Adaptive Leadership · 2017-03-17 · 6/21/11 1 More Information at 1 Adaptive Leadership -- per...

6/21/11

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More Information at www.gclileadership.org 1

Adaptive Leadership -- per (Harvard) Prof. Ron Heifetz

Walking the Razor’s Edge (b/c Exercising Leadership is Dangerous….)

& Building the Bridge As we Walk on it

(i.e. a Pedagogy of Adaptive Leadership Development)


I. Walking the Razor’s Edge:

Exercising Leadership is rife w/ risks & challenges (per RH) b/c:

“…to lead is to live dangerously”


Etymology of word “lead”:

“leit” (Indo-European): = “to go forth and die”


Followers’/Humans’ Natural Ambivalence re: Being Led

Assassination/Martyrdom: the fate of many leaders

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II. Building the Bridge as we walk on it:

The pedagogy of adaptive leadership development


Adaptive Leaders are capable of Learning as they Lead


& Adaptive Leaders are capable of Leading as they Learn….


Exercising--& Teaching--Adaptive Leadership is

a dialectical process: like a dance….

•  Pacing--& Leading by: • Modulating the provocation • Regulating the heat •  Surfing the PZD: “productive

zone of disequilibrium”

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Modulating the provocation

Surfing the PZD: “productive zone of disequilibrium”

& Regulating the heat More Information at www.gclileadership.org 10

Adaptive Leadership (per RH):

“…requires disturbing and/or disappointing people—but

at a rate they can absorb.”

i.e. * Regulate the heat • Modulate the provocation • Stretch the rubber bands • Surf the PZD • Create & maintain a holding environment


Adaptive Leaders (per R.H.):

Place the (adaptive) work of exercising leadership

“where it belongs” by:

•  Promoting an ethos of learning, collaboration, creativity & resilience

•  Generating capacity—not dependency •  Making themselves expendable/

dispensable More Information at www.gclileadership.org 12

Walt Whitman (from Song of Myself):

“I am the teacher of athletes; He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own Proves the width of my own.

He most honors my style who learns under it to [transcend] the teacher.”

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The long-term task of leadership (& l’ship development)

– a la Heifetz:

= to enhance people’s adaptive capacity

(your own as well as others) More Information at www.gclileadership.org 14

Adaptive Leadership (defined, per RH):

= “…the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive.”


Technical vs. Adaptive Leadership:

Technical Challenges: Adaptive Challenges:

Solutions are already known:

So just “follow the recipe” (like baking)

Require new learning in order to solve

So leaders must mobilize group members to collaborate in generating (new) solutions


Technical Challenges/Leadership: gcLi LL example?

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Adaptive Challenges/Leadership:

gcLi LL example?


Binocular Vision means seeing/being:

…at the same time!

< On the Balcony

And on the dance floor >


Use Binocular Vision – in order to see the whole picture

(more) “objectively”:

“The challenge is to move back and forth between the dance floor and the balcony, making interventions, observing their impact in real time, and then returning to the action. The goal is to come as close as you can to being in both places simultaneously….” – Ron Heifetz


Practical (TIP/RIP) Application Moment for/by gcLiers:

Example(s) of developing “binocular vision” from the gcLi L’ship Lab?

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Exercising Adaptive Leadership requires: Experimenting *

* “peri” root recurs in words like: •  Experience •  Experiment •  Expert •  Peril

Synonyms: •  Trial •  Crucible


Adaptive Leaders:

Create & maintain a holding environment—for tolerably regulating stress & disequilibrium—i.e. keeping themselves & others in the PZD


Practical (TIP/RIP) Application Moment for/by gcLiers:

Implications of adaptive leadership for creating & seizing teachable moments for student leadership-development….?


Noel Tichy: “Teaching is at the heart of leadership. In fact, it is through teaching that leaders lead others. Leading is not dictating specific behavior. It is not issuing orders and commanding compliance. Leading is getting others to see a situation as it really is and to understand what responses need to be taken so that they will move the organization toward where it needs to be….Simply put, if you aren’t teaching, you aren’t leading.”

--from The Leadership Engine

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Todd Warner: “Leadership is at the heart of teaching. In fact, it is through leading that teachers teach others. Teaching is not dictating specific behavior. It is not issuing orders and commanding compliance. Teaching is getting others to see a situation as it really is and to understand what responses need to be taken so that they will move the organization toward where it needs to be….Simply put, if you aren’t leading, you aren’t teaching.”

-- not from The Leadership Engine


Walking the Razor’s Edge (or going against the grain) as an adaptive leader

in the PZD:

1.  Stimulate questions

(vs. providing answers or technical solutions)



in the PZD:

2. Allow group to feel the stress or challenge

(vs. protecting them from external threats or internal conflict)



in the PZD:

3. Disorient members from current roles or norms

(vs. maintaining equilibrium & continuity --as is appropriate in technical leadership)

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5 Distinctive Qualities of an Adaptive Culture (per R.H.)

1.  Elephants in the room are named.

2.  Responsibility for the organization’s future is shared.


5 Distinctive Qualities of an Adaptive Culture

3.  Independent judgment is expected.

4.  (Adaptive) Leadership capacity is developed. *

5.   Reflection & continuous learning are institutionalized.


So What? Now What?


Live life as a Leadership (Development) Lab:

Exercising Leadership & Developing Leadership are improvisational arts (per R.H.)

“There is no recipe.”

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Live life as a Leadership (Development) Lab: Lean into your “incompetence,” live on your growing edges, surf your PZD


Live life as a Leadership (Development) Lab: Broaden your bandwidth & stretch your rubber bands (to expand your l’ship repertoire)

A matter of Will > Skill (per R.H.)


Bibliography:

& see also Walking the Razor’s Edge (LL 2010) MP presentation in the “Graduates” section of the gcLi

website More Information at www.gclileadership.org 36

The Penultimate* End

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*Bibliographical Appendix --especially for Inputters, Learners, & other “Strategic Thinkers”

See also all the gcLi Grads’ Newsletters posted under “Resources” on the gcLi website: http://gclileadership.org/resources/gcli-

newsletters/

& the gcLi Facebook page:

http://www.csee.org/products/180


The End

Adaptive Leadership · 2017-03-17 · 6/21/11 1 More Information at 1 Adaptive Leadership -- per...

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