ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP

Lesson Manuscript

A. Introduction to Adaptive Leadership

 The ideas and practices surrounding adaptive leadership have been advanced in
large part by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky in the books “Leadership without
Easy Answers” and “Leadership on the Line” and more recently with the help of
Alexander Grashow in the book “The Practice of Adaptive Leadership”.

B. What is Adaptive Leadership?

 Heifetz et. al. believe that leadership is, at its essence, about influencing change
that builds and enables the capacity of individuals and organizations to thrive.
 Specifically, that leadership is the practice of mobilizing groups of people to
tackle tough challenges and thrive.
 The bottom line is that leaders need to understand the importance of adaptation
and are able to employ the relevant processes and tools to build the adaptive
capacity of organizations.

C. What does it mean to be adaptive?

 The word “adaptive” in adaptive leadership is drawn from evolutionary biology
and refers to the process that organisms follow if they are going to survive and
thrive.
 The three components of this process (applied to organizations) are to:
1. Preserve the organizational elements necessary for survival;
2. Remove (or modify) the elements that are no longer necessary or
useful; and
3. Create (aka innovate) new arrangements that enable the organization
to thrive.

D. What does it mean to thrive?

 In adaptive leadership, to thrive is to develop new capabilities and strategies to
address changes in the environment (e.g. industry) and realize strategic vision
and goals.
 The key for an adaptive leader is to understand what it means for a specific
organization to thrive, and then help make that happen.
 To thrive is to successfully adapt to circumstances, make desired changes, and
stay anchored to what is best about the organization in the process.
 This requires an appreciation for the core values, purposes (whether explicit or
implicit), and the history of the organization.

E. What are Adaptive Leadership competencies?

 The adaptive leadership approach views leadership more as a process than a set
of competencies.

1
  Having said this, the following are some skills, attitudes, and implied qualities that
align with adaptive leadership.
1. The adaptive leader needs to be able to connect organizational change to the
core values, capabilities, and dreams of the relevant stakeholders.
2. The adaptive leader seeks to foster a culture that collects and honors diversity
of opinion and uses this collective knowledge for the good of the organization
3. The adaptive leader knows that change and learning can be painful for people,
and is able to anticipate and counteract any reluctant behavior related to the pain
4. The adaptive leader understands that large scale change is an incremental
process and that he/she needs to be persistent and willing to withstand pressure
to take shortcuts.

F. Adaptive Leadership in Practice

Company Merger: A midsize family owned company merges with another similar
company. The merger creates tensions between the employees regarding job titles and
duties, pay scales, overtime, and vacation pay. The new owners must bring the
employees together to have the new company function successfully.

Merit Pay: In an established engineering company, a small group of young, high

achieving engineers want to change the way merit pay is given by removing seniority
and years of service as part of the criteria. Long-time employees are resisting the
change. Company leaders must find a way to address this issue without alienating
either group.

G. When is Adaptive Leadership relevant?

Situational Challenges
1. Technical Problems: Problems that are clearly defined with known solutions that
can be implemented through existing organizational procedures.
Example: Some new software at accounting firm isn’t working. If the accountant has
authority to address the problem (e.g., contact the software company and have program
modified to meet the company’s needs), this is a technical problem.
 No need for adaptive leadership.

2. Technical and Adaptive Challenges: Challenges are clearly defined but do not
have straightforward solutions. Leader and followers both tackle problem.
Example: Hospital wants to change from traditional approach to a patient-centered
culture. Administration can offer training on how to involve patients in their own care.
Medical staff, patients, and families need to accept the change and learn how to
implement it.
 Need for adaptation by many different people.

3. Adaptive Challenges: Problems that are not clearly defined or easy to identify, and
which do not have a clear solution.
Example: A hospital wants to begin hospice care for terminally ill patients. The patients
and their families will face immense uncertainty about how and when the patient will die.

2
The staff, patients, and families will face many issues about the dying process, what the
loss means, how to prepare for coping with it.
The challenges facing the organization are not clearly defined nor are the solutions.
 These challenges require adaptive leadership.
 Adaptive Challenges are Value-laden and stir up people’s emotions.
 Technical Challenges can be fixed with leader’s own expertise and authority.
 Effective leaders use adaptive leadership behaviors for adaptive challenges and
technical leadership for technical challenges.

References:
 https://managementhelp.org/blogs/leadership/2010/07/07/adaptive-leadership/?
fbclid=IwAR1cvzjQKOdymJOzbUDulz-dnB8iKvjCyVc4Q5m9-Bamyd_-
BaNXwrya6EI
 Northouse - Leadership Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition © 2016 SAGE
Publications, Inc.
*****the end*****

Prepared by:

Prof. Marlon P. Tuiza, LPT, DPA