The Practice Of Adaptive Leadership

“The images, metaphors, or frames that we hold, both of managing and of change, influence our ideas of what we think managing change is all about” (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2009). As people we all see through our own eyes, we call see a different perspective and have a different reaction to what is coming next. As human beings we react differently to situations. Situations of change are transitions that some are able to adapt to quickly while others have a hard time. Being the leader of that change can be difficult and helping make a change does not come easily or effectively. Keep and Newcomer (2008)

The complex adaptive system is a comprehensive system that is complicated in nature and often can cause chaos and the failure of an organization when change is not properly managed. During my professional career, I have observed many styles of management skills and found this to work both against an organization and as well as, prove beneficial when handling change. The overall success of any organization is dependent upon the quality attributes of its leaders. I believe the complex adaptive method is a control method that forces the good employees away. A prime example of this style of management was observed with the launching of computerizing charting.

Organizations must respond to their internal and external environment. Therefore, organizational success heavily relies on leaderships ability to manage change. Unfortunately, many leaders struggle to effectively lead change initiatives. In fact, Ashkenas (2013, para. 1) reported 60 – 70% of organizational change initiatives fail to meet their objectives.

(2009) building an adaptive culture will require organizations to institutionalize the five previously mentioned adaptive capacity characteristics. Here are some suggestions to improve SDHS’ lack of teamwork: First, elephants in the room must be named, and it will need to start at the executive level. Heifetz et, al. (2009) suggest “modeling the behavior,” which can have a powerful impact because leaders are expected to set the tone. Current issues need to be openly addressed by seeking and encouraging advice from all members of the organization. This can be done by assigning new middle managers to link the workers and volunteers with the executives. Fixing “elephants in the room” issue will also help “shared responsibility” and “independent judgment” by allowing input from all levels. The “developing leadership capacity” should be done by going back to the basics. According to Crowley (2013) the basics include; getting people in the right job, setting clear expectations, giving people the tools to do their job, and giving high praises. Therefore, it is suggested that competent middle managers and executives should conduct daily training, coaching, and mentoring. Constant training behavior should be institutionalized across the organization. Additionally, previously successful aspects from the newly merged organizations should be incorporated. Finally, promoting teamwork will require the organization to set up informal group activities such as pot lucks and small birthday celebrations for its

The second step in the change theory is the transition stage. Once people are unfrozen, the problem now shifts to how to keep them going. This is now the actual change process a stage that is characterized by confusion as people try to change from the old to new ways. This stage is further characterized by fear because people tend to be unsure and is the hardest step in the whole process (Schein, 1995). During transition, new behaviors are developed, values and attitudes. It is achieved through development techniques and change in existing organizational structures. People undergoing this stage need to be given ample time to adapt to new ways. Of uttermost importance during this stage is support. Support is offered in terms of coaching and training as well as acceptance that mistakes will be part of the transition process (Smith, 2001).

Adaptive leadership as shared in these first three chapters requires a multitude of skills as well as intellect on the part of the leader. Since change is never easily embraced I clearly understand why we were told that it would be so much easier to embrace adaptive leadership if the desired change being sort is birthed out of a passion. I agree that a person would definitely need to find something they are passionate about to accept the challenge of doing adaptive leadership like pursuing a doctor of ministry degree and hopefully the passion will cause them to experience success.

This paper summarizes the article written by Cam Caldwell, Rolf D. Dixon, Larry A. Floyd, Joe Chaudoin, Johnathan Post, and Gaynor Cheokas regarding the need for a new type of leadership in today’s social work environment, defined as Transformative leadership. The article itself varies in the definition, however in a broad sense Transformative leadership is maintaining good moral standing and sound business ethics among employees and individuals inside and outside the workplace. However, in order to reach this theoretical level of business related moral and ethical leadership known as

Archie Norman was thirty-seven years old when he took over as chief executive of a supermarket chain, Asda. Before joining Asda, Norman had no previous experience in the grocery business. He had attended Harvard Business School MBA and had worked for the McKinsey consulting firm. When he took over Asda, it was in the brink of collapse. Asda had lost sight of its core customers, their competitors were gaining market share and Asda was nearly in $2 billion in debt. Norman was able to turn this struggling company around by exhorting an adaptive leadership. In the following paragraphs, I will analyze the five principles that leaders use to mobilize people to do adaptive work. I will share my own experience with a leader and how her leadership

Change is a double-edged sword (Fullan, 2001). Change is a word that might inspire or put fear into people. Leadership is challenging when it comes to dealing with change and how individuals react within the organization to the change. Marzano, McNulty, and Waters (2005) discuss two orders of change in their book School Leadership that Works; first and second. Fullan (2001) also adds to the discussion in his book Leading in a Culture of Change, with regard to understanding change. In Change Leadership, Keagan and Wagner (2006) discuss many factors of change and the systematic approach to change. Change affects people in different ways. Leaders need to be able to respond to the individuals throughout the change process.

