How can I follow a windows shortcut in power shell?

Unfortunately, Windows does not make it easy to work with shortcuts. This should work:

$sh = New-Object -COM WScript.Shell
cd $sh.CreateShortcut('your-files-here.lnk').TargetPath

You may add this to your Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 file. The cd command will then work as desired.

remove-item alias:cd -force
function cd($target)
{
    if($target.EndsWith(".lnk"))
    {
        $sh = new-object -com wscript.shell
        $fullpath = resolve-path $target
        $targetpath = $sh.CreateShortcut($fullpath).TargetPath
        set-location $targetpath
    }
    else {
        set-location $target
    }
}

Is the shortcut a necessity?

You could use a Windows link for this. See mklink /? for more information on Windows links/junction points.