Navigating change: The essence of adaptive leadership

The ability to navigate uncertainty and lead through change has become paramount in today’s ever-evolving landscape. Adaptive leadership, a concept introduced by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, emphasizes the importance of agile, flexible and proactive leaders in addressing complex challenges. This leadership style is not about having all the answers but empowering teams to adapt, innovate and thrive amidst constant change.

Let’s explore some real-life leadership challenges and scenarios to help us better understand what adaptive leadership looks like in practice.

How to Make You New Year's Resolutions Stick This Time

It’s that time of year again.

When we look at ourselves in the mirror and start berating ourselves.

“Why can’t you ever keep a resolution even for a single week?”

If you’re one of those, the good news - if you can call it that - is that you’re not alone.

How long do most people’s New Year's resolutions last?

Your behavior won't change until the way you see yourself does

In his book Atomic Habits, author James Clear explains why habits are so difficult to break.

It's because we tend to focus on surface-level actions.

Most people start by focusing on outcome-based goals like...

“I want to lose 20 pounds.”
“I want to write a best-selling book.”

But these are surface level changes.

Leading Against All Odds

As leaders, we often face circumstances, such as market conditions, lack of funding, or the absence of internal support, that threaten to derail us. We want to persist anyway but recognize the uphill challenges that we will be facing under such circumstances.

What can leaders do inspire themselves and their people to persevere with their dreams when the odds are stacked against them?

Get a heavy dose of cold water – Leaders who want to succeed when others tell them that success isn’t possible would do well to begin with some honest soul searching. What are the challenges that everyone is talking about? Why are so many predicting your failure? Am I personally biased or do I really have something special here? If, despite their contrarian arguments you feel that your the goal is attainable and you can win, then go for it with everything that you’ve got.

Get Your People Out of Their Caves

Dear Leader,

Your people are living in a cave and it's your job to get them out of it.

That may sound kind of crazy. But stay with me.

If you’re like most leaders, your people are showing up every day, doing their thing and they don't really have the time, the bandwidth, the interest in learning new things.

They certainly don’t make the time to understand best practices and the innovations, the creativity, the change, that's happening in the world around them.

Often, they’re completely clueless.

Lull Before the Storm

business, perspective, mindsetNaphtali HoffMarch 6, 2018Impactful Coaching & Consultingperspective, attitude, shift, paradigm, change managementComment

Taking the Fear out of Change

Few words scare people like “change.” While we know that change is critical for organizations who want to stay cutting edge and prepare for the future, the fact is that change and disruption are hard on individuals and teams. They mess with our routines, raise questions about proper procedure and protocol, and force us to change our behaviors. Worst of all, they create a fundamental baseline of uncertainty, which cause many to descend into fear and doubt.

So what can leaders so to manage change effectively in the organizations and with their teams? The following are strategies to help manage change effectively:

1. Set the expectation that change is inevitable – Communicate your vision of a dynamic and evolving organization, where progress and change are inevitable. When a major shift happens, your people will be more likely to accept it as a matter of course.

The first 90 days: Getting off on the right foot

Leaders’ early actions, especially for those with more challenging leadership responsibilities, can often determine whether they succeed or fail. Harvard professor and leadership transition expert Michael Watkins writes in his best-selling book The first 90 days, that “When leaders derail, their problems can almost always be traced to vicious cycles that developed in the first few months on the job.” According to Watkins, what leaders do early on during a job transition is what matters most. Colleagues and others form opinions about them based on the limited information that they have available, and, once those opinions are formed, it can be quite difficult to change their minds in the months and even years that follow.

business, coaching, leadership, relationshipsNaphtali HoffFebruary 2, 2016leaders, leadership, change management, transition, transitional leadershipComment

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