Synthesis of the Adaptive Leadership Model

Introduction

Adaptive Leadership is about how leaders encourage the people in their teams or groups to adapt when facing change and then move beyond it to thrive. Basically, a leader will encourage people to change and learn new ways of living and doing. This is particularly relevant in times of deep uncertainty: churches mourning a decline in membership, employees fearing a corporate buyout, or citizens worrying about a new world order amidst political tensions.

The Nature of the Challenge

Probably the most well-known model of Adaptive Leadership is the one proposed by Heifetz and his associates. It starts with identifying if the challenge or the problem is technical, adaptive, or both.

• Technical Problems: These are typically solved by experts. The leader is expected to come forward with a solution, and people accept his or her authority to solve the problem (e.g., a decision to replace an obsolete software or online platform).
• Technical and Adaptive: The effort here must be dual. When a hospital wants to improve its services, it requires leadership, doctors, staff, patients, and families to all be involved to one degree or another.
• Adaptive Challenges: These are the hardest. They are problems that are not clearly defined, yet they are deep and painful. You can’t just bring in an expert or a simple strategy. The difficulty is that the leader must identify the issue and then most probably challenge traditions, perceptions, and behaviours.

The Six Behaviours of a Leader

Six behaviours have been suggested as general prescriptions. They are not a specific order, but rather overlapping stages of the process:

1. Get on the Balcony: This means going to higher ground to get a “big picture” of what’s going on “in the valley”. It can mean taking time aside or participating in a meeting as an observer rather than a chair. The leader should not isolate themselves, but move back and forth between the floor and the balcony.

2. Identify the Adaptive Challenge: The leader must analyse and diagnose. If it’s technical, act accordingly: bring in an expert; if it’s of a different nature, don’t try to “preach to a network of servers”. From another perspective, leaders must identify the “elephants in the room”, the gaps between values and behaviours, the overwhelming and competing tasks. It is vital to know where your expertise ends and collaboration begins, as values and emotions will come to forefront.

3. Regulate Distress: Every challenge calls for change, which creates anxiety. The tension needs to be acknowledged and then regulated, before it becomes counterproductive or even toxic. The leader must create an atmosphere where people feel safe, a “holding environment” built on trust and shared language, reflection on common history and clarification on competing interests. Leadership is expected to provide direction, protection, and orientation. Conflict is inevitable, but a leader manages it to bring positive change out of it. People will look up to the leaders who are expected to embody values, confidence, capacity to handle the situation — being role models.

4. Maintain Disciplined Attention: Avoidance is the shrewd enemy. As a change may bring in pain, people often try to ignore problems (sweep it under the rug or pretend they are not a big deal), blame others (colleagues and leadership) or even attack those who want to address the issue, or focus on unrelated issues. The leader needs to be present, set an agenda, and then mobilising people to drop their guard and confront the issue.

5. Give the Work Back to the People: This is not the time for authoritarian decisions, nor for the isolation in towers (under the disguise of getting the balcony view). Instead of people expecting decisions from above, the leader should empower the people to do the thinking for themselves and then act accordingly.

6. Protect Leadership Voices from Below: Leaders must listen to the “minority report.” It is convenient to ignore the humble, the hurt, the guilty, the deviant, the defiant, especially when their voices seem so out of tune. But these voices from below (or on the fringe) may bring the real swing needed to reach equilibrium. The leader and the majority are to take a step back in order to listen to the low-status members.

The Dynamics of the Process

A suggested dynamic for this model begins with two foundational steps: (1) the leader steps back in order to see the bigger picture and the deeper issues; and (2) the leader identifies the nature of the challenge — whether it is technical, adaptive, or both.

Once these are established, the other four behaviours (regulate distress, maintain disciplined attention, give work back to people, and protect the voices from below) may be incorporated simultaneously, depending on the given context. One may be more effective at one stage of the process, while another comes into force at a later stage.

Conclusion

The Adaptive Leadership model is unique as “no other leadership approach’s central purpose is to help followers confront their personal values and adjust these as needed in order for change and adaptation to occur” (Northouse, 2016).

From the Adaptive Leadership perspective, the leader is not the one solving the problems for people, but rather one who encourages people to solve the problem by actively participating in the process. While the leader is the first to adapt, the real work is helping the followers to become aware of the challenge and adapt. Ultimately, Adaptive Leadership is “the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive” (Heifetz et al., 2009).

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Bibliography:

Heifetz, R. A., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sage Publications, Inc.