Adaptive Leadership Research Articles

Agile, adaptive leaders

Purpose – This paper aims to illustrate what agile management looks like, why it is increasingly necessary and how it can be developed and supported. Design/methodology/approach – This is a case study from a large complex organization (Lancashire County Council) showing how management restructuring increased managers ' spans of responsibility, moving them out of their professional comfort zones, and how in response, the organization identified, supported and developed agile leadership. Findings – Agile, adaptive leaders are able to move quickly and easily from one area of management to another, able to manage a diverse range of complex services and able to quickly and smoothly adapt to a fast-changing business environment. Research limitations/implications – This is a case study from a large complex public sector organization, but the need for agile and adaptive leaders applies equally to the private and not-for-profit sectors. Originality/value – This paper offers insights into the changing role of management across a diverse range of services and provides an example of how organizations can successfully respond.

Adaptive leadership curriculum for Indian paramedic trainees.

BackgroundParamedic trainees in developing countries face complex and chaotic clinical environments that demand effective leadership, communication, and teamwork. Providers must rely on non-technical skills (NTS) to manage bystanders and attendees, collaborate with other emergency professionals, and safely and appropriately treat patients. The authors designed a NTS curriculum for paramedic trainees focused on adaptive leadership, teamwork, and communication skills critical to the Indian prehospital environment.MethodsForty paramedic trainees in the first academic year of the 2-year Advanced Post-Graduate Degree in Emergency Care (EMT-paramedic equivalent) program at the GVK-Emergency Management and Research Institute campus in Hyderabad, India, participated in the 6-day leadership course. Trainees completed self-assessments and delivered two brief video-recorded presentations before and after completion of the curriculum.ResultsIndependent blinded observers scored the pre- and post-intervention presentations delivered by 10 randomly selected paramedic trainees. The third-party judges reported significant improvement in both confidence (25 %, p < 0.01) and body language of paramedic trainees (13 %, p < 0.04). Self-reported competency surveys indicated significant increases in leadership (2.6 vs. 4.6, p < 0.001, d = 1.8), public speaking (2.9 vs. 4.6, p < 0.001, d = 1.4), self-reflection (2.7 vs. 4.6, p < 0.001, d = 1.6), and self-confidence (3.0 vs. 4.8, p < 0.001, d = 1.5).ConclusionsParticipants in a 1-week leadership curriculum for prehospital providers demonstrated significant improvement in self-reported NTS commonly required of paramedics in the field. The authors recommend integrating focused NTS development curriculum into Indian paramedic education and further evaluation of the long term impacts of this adaptive leadership training.

Dean Williams (2015). Leadership for a Fractured World: How to Cross Boundaries, Build Bridges, and Lead Change

Dean Williams’ 2015 book Leadership for a Fractured World is not a book about police leadership. Williams, coming from the Harvard Kennedy School, is an advocate for the adaptive leadership approach, constructed around the themes of increasing complexity, an absence of certainty, and the potential of conflict. The tag line for the book—How to cross boundaries, build bridges and lead change—provides more insight into the content of the book. The book made me think deeply about how boundaries exist in regards to policing. Within police organizations, boundaries are usually created around geography—the local area command manages a number of police stations formed around the concept of a shared locational identity. Boundaries are also created around non-geographical domains, frequently through a mixture of crime types and the specialized skills required in response. These include fraud, homicide, property crime squads, etc. Then there are the more technically specialized divisions including special operations, dogs, and aviation support. Transport usually requires unique boundaries including marine, air, and rail, with a large focus in Australia on road safety. Providing some unity to these horizontal boundaries are the commonality of uniform and profession. But here too are more boundaries, this time comprising rank operating vertically to control information, decisions, and action.

Leadership in Extreme Contexts

This study sought to investigate whether leaders tend to adapt their leadership style, within the full range of leadership model, between normal and extreme event firefighting contexts; as well as assess the extent these leadership styles are related to followers’ performance across both contexts. The correlational research design was coupled with a cross-sectional retrospective survey using hierarchical regression analysis. Results indicated that transactional contingent reward leadership style was the dominant predictor of followers’ performance in extreme events. Results showed that in normal contexts, transformational leadership style was the dominant predictor of followers’ performance. Leader behaviors tended to change (adapt) between normal contexts and extreme events, as the same leaders were less transformational in their behaviors in extreme events as compared with normal contexts. Theoretical and practical implications for adaptive leadership responses are discussed along with recommendations for future research.

