Adaptive Leaders

According to well-respected Evangelical pastor and author, Richard Warren, “Great leaders inspire. They maintain a hopeful attitude, even in the face of discouraging setbacks, constant criticism and abundant opposition. People don’t follow discouraged leaders. They follow those who persist with hope.” In every setting, the ultimate purpose of leadership is to influence others to accomplish a shared goal. In order to be an effective leader, one must possess certain key traits. These traits include: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability (trait approach). I am of the firm belief that some of these characteristics can be learned and developed through human interaction and experiences. This is contrary to trait theory which states that leaders are born with inherent characteristics which facilitate leadership (Northouse). In the military, there are specific personality leadership traits. As highlighted in “The Marines” documentary, these traits include tact, dependability, trust, enthusiasm, courage, and loyalty. This paper will discuss the leadership styles displayed by Marine Corps Drill Instructors and point out how the different characteristics of these styles would apply in the civilian workplace.

The first of the leadership qualities that I will mention being proactive versus reactive. According to the Holden Leadership Center at the University of Oregon (2009) being proactive is that “The exceptional leader is always thinking three steps ahead. Working to master his/her own environment with the goal of avoiding problems before they arise.” During the movie the soldiers are simulating being dropped off in a hot area. LT. Colonel Moore saw an issues that involved a “what if” situation. He walked up to a plane and tells the officer you’re dead and then asks the next man what to. He told his troops to learn the job of

The main points of this article relate to the changing nature of warfare (think terrorism and advancements in technology) and the adjustments military leaders are obliged to make. Hence, according to the article, leaders must: a) be trained in critical thinking skills; b) be "committed to life-long [and self-directed] learning"; c) be willing to take the initiative to "diagnose" their goals, needs,

In discussion forum 9, leaders are challenged through situations of crisis and are given ways to confront those challenges which allows them to overcome setbacks and face adversity. In the book “Resilient Leaders”, written by Major General Robert Dees, he provides leaders with his personal experiences of the battlefront and home front and what he had to do in order to cope as well as overcome each situation he was placed in. Major General Dees discusses his foundational ideas on leadership in Chapters one and two. The three concepts that our group decided on are Selfless Service, Character and Risk Management.

The adaptive Army leaders play critical role to fulfill the assigned task for the headquarters and combat units. First at all, the Army Staff have assigned task to ensure the preparation of the land forces but his size is limited by law. Therefore, we must ensure the development of the adaptive Army leaders to obtain the qualitative performance from the every member of the staff with purpose to realize our nation interests within the complex

Prepare adaptive and creative leaders capable of operating within the complexity of the entire range of military operations

Heraclitus stated, “Change is the only constant.” Noncommissioned officers are tasked to lead and progress through change to accomplish ever-evolving Air Force missions. Module 5 introduced the Adaptable Leader. This leader is able to embrace, navigate through, promote, and influence change effectively. In order to become an adaptable leader understanding and implementation of Change Management is imperative.

My theory of an effective leader is having the ability to influence others to do something by obtaining results. After 10 years of being a Soldier without a mentor or a reason to excel in the military, I wanted responsibilities. During the beginning of my eleventh year, I took control of my destiny as a Soldier and started seeking ways to become a leader. My service has always been selfless; for that reason, I wanted every junior Soldier whom I encountered to have an idea of what his or her purpose is in this organization.

Another key way to become an adaptive leader is to have a Deliberate Development Plan. We all need goals. Developing a deliberate plan for those you influence will keep them motivated and goal focused knowing that someone is interested in seeing them succeed. It also allows you to create milestones and monitor the effectiveness of the plan.

Nowadays, leaders has one important function in any organization, mainly in the Army. For this reason, it is necessary understand the dare to them in switch of the junior leaders for the senior leaders, changing their attributes and confront other challenges. Knowing their strengths and weakness, leaders in any level serve as a mirror. On that account, they need focus on the objectives, and develop good communication skills in order to transmit their advices and orders. Furthermore, leaders can work training new soldiers to be leaders in the future and to having an effective organization climate. Thereby, a leader has to understand his purpose and confront the issues during the shift of the direct leaders to organizational leaders.

The three ways leaders regulate change are through creating a holding environment, Provide Direction, and regulate personal distress. The first way is to create a holding environment establish an atmosphere in which people can feel safe tackling difficult problems, but not so much so that they can avoid the problem. The second way is to provide direction, protection, orientation, conflict management, and productive norms. This helps to identify the adaptive challenges that others face then frame these so they can be addressed, be responsible to manage the rate of adaptive change, orient people to new roles and responsibilities, handle conflict effectively, establish productive norms. The third way is to regulate personal distress , leaders need to keep people focused on the hard work they need to do and the tension that accompanies that, while at the same time being sensitive to the very real frustrations and pain that people feel when doing adaptive work, leaders need to make sure they have their own act together

“Adaptive Leadership focuses on the adaptations required of people in response to changing environments” (Northouse, 2016, p.257). In considering the ever-changing expectations for teaching and learning, it hardly seems plausible to lead under any other approach. As fast as one set of mandates is rolled out, the next set is awaiting an appearance. The ship moves onward, twisting and turning along the way, to bigger or better sights. Interestingly enough, education and its’ process has been described as ‘a slow moving train’. However slow that train moves, the regulation and legislation is constantly in upgrade mode under the auspices of improvements to student achievement outcomes. As an adaptive leader in a changing environment, I would encourage

Out of all the leadership styles found in Northouses’ textbook I classify my interviewee as having an Adaptive leadership style. “ It (adaptive leadership) focuses primarily on how leaders help others do the work they need to do, in order to adapt to the challenges they face” (Northouse, 2015, p. 258). The O.R. Supervisor discussed many times about everyone helping each other out to accomplish their goals. Even in her free time she would go to other areas, such as pre-op, PACU or with techs, to help them with what ever they needed. She clearly deals with the mix technical and adaptive problems when new policies and procedures are put into action. As the book states, the leader may act as a resource for others and provide support, but the people need to do the work- they need

With a big picture view, vision, or goal, a leader conveys their goals, and influences and inspires their team members to overcome obstacles (Robbins & Judge, 2009, p. 385). In a dynamic world, leadership requires adapting to the environment and coping with change (Robbins & Judge, 2009, p. 385). My organization is tasked with maintaining and flying various types of military

Change models involve complex processes and in order to make sure that this change is successful there has to be a leader in places that has certain skill sets (Kin, Kareem, Nordin and Bing, 2014). The important aspects drawn from this model are that before initiating change, there has to be a recognition of a need for change. Then the change process has to be started and this can happen back setting a clear vision and creating a plan with which to implement this vision (Kim et. al, 2014). The second important aspect is preparing for change. Overcoming resistance to change is what happens at this stage and removing obstacles. Momentum develops towards the followers executing the change. The leader must be equipped with the necessary skills, and have the trust of the followers.