If I were the new director of an art gallery in New York City, I would utilize a mixture of transformational leadership and situational leadership styles. Transformational leadership is "based on mutually beneficial relationships between leaders and followers whereby the leader is seeking to promote growth and real charge" (Shriberg & Shriberg, 2011, p. 78). Since the twenty employees have opinions of the former leader and how the gallery should be run and the stockholders also have input about what art to display and events to hold, the past managerial style did not sufficiently unify all stakeholders in the business. Utilizing the transformational style of leadership, I would strive to get everyone invested in a shared vision of what the gallery could be. I would listen to everyone 's input because ideas can come from unlikely places and everyone needs to feel that they are a valued part of the whole company. Studies conducted on transformational leadership show organizations led by transformational leaders perform at higher levels and have a higher satisfaction rating, by workers, than organizations led by other types of leaders (Riggio, 2009, March 24). There are four aspects of transformational leadership. They provide intellectual stimulation by encouraging employees to think outside of the box. They give individualized consideration by acknowledging each employee as an individual. They offer inspirational motivation to help employees have a passion for the shared

One strength good leaders bring is to switch their leadership styles depending on the situation (Darling & Heller, 2012). This is like situational leadership and it is important in organizational change as well. Situational Leadership is a model designed by Dr. Paul Hershey in the 1960s which focuses on how managers can develop competencies to diagnose, adapt, communicate, and advance the situation they are in (The Center for Leadership Studies, n.d.). Hershey stresses the importance of relationship of the approach of the leader and the readiness of the followers for a specific task (The Center for Leadership Studies, n.d.). This is the same as a change manager. Although dominant forces are often the initial go-to for change managers, good change managers must assess the situation and apply the needed ideal change manager to the situation. Because of this, regardless of the dominant change manager, it behooves an effective organizational leader to understand the different images of change and how they can influence a change’s successful

Adaptive leadership is defined as “the activity of mobilizing work” in our book’s glossary (Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky, 2009, p. 303). In the text, they give a more in depth description that “adaptive leadership is the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive” and I feel I can understand this definition more (Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky, 2009, p. 14). It is easiest to break it down and look at each saying individually. The idea of mobilizing people isn’t about just encouraging them to face their challenge, but actually stepping down from the balcony and getting into the situation with them to help them tackle their touch challenges. Also, these challenges don’t

In order to move forward and keep ahead, I believe an organization need change leaders who have capabilities to have their workforce go from change avoidance to change acceptance. “One of the most significant strengths of an effective leader is the ability to create a positive work climate where people are energized to do their best work, free of unnecessary distractions” (Cronkite, n.d.). During this part of the change process I feel the change leader would have better success if he would be tactful and harness the skills of others by working in a collaborative rather than hierarchical way. Leadership in an organization involves instilling motivation and enthusiasm in the employees. An effective leader knows how to manage and tackle difficult situations and people. Many reasons can cause a force of change in organizations but I feel it’s up to change leaders to manage these planned and unexpected changes. (Word count: 548)

It is generally noted that Albert Einstein once said, “the measure of intelligence is the ability to change”. John Kotter embedded this mindset that continually adapting and evolving can lead to success within the novel Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Condition. Kotter’s and Rathgeber structural organization allows change management to be introduced through a relatable fable highlighting the needed steps to properly manage a group dealing with change. Tone, approach, and mood management are amongst the areas defined as crucial in managing change and making it acceptable. Kotter also introduces what he defines as The Eight Step Process of Successful Change that are surrounded by the themes of Setting the stage, Deciding what to do, Making it happen, and Making it stick. This novel is the example of how to effectively manage change within an organization as well as individually.

As organizations change, leadership must find ways to adapt and adjust to those changes. Many times it’s the inability of being open-minded to new ideas, beliefs, thoughts and cultures that prevent individuals from moving forward. Saner (2004) states, “Increased globalization and integration of information technology have brought about a fundamental rethinking of how to conduct business and how to lead a complex organization for continuous improvement and reinventing of the organization” (p.654). In any organization, change brings resistance, but with positive managerial and leadership skills, accepting the challenges that come with diversity such as ambiguity, complexity, resistance and confusion, will give managers the foresight to effectively and efficiently implement processes that will benefit the organization as a whole.