Adaptive Leader That Are Related

¶ … adaptive leader that are related to the management of change and to further evaluate how those factors impact followers in implementing change. The work of DeGenring (2005) entitled: "The Adaptive Leader: Risky Business? Staying Alive as a Leader in Times of Change" states: "The question is no longer, 'How to manage change?' The question now is, 'How to lead adaptive change?' We live in extraordinary times in the arc of our social, political, and economic development." While the changes occurring globally are perhaps exciting those same changes are calling upon leadership and demanding new ways to deal with new and emerging challenges requiring innovation in leadership. Traditional practices may no longer be successful and the historical leadership methods may not be sufficient for leading today's workers in the global workforce. Today's workforce is diverse characterized by differential learning levels and various experiential backgrounds.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK of the STUDY

The adaptive leader is one who is able to base the role of management and leadership in an accommodating or adaptive manner. This claim relies upon the theoretical framework as stated by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 at the University of Chicago in a study in which psychologists formulated a method of classifying intellectual behaviors that are important in the area of learning or 'levels' of intellectual capacity. Identified within the cognitive domain by Bloom and his colleagues are the six levels and the accompanying descriptions as follows: (1) Knowledge; (2) Understanding or comprehension; (3) Application; (4) Analysis; (5) Synthesis; and (6) Evaluation the classification as assigned by Bloom and his colleagues is illustrated in the following figure.

Bloom's Taxonomy (Intellectual Levels of Learning)

Source: Bloom (1956)

Bloom and his colleagues went further to classify six categories of questions that are asked in the learning process including those as following:

1) Knowledge - remembering; memorizing; recognizing; recall of information; and Who, what, when, where, how... (Bloom, 1956)

2) Understanding or Comprehension - interpreting; translating from one medium to another; describing in one's own words; Retell...; and organization and selection of facts and ideas; (Bloom, 1956)

3) Application - problem solving; applying information to produce some result; use of facts, rules and principles; How is...an example of...; How is...related to...; and Why is...significant? (Bloom, 1956)

4) Analysis - subdividing something to show how it is put together; finding the underlying structure of a communication; identifying motives; separation of a whole into component parts; What are the parts or features of...; Outline/diagram...; Classify...according to...; How does...compare/contrast with...; What evidence can you list for... (Bloom, 1956)

5) Synthesis - creating a unique, original product that may be in verbal form or physical object; combination of ideas to form a new whole; What would you predict/infer from...; What ideas can you add to...; How would you create/design a new...; What might happen if you combined...; What solutions would you suggest for... (Bloom, 1956)

6) Evaluation - making value decisions about issues; resolving controversies or differences of opinion; development of opinions, judgments or decisions; Do you agree...; Place the following in order of priority...; How would you decide about...; and What criteria would you use to assess... (Bloom, 1956)

LITERATURE REVIEW

To respond to the demands in today's work environment, organizations must have "the capacity to adapt - their approaches, their economic models, their thinking and their leadership. Adaptive leadership embraces the idea that the same old leadership approaches and the existing leadership toolkit are insufficient to solve the complex problems of today's business environment. Adaptive leaders acknowledge the proportionate relationship between risk and adaptive change: the more radical the change and the more new learning demanded, the more people resist the change. As a result, there is an increased danger to the leaders themselves." (DeGenring, 2005) it is necessary that new behaviors be modeled and the adaptive leader is able to do just this while embracing "learning and risk taking as fundamental competencies." (DeGenring, 2005) the Adaptive leader uses approaches to "foster these adaptive capacities" in their employees as follows: (1) Reframes the leader's job from that of problem-solver to that of developer of problem solvers, (2) Asks the important, tough questions while not having all the answers, (3) Fosters reflection and big-picture thinking, slowing down to move the action forward, and (4) Demonstrates and modeling courage. (DeGenring, 2005) the work of Charles Albano, (1999) founder of 'Adaptive Leadership' in 1993 states that 'Adaptive Leadership' is a "very active form of leadership, not a passive effort taken merely to adjust to circumstances as found." (1999) Adaptive systems are very different from mechanical systems or in other words, the organization is a living and adaptive system not a mechanical and rigid system. Albano states that the adaptive view of organizations and leadership "presents sharp contrasts along a number of dimensions listed in the figure as follows:

Comparing Mechanical (M) and Adaptive (a) Views

M) Attention is focused on activities.

