Adaptive leadership is a practical leader’s framework that helps both the individual and

organizations to adapt and thrive amidst uncertain change. It was developed by Heifetz to
understand human behavior and to mobilize meaningful progress from listening to hundreds of
dilemmas faced by committed and hardworking leaders. The leader needs to change his
understanding of how he approaches problem. Organizations and their leadership face the
significant challenge of becoming adaptable in complex environments, where change and
uncertainty is paramount (Uhi-Bien and Arena, 2018). Adaptive leadership is based on four main
principles; these includes distributed leadership, optimal talent mix, possessing a transparent
character and developing mutual trust.
Contingency theories assume that appropriate leadership actions are determined by the respective
situation or context. Hence, leaders are required to analyze a given situation and respond
accordingly. (Parry, 2011). Leadership is an influencing role. This means it is a position
whereby an individual is influenced and is also influenced by the follower’s attitude. Leaders
who are flexible, has empathy and also have emotional regulation will be better able to engage in
leadership behavior characterized by adapting according to the needs of the situation of their
followers most require at a given time to perform at their best. Followers are most effective when
they receive the type of appropriate support in the form of leader’s response.
Because change is constant and unavoidable, leaders must be flexible to succeed, so, adaptability
is a requirement. Leaders are forced to adapt to circumstance, people and technology on a daily
basis because of the labor market which makes adaptation paramount. Different usually require a
different of leaders behavior. A leader’s behavior with different individuals should vary since
individual differ with regard to their experience, skills, values and needs. The flexibility of a
leader depends on his/her ability to balance competing values and different types of human
behavior in a way that is appropriate for the situation. (Kaiser et al., 2007).
A leader must be very curious, inquisitive and think creatively. This habit of curiosity enables
growth, open the mind and encourage new ideas. A leader must be a good listener. Leaders
should not hasten when taking decisions, he must be able to wonder, explore and consider before
judging. Adaptable leaders must be able to plan ahead. This is important because planning
creates focus, and also help to access risks and opportunities. The ability of a leader to think
flexibly is one the behavioral characteristics that makes them survive any difficulties or
challenges. Leaders should be able to question is thought pattern, think analytically and should
be able to reflect on his emotions.
Adaptive form of temporal practices is a type of temporal practice that is concerned with the
extent to which a leader is aware of the behavioral manifestations of the dimensions of time
personality for each his or her followers, the job time characteristics that are required for the job
to be done effectively and the behavioral responses employed as a result of the awareness of the
job and the individual time related characteristics. Ability of a leader to play a facilitative role in
supporting a follower to manage their behaviors based upon the related temporal demands of the
job.
This involves the leaders ability to be aware of the talkativeness, assertiveness and high amount
of emotional expressiveness, kindness, affection, level of thoughtfulness and the goal-oriented
behavior of his/her followers. The leader should also know of the follower’s anxiety, moodiness
and their openness. The above listed is important in temporal practices adaptability because the
situation that a person finds himself or herself in plays a major role in how the person reacts. A
leader plans between work schedules and tasks involving followers. For example, the leader can
estimate how long a task will take before setting work activity on an individual.
Mindful leaders do not act rigidly as a result of mindless or automatic processing that can lead to
mechanistic and unwanted behavioral patterns (Langer, 1989). Instead, they engage in a process
that allows them to be more fully present, aware of, and in tune with their followers (Glomb,
Duffy, Bono & Yang, 2011; Shapiro, Carlson, Astin and Freedman, 2006). Mindful leaders are
thus not likely to treat all followers the same, but rather approach each follower and situation
uniquely.
REFERENCE
1. Kaiser, R. B., Lindberg, J. T., & Craig, S. B. (2007). Assessing the flexibility of
managers: A comparison of methods. International Journal of Selection and Assessment,
15, 40 –55.
2. Langer, E. J. (1989). Mindfulness. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
3. Parry, Ken W. 2011. Leadership and Organization Theory. In Bryman 2011. Los
Angeles: Sage, pp. 53–70
4. Shapiro, S. L., Carlson, L. E., Astin, J. A., & Freedman, B. (2006). Mechanisms of
mindfulness. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62, 373-386.
5. Uhl-Bien, Mary, and Michael Arena. 2018. Leadership for organizational adaptability: A
theoretical synthesis and integrative framework. The Leadership Quarterly 29: 89–104.