Adaptive Leadership

“Exercising adaptive leadership is about giving meaning to your life beyond your own ambition.” ― Ronald A. Heifetz

Adaptive leadership is given to impacting the environment Adaptive leadership is given to impacting the environment. It addresses a very active form of leadership, not a passive effort taken merely to adjust to circumstances as found. Biology teaches that relationships between living entities are circular and interactive. Our organizations are also living systems, being composed not just of capital goods and technology, but of people. --Dr. Charles Albano

Situational Challenges Leader Behaviors Adaptive Work Model of Adaptive Leadership Situational Challenges Technical Challenges Technical and Adaptive Challenges Adaptive Challenges Leader Behaviors 1. Get on the Balcony 2. Identify the Adaptive Challenge 3. Regulate Distress 4. Maintain Disciplined Attention 5. Give the Work Back to the People 6. Protect Leadership Voices from Below Adaptive Work Holding Environment Leader Followers Interaction

Situational Challenges Technical: problems that are defined with solution that can be corrected with rules or polices Examples: new software issues that managers can identify and solve with assessing and training. Situational Challenges Technical & Adaptive: Defined but the solutions aren’t as clear Adaptive: Challenges that aren’t clear cut or easy to identify These are solve through encouragement of others to define the challenge and solve it This may include new rules or training

Step out of the Fray, finding solutions in challenging situations. Leader Behaviors Get on the Balcony Identify Adaptive Challenges Regulate Distress Maintain Discipline Attention Give Work Back to People Protect leadership Voices from Below Step out of the Fray, finding solutions in challenging situations. Leaders should illicit and listen to the workers suggestions and allow them to seek solutions to the challenge. Leaders should do what is necessary to mobilize workers to do the work they need to do. Leaders have to provide direction, which is the desire or the workers. Recognize the stresses of situations and help diffuse it. Encourage followers to face the tough work they need to do. Steering them away from avoidance.

Adaptive Work is where adaptive leaders direct their work Leaders Followers Adaptive leaders do not use the term follower as it implies a submissive role. Leaders instead interact with workers. Holding Environment is where work is conducted

-Understand the complexities Strengths: -Process approach -It is worker centered in involvement -It helps workers deal with conflicting values such as changes in environment and social context How it works: -Understand the complexities -In the of change leaders need to know if the change is causing challenges Application: Adaptive leaders can be used to understand change and the challenges created by it. It can direct leaders on how to defuse stress and solve technical challenges Criticisms: -Needs more research and refinement -Too wide ranging and abstract -Doesn’t incorporate a moral Dimension

Characteristics of Adaptive Leadership The BCG study indicates the basics of effective teamwork include maintaining distributed leadership, an optimal talent mix, a clear charter and mutual trust. In addition, the highest-performing adaptive-leadership teams had the following five traits: Boundary fluidity -- teams can move both horizontally and vertically, across roles, to connect with the next level of leadership Freedom within a framework -- team leaders are empowered to take bold risks within agreed-upon parameters Information processing -- the ability to synthesize complex insights and make high-quality decisions quickly Sense and respond capability -- the systematic ability to filter and assimilate external information One voice -- clarity and consistency of objectives Characteristics of Adaptive Leadership Grensing-Pophal, L. (2012, May 14)

References Grensing-Pophal, L. (2012, May 14). The Value of Adaptive Leadership. Retrieved May 11, 2017, from http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=533347270 Northouse, P. (1993). Leadership Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.