A) Attention is focused on value-added outcomes.

M) Job descriptions are long, detailed and constraining.

A) Job descriptions are intentionally broad-based to allow for flexibility.

M) Role expectations are narrow and rigid.

A) Roles are fluid. Within limits, people are expected to substitute for one another.

M) Contacts are confined and communication is channeled by higher management.

A) Contacts are open and networks are encouraged to form.

M) Policies are mostly oriented toward control, what people can't do.

A) Policies encourage people to take a "can do" mindset to find solutions.

M) the organizational structure is bureaucratic and fragmented into many departments.

A) the structures are more fluid and of shorter duration. Changes in design are aimed at enhancing flexibility and responsiveness.

M) Authority is based on rank, and it is expected that influence will equate with formal authority.

A) Authority is accorded a place, but reliance on it is played down. Greater influence is accorded people who demonstrate ability to add value.

M) Efficiency and predictability are sought and reinforced.

A) Achievement, innovation and change are sought and rewarded.

M) Cooperation among departments is subject to a lot of formalization and clearances. Turf guarding prevails.

A) Cooperation is a highly regarded value in the organization and is far more easily gained.

M) Information is kept close hold.

A) Information is widely available to facilitate work accomplishment and permit more opportunities for more people to add value to operations.

M) Traditional values are fostered such as unit loyalty and obedience to the effect that they stifle initiative and hamper teamwork across departments.

A) Newer values such as cooperation, and responsiveness along with treating other units as internal "customers."

Source: Albano (1999)

Albano states that adaptive leadership reflects the actions of leaders who: (1) Think and act to exert strategic influence on their environments. They act to assure that their organizations are well positioned competitively; (2) Are proactive, foresee opportunities and put the resources in place to go after them; (3) Employ a broad-based style of leadership that enables them to be personally more flexible and adaptive; (4) Entertain diverse and divergent views when possible before making major decisions; (5) Can admit when they are wrong and alter or abandon a non-productive course of action; (6) Are astute students of their environments; (7)Can generate creative options for action; (8) Build their organization's capacities to learn, transform structure, change culture, and adapt technology; (9) Stay knowledgeable of what their stakeholders want; (10) Are willing to experiment, take risks; (11) Strive to improve their personal openness to new ideas and stay abreast by being lifelong learners; and (12) Love and encourage innovation from the ranks of their organizations.(Albano, 1999)the work of Major Donald E. Vandergriff (2006) entitled: "Adaptive Leaders Course (ALC) Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks" relates that adaptive leaders are those able to engage in "intuitive decision-making." The Adaptive Leader's Course (ALC) Model teaches cognitive skills through use of experiential education which involves "the exposure to new ideas, encouragement to experiment with ideas and then applying theories to problem solving, and then reflecting and reviewing on what happened using the learn-evaluate-access approach..." In which the Adaptive Leader's Course "sets the conditions where numerous observations of the student incur through mission scenarios, each under different conditions." (Vandergriff, 2006) This is the approach of leadership used by the U.S. Army and is based on an approach developed by Pestalozzi, a Swiss educator who developed 'Experiential Education' which is an approach that teaches Adaptive Leadership. In a separate work entitled: "Adaptive Work: The Challenge of Modern Leadership" Byrum (nd) writes that two types of work exist: (1) definitive work; and (2) adaptive work. Definitive work is "work that has clear and distinct outcomes, outcomes that are fairly obvious...focusing on clearly understood tasks, watching significant benchmarks and achieving basic results." Adaptive work however, "occurs when intent, vision, and goals are fairly clear, but how to accomplish those goals is anything but clear; starting points may even be a struggle to find." Byrum states that when "adaptive work" is at hand, "the highest order of leadership is required. Adaptive leaders are like the powerful light on the front of a locomotive; it may not show the way to the end of the journey, but it sends its light out far enough to find the way and help avoid obstacles and chaos along the way." (nd) Adaptive leaders do not simply come up with something or make it up as they go but adaptive leaders "create from the base of intent, visions, goals, and personal preconditions that are fixed and unchanging." (Byrum, nd) Byrum goes further to state that adaptive leadership "requires courage, conviction, and faith in the capacity to work with others and make situations better. There are 'spiritual' dimensions of leadership that transcend logic and reason. Adaptive leadership certainly requires competency, but it also requires a genius of judgment and encounters unprecedented situations not as a passive victim but as an energetic and active creator. Adaptive leaders will capture people's attention, command their best energies..." (Byrum, nd) Byrum states that adaptive leaders give "old cliches a new meaning: "Success is a journey, not a destination"; "What matters most is where we are moving, not where we stand." (nd) Byrum states that adaptive leaders are "catalysts for the journey, always moving with courage, generating trust, and instilling hope and promise. The Adaptive Leader will be the problem-solver - the solution finder - who will show the way." (Byrum, nd) DeGenring states that "addressing technical challenges yields standard, technical change. However, when applied to adaptive challenges - those that demand solutions not yet conceived of - these approaches and the leaders often fail. They run the risk of being spit out of the system in favor of the next leader who may be able to solve the problem. And the next leader. And so on." (DeGenring, 2005)

