Adaptive Leadership Concepts for Organizational Change Dr. Linda - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Adaptive Leadership Concepts for Organizational Change

• Dr. Linda Lausell-Bryant

Katherine and Howard Aibel Executive-in-Residence Clinical Assistant Professor Co-author of A Guide for Sustaining Conversations on Racism, Identity, And Our Mutual Humanity NYU Silver School of Social Work

April 11, 2019

Agenda

• Welcome!
• What is Leadership?
• What is Adaptive Leadership?
• Why Adaptive Leadership is Important
• Authority/ Leadership
• Challenges
• Qualities of Adaptive Leaders
• Q&A

Clearing Our Leadership Lens

• What is leadership?
• How do you define it?
• Please chat in your

answer in the ’Chat Box’

Try This… “Leadership is disappointing your own people at a rate they can absorb.”

Ronald Heifetz & Marty Linsky

Leadership Is AND Isn’t

• Leadership is activity
• It is not about the position or role of

leader

• People with the position can fail to

exercise leadership

• What we typically refer to as leadership

is really authority

Follow the Leader!

Unless/Until…

What is Adaptive Leadership?

• The adaptive leadership model is designed to

assist organizations and individuals in dealing with consequential changes in uncertain times, when no clear answers are forthcoming.

• Adaptive leaders identify and deal with

systemic change, using techniques that confront the status quo and identify adaptive and technical challenges.

Remember This?

The Imperative of Adaptation

For change to happen in an organization, it must:

• Identify what (practices or systems) are

working and preserve them

• Identify what is NOT working and discard

those practices

• (AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE

DIFFERENCE)

• Learn new practices and approaches
• ACCOMPANY PEOPLE THROUGH THE

LOSS AT A RATE THEY CAN STAND

Authority Vs Leadership

Authority Authority Leadership Leadership Role or position Activity Protection Something you do rather than a posit Direction Anyone can take up leaders Order

Authority & Leadership

Authority:

• Authority is given (and can be taken away)
• Following a known path
• Preserving what works
• Maintaining the status quo (not always bad)

Leadership:

• Leadership is never given, but rather is taken
• Discarding what doesn’t work
• Challenges the status quo
• Pushes the boundaries of our authority
• Is dangerous, requires purpose

Technical Challenges

• Tried, tested, and true
• Known solution leads to an expected result
• Answers found by applying existing

knowledge and expertise

• Goes well with authority

Adaptive Challenges

• Requires changes in values, attitudes and practices
• Conflicts in values between stakeholders
• Root issues/elephants in the room
• Loss and resistance in the face of necessary change
• (change you seek up against a countervailing force)
• Take time, no quick easy fixes from authority
• Technical solutions won’t work

Diagnosing the System

• Who are the stakeholders in the system?
• What are their values and loyalties?
• What do they stand to lose if change

happens?

• Let’s Chat: Think about a change you are

trying to create and answer these questions!

Running Experiments

• Since there are no easy answers and we don’t

have the answer, we can ‘experiment’ with interventions to see what might work

• Through experimentation, we’ll understand more

about the system and its stakeholders

• We can continue to refine our experiments with

new data

Qualities of Adaptive Leaders

• The ability to link organizational change to the primary

values, abilities, and dreams of the stakeholders involved.

• The capacity to create an environment that embraces

diversity of views and takes advantage of such collective knowledge to benefit the organization.

• The adaptive leader understands that change can be a

painful process. Therefore, he or she can foresee and counteract any reluctant behavior from teammates.

• An understanding that large-scale change is a gradual

process, which calls for persistence and a willingness to bear the pressure that comes along with that.

Qualities of Adaptive Leaders

• Being proactive, looking for
• pportunities and investing the

necessary resources to go after them.

• Admitting when they make mistakes

and changing or abandoning non- productive strategies.

• Being open to experimentation and

risk-taking

• Liking and encouraging innovation

among employees.

Let’s Chat!! What do you think?

Please chat in your questions

• r concerns in the ‘Chat Box’!

Resources

• Heifetz, R., Kania, J. and Kramer, M. (2004, Winter). Leading
• boldly. Stanford Social Innovation Review, 21-31
• Shively, Stacey. (2017). Adaptive Leadership, What is it really?

http://cambridgeleadership.com/adaptive-leadership-what-is-it- really/

• Heifetz, R.A., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of

adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your

• rganization and the world. Boston MA: Harvard Business

Press.

• Heifetz, R.A., & Linsky, M. (2002). Leadership on the line:

Staying alive through the dangers of leading. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

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