

They use it to understand how their team members support leadership, think independently, and take initiative so they can adjust communication and delegation.

HR and L&D specialists

34%OF USERS

They run it in workshops or assessments to map engagement levels across groups and design targeted development or coaching.

Employees and team members

28%OF USERS

They take it to clarify their own followership style and learn how to contribute more effectively in their current team.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Active participationAp

You?

Average36.6

Typical rangeTypical28.1 – 45.1

Possible10 – 60

Independent ThinkingIT

You?

Average39.5

Typical rangeTypical31.7 – 47.3

Possible10 – 60

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

Recall a specific situation in which you were in a follower role. Read the statements below carefully. Indicate the extent to which each statement describes you and your behavior in that situation. Select one response from the five options provided.

- Extremely rarely
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Usually
- Often
- Almost always
- Extremely rarely
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Usually
- Often
- Almost always
- Very rarely
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Usually
- Often
- Almost always

These are 3 of the 20 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Follower Type Questionnaire Test - Description and methodology of the test

leadership

People who want to understand how they contribute under leadership can use the Follower Type Questionnaire Test to examine initiative, cooperation, and independent judgment at work or in another organized group. The questionnaire examines an active engagement dimension alongside independent judgment, helping frame followership as observable tendencies rather than a fixed identity. The result offers a structured starting point for reflecting on how you support goals while retaining your own standards.

What This Assessment Explores

This assessment examines two aspects of followership. One covers involvement through initiative, responsibility, colleague support, and unprompted contribution. The other covers independent judgment: analyzing decisions, voicing principled disagreement, and maintaining personal standards under pressure.

For someone considering this questionnaire as a followership style assessment, the result profiles tendencies rather than a permanent label. It shows whether participation is active or passive and judgment more autonomous or submissive.

The displayed result contains these scales:

Active Engagement (10-60) measures involvement: Low engagement (10-19) reflects passivity, Moderate engagement (20-40) suggests pragmatic individuals doing the required minimum, and High engagement (41-60) suggests readiness to participate and take initiative.
Independent Thinking (10-60) measures independent and critical judgment: Low independence (10-19) reflects submission, Moderate independence (20-40) reflects a pragmatic mix of independent views and willingness to follow the leader, and High independence (41-60) suggests stronger autonomy.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

Each item describes a work or group situation and asks how often it applies. Six choices run from extremely rarely or very rarely to almost always. Themes include initiative, responsibility, colleague support, independent problem-solving, constructive challenge, and ethical boundaries.

Displayed results use two scales, while the item-level point assignment is not documented. Their ranges should not be reverse-engineered into an item-by-item rule. The independent thinking assessment should be read alongside engagement: activity can coexist with conformity, and careful thinking with limited participation.

The framework is conceptually consistent with the Kelley Followership Questionnaire, associated with Robert E. Kelley’s model of active engagement and independent critical thinking. Northouse places followership within leadership theory, while later validation work concerns a German version of Kelley’s published questionnaire rather than this online form. That work supports the two-dimension framework but does not establish this form as a standardized adaptation with published norms.

Interpret the pattern against recent behavior in a real group. Mood, current relationships, workplace culture, and limited self-awareness can shape self-report, so concrete examples should accompany the profile.

Author: Mary Uhl-Bien, Robert G. Lord

Literature:

Kelley, Robert E. (1992). The Power of Followership: How to Create Leaders People Want to Follow, and Followers Who Lead Themselves. New York: Doubleday/Currency.
Northouse, Peter G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and Practice (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Ribbat, Mirko, Stefan Krumm, and Joachim Hüffmeier. (2021). Validation of a German Version of Kelley’s (1992) Followership Questionnaire. Psychological Test Adaptation and Development, 2(1), 1-13. 10.1027/2698-1866/a000005

Updated: 2025-10-02