What's the Work? Who Does the Work?

Technical Change Apply current know-how the authorities

Adaptive Change Learn New Ways the people with the problem

Source DeGenring (2005)

DeGenring (2005) notes the work of Heifetz and Linksy who state: "In fact, there's a proportionate relationship between risk and adaptive change: The deeper the change and the greater the amount of new learning required, the more resistance there will be and thus, the greater the danger to those who lead. For this reason, people often try to avoid the dangers, either consciously or subconsciously, by treating an adaptive challenge as if it were a technical one. This is why we see so much more routine management than leadership in our society." (2002) Adaptive leaders use the following approaches: (1) Shift focus and reframe the leader's job from that of problem-solver, to that of developer of problem solvers. (2) Give the work back to the people; (3) Ask the important and sometimes, tough questions, and not giving all the answers; (4) Know how to help people learn, not by telling, but by understanding the perceptions, beliefs and values that drive their action, and helping them to plug into alternative, more agile ways of thinking; (5) Accept that heartache is inevitable and courage is essential.

Self-assessment by the Adaptive Leader, according to Heifetz and Linksy may be accomplished through "getting on the balcony'. (2002) This is a process in which one imagines that they are on a dance floor, or the soccer field, at any rate, they are in the action mix "responding to the advances and retreats" of their fellow employees and those they are leading "...feeling good...feeling effective. Things are going well, moves are being well executed." (DeGenring, 2005) Then the adaptive leader should "...imagine there is a balcony in the club or arena" and that they "leave the dance floor and view the whole action from this higher vantage point." Then the adaptive leader must ask themselves what they might see differently than they were able to see from the floor or field? Observed would be "patterns, relationships between things. You might also see what's happening in places you weren't directly connected to. You might see the consequences of actions you took, the reverberated somewhere else on the dance floor. You also might notice what's missing, or the spot in the whole system where there is a faltering. You conceivably could also see where people on the edges are acting in brilliantly innovative ways, bopping away with some perhaps unorthodox, but successful moves. In other words, you'd see the forest and the trees." (Daggering, 2005) Competency of a leader is likened to strategic thinking but there is more because too much critical analysis without becoming actively involved in the organization's experiences is not effective and in fact the adaptive leader is one who can be simultaneously on the floor and on the balcony.

The work of Heifetz and Linksy (2002) states: "Few practical ideas are more obvious or more critical than the need to get perspective in the midst of action. Any military officer, for example, knows the importance of maintaining the capacity for reflection, even in the 'fog of war.' Great athletes can at once play the game and observe it as a whole -- as Walt Whitman described it, being both in and out of the game." (DeGenring, 2005) the Ladder of Inference is introduced in the work of DeGenring (2005) who states that this refers to a "metaphor or model used to describe a mental pathway that underlies much of the human behavior and the flow of human information processing. When individuals 'go up the ladder' they are selecting data from their environment and drawing conclusions from it, often based on beliefs or experiences they've had before, and then acting on them." DeGenring speaks of coaching from the balcony which understanding their own and other individual's 'Ladders' which enables these leaders to: (1) lead the examination, testing, and changing of assumptions; (2) foster appreciation of different points-of-view; and (3) allow awareness, visibility and reflection of each other's thinking and reasoning; and (4) encourage more innovation and learning. (DeGenring, 2005) the following figure illustrates the ladder adapted from "The Fifth Discipline Field book" (Kleiner, Roberts, Ron, Senge and Smith, nd)