Parts 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of the Acumen virtual bootcamp series can be found here.
The topic of the 7th session was on Adaptive Leadership. All organizations want individuals to be invested in the rat race. This always shows a better return on investment in salary. And we are also engaged in the dance of email, instant messages, and meetings. But reflecting in the midst of action is an age-old wisdom, and it is really difficult to achieve. The crux of the session was on reflection amid action and vice versa
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, a book written by Alexander Grashow, Marty Linsky, and Ronald Heifetz, was referred for detailed reading. The best part in the summarized reading was our Illusion of the Broken System: There is a myth that drives many change initiatives into the ground: that the organization needs to change because it is broken. The reality is that any social system (including an organization) is the way it because people in that system (at least those individuals in that system (at least those individuals and factions with the most leverage) want and factions with the most leverage) want it that way. In the sense, on the whole, it is that way. In the sense, on the whole, the system is working fine, even though it may appear to be “dysfunctional” in some respects to members, and outside observers, and even though it faces danger just over the horizon.
Adaptive leadership requires helping people to gain a clear perspective in the midst of action and uncertainty; making sense of complex, often conflicting, signs and data; and sifting through what is most important, what is at stake, who will support, and who will resist change.
This transformation is based on “mapping the system” of stakeholders surrounding the challenge, mobilizing key stakeholders. A leader has to mobilize resources and goals and transform the organization. Our focus is less about the “problem” and more about other people’s relationship to the problem, and how to engage them in narrowing the gap. This profound shift is done by leveraging leadership capital for excellence into pragmatic steps for the stakeholders.
The stakeholders are spread in the factions like yourself, authority, allies, opposition, casualties, and troublemakers, with each having their respective Values, Loyalties, and Losses. The opinion inside an organization is different, and conflicts have to be replaced with a confluence of interests.
As an adaptive leader, I had not practiced much of the courageous belief in how things should be in the face of a persistent problem. I can articulate ‘the gap’ that is a leadership challenge in the development sector. It's about the decay of grant-based work and the move towards building a service-based model. I will use the tool to analyze the problem and the relationship of stakeholders in my organization. Hoping the process will be a fascinating reflection on the ways individuals perceive their own experiences, but how men and women in particular might forecast the scenario. In the end, I will develop some capability of adjusting to the requirements of different perspectives and the transformation agenda.