Follow the Follower
Follow the Follower is an applied improv exercise in which a group sits in a circle and simultaneously makes sounds and movements while attempting to mimic everyone else -- with no designated leader and no pre-assigned role of follower. Because everyone is following everyone at once, leadership emerges organically from small initiations that the group collectively amplifies. The exercise makes visible how group behavior self-organizes without authority, and how individual actions propagate through a collective system.
Structure
Setup
All participants sit in a circle with clear sightlines to everyone else. No leader is named.
Progression
On the facilitator's cue, everyone begins making a sound or movement simultaneously. Each participant is also mimicking what they observe from others in the circle. Because no one is designated as the authority, the group's behavior is determined entirely by what propagates -- a sound that catches on spreads; one that doesn't may be absorbed and disappear.
The group's sounds and movements will shift, stabilize, and shift again as different impulses emerge and spread. The facilitator observes without intervening.
After three to five minutes, the facilitator may freeze the group and restart with a new initiating sound to observe how the group self-organizes from a different starting condition.
Conclusion
The exercise ends with the group sitting in silence after the final sound or movement has dissolved. Debrief follows immediately.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Follow the Follower develops group attunement, ensemble listening, and the experience of collective behavior that has no single controller. It also reveals how leadership emerges from distributed systems and how individual contributions shape group behavior without formal authority.
How to Explain It
"Everyone follows everyone. No one is in charge and no one is exempt. Make something and follow what you see. See what the group makes together."
Scaffolding
Begin with a single starting sound from the facilitator before releasing the group to self-organize. This ensures the exercise launches with a clear input before the leaderless dynamic takes hold.
Common Pitfalls
Some participants wait to see what others are doing before contributing, effectively opting out of the system. The coaching note is that waiting is also a contribution -- it creates silence -- and that the group's behavior is affected by whoever is not participating as much as by whoever is.
In Applied Settings
Learning Objectives
In applied settings, Follow the Follower makes the dynamics of emergent leadership and collective behavior legible and discussable. Most organizational conversations treat leadership as something that comes from positions or personalities. The exercise demonstrates that group behavior is shaped by distributed contributions and that anyone's action -- however small -- propagates through the system. This reframes the question of influence: it is not exclusive to formal leaders.
Workplace Transfer
The exercise transfers directly to team dynamics conversations: how culture is created and maintained through distributed behavior rather than top-down decree, how individual actions propagate (or fail to propagate) through a group, and how group norms emerge without anyone explicitly deciding on them. Leaders and team members who have experienced Follow the Follower tend to become more aware of their own behavioral broadcasting and its effect on the people around them.
Facilitation Context
Follow the Follower is used in leadership development, team dynamics workshops, and organizational culture programs. It is particularly valuable for teams exploring the difference between formal authority and actual influence. Groups of 8 to 20 work well in a circle format.
Debrief Framing
Ask participants: "When did you feel like you were leading? When were you following? Was there a moment when both were true? What does this tell you about how behavior spreads through a group -- and who you think of as the 'leader' in your own team?"
Skills Developed
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Related Exercises
Mirror/Follow the Follower
Mirror Follow the Follower is an applied improv mirror exercise in which two participants begin by mirroring each other without a designated leader, then allow leadership to shift organically as the mirror deepens. The exercise trains simultaneous attention and response, the release of the need to control group direction, and the experience of shared movement that arises when both participants follow rather than either one leading.
Sound Follow
Sound Follow is an exercise in which one player creates a continuous vocal sound and the rest of the group follows that sound with their bodies, allowing the sound to dictate their movement, tempo, and energy. The exercise trains the connection between auditory input and physical response.
Leadership
Leadership is an applied improv exercise that uses structured group movement and voluntary leader emergence to explore how leadership authority is claimed, transferred, and recognized within a group. Participants move through the space or perform actions in which any member of the group may step into a leadership role at any moment, and the group must recognize and follow the shift without verbal announcement. The exercise surfaces the dynamics of organizational leadership through an embodied, real-time demonstration.
Follow the Leaver
Follow the Leaver is a group movement exercise in which players move freely through the space and, when one player decides to leave the room or move to a specific location, all other players notice and follow -- without verbal communication or explicit announcement. The exercise develops peripheral awareness, ensemble attunement, and the ability to read and respond to a subtle behavioral cue rather than waiting for an explicit instruction.
Follow Your Nose
Follow Your Nose is a physical exploration exercise in which players literally lead with their nose as the point of initiation for all movement through the space. By designating a single body part as the physical driver, the exercise disrupts habitual movement patterns and develops kinesthetic awareness, physical specificity, and the discovery of how a small physical choice can alter an entire physical identity.
Flock Dance
Flock Dance is a group movement exercise in which all players move through the space together like a murmuration of birds or a school of fish, with leadership passing organically from player to player without spoken negotiation. Whoever is at the front of the group leads; as the group turns, a different player takes the front and assumes leadership automatically. The exercise trains ensemble sensitivity, the ability to lead and follow simultaneously, and group responsiveness without verbal coordination.
The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from Follow the Follower.
Yes, And (Kelly Leonard & Tom Yorton)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Follow the Follower. Retrieved September 29, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/follow-the-follower
The Improv Archive. "Follow the Follower." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/follow-the-follower.
The Improv Archive. "Follow the Follower." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/follow-the-follower. Accessed September 29, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.