Negotiating service learning through community engagement: Adaptive leadership, knowledge, dialogue and power

This article builds on two recent publications (Preece 2013; 2013a) concerning the application of asset-based community development and adaptive leadership theories when negotiating university service learning placements with community organisations in one South African province. The first publication introduced the concept of ‘adaptive engagement’. The second analysed empirical findings from the first phase of an action research project that endeavoured to take a teamwork approach to service learning placements. This paper reports on the larger, second phase. Different student teams were each tasked with undertaking an activity that had been identified by an NGO as an area of development need. The paper discusses this approach filtering the above-mentioned theories through a Foucauldian lens for analysing power relationships, knowledge and ownership over decision-making. Findings highlight the multi-layered complexity of community engagement, communication and power relations, and the limiting nature of institutional governmentality in terms of student contributions to sustainable community outcomes and university recognition of community-based knowledge. But the findings also demonstrate the potential for contributing to community change and knowledge sharing when an adaptive leadership approach of clarifying competing goals and values is used alongside respect for community assets of experiential, or subjugated, knowledge.

Community engagement and service learning in a south african university: the challenges of adaptive leadership

This article presents the preliminary findings of two community engagement/service learning case studies undertaken at one South African university. The following criteria were used for selecting the case studies: they were community needs-led, attracted a multidisciplinary team approach and involved service learning students from different disciplines. The findings highlight the challenges of negotiating these three dimensions, and the perceived learning benefits for community, staff and student participants. The article draws on service learning and community engagement literature which highlights the paucity of research regarding multidisciplinary engagement or the community voice in service learning projects. It frames its discussion around theories of community development, with reference to the concepts of adaptive leadership and collaboration. It concludes by stating that small-scale projects can demonstrate mutually beneficial outcomes for all partners but that communication and leadership are multi-layered, requiring university vigilance in relation to competing values and purposes. KEYWORDS Adaptive leadership, asset-based development, community engagement

Minimizing Escalation &amp; Maximizing Adaptation: The Effects of Leadership Change on Team Adaptation

Despite the frequency of leadership change in organizations, the role of leadership in team adaptation is not fully understood. We draw on theories of team adaptation and habitual routines to sugge...

Book Review: Complex Adaptive Leadership

Book Review: Complex Adaptive Leadership

Cleft Lip Surgical Intervention in Resource Constraint Settings: A Case Report

Cleft lip and palate is a very common condition which is globally undertreated. This case report shows how cleft lip surgery can transform patient’s lives, self-perception, and their self-esteem through a visionary and adaptive leadership of a few social workers and medical doctors in resource constrained settings. The case report also shows that when treated, the benefits to the patient and their family are lifelong and disproportionately large compared to the degree of effort and cost of doing the reconstruction; and puts forth the case for educating physicians to maximize their societal benefit through work in resource-constrained settings.

Complex Adaptive Leadership: The case of a Mining Conglomerate under Reorganization Process and the Role of Leader

The purpose of this paper is to analyze leader’s role in unpredictable organizational world through critically analysing the leadership approaches and the roles of leaders in a mining conglomerate. Through a brief adaptive leadership literature review the paper presents main aspects of complexity theory, adaptive leadership, leader’s role in this framework and potential utilization of literature findings in real case of a mining conglomerate in Kosovo which is under reorganization process. Assenting to the literature the leader role has changed in direction of adapting the behaviour or leading approach based on the complexity of the environment that organizations are facing today. As anticipated the paper in fact, finds positive correlation of literature theory and practical use of several complex adaptive leadership aspects that the leadership of the mining conglomerate can consider during the reorganization process, with the purpose of adjusting their role accordingly to the complexity of the environment of the organization.

Developing compassionate leadership in health care: an integrative review.

Compassionate health care is universally valued as a social and moral good to be upheld and sustained. Leadership is considered pivotal for enabling the development and preservation of compassionate health care organizations. Strategies for developing compassionate health care leadership in the complex, fast-moving world of today will require a paradigm shift from the prevalent dehumanizing model of the organization as machine to one of the organizations as a living complex adaptive system. It will also require the abandonment of individualistic, heroic models of leadership to one of shared, distributive, and adaptive leadership. “Command and control” leadership, accompanied by stifling regulation, rigid prescriptions, coercive punishments, and/or extrinsic rewards, infuses fear into the system with consequent disempowerment and disunity within the workforce, and the attrition of innovation and compassion. It must be eschewed. Instead, leadership should be developed throughout the organization with collective holistic learning strategies combined with high levels of staff support and engagement. Culture and leadership are interdependent and synergistic; their codevelopment needs to be grounded in a sophisticated, scientifically based account of human nature held within a coherent philosophical framework reflected by modern organizational and leadership theories. Developing leadership for compassionate care requires acknowledging and making provision for the difficulties and challenges of working in an anxiety-laden context. This means providing appropriate training and well-being programs, sustaining high levels of trust and mutually supportive interpersonal connections, and fostering the sharing of knowledge, skills, and workload across silos. It requires enabling people to experiment without fear of reprisal, to reflect on their work, and to view errors as opportunities for learning and improvement. Tasks and relational care need to be integrated into a coherent unity, creating space for real dialog between patients, clinicians, and managers, so that together they can cocreate ways to flourish in the context of illness and dying.

Data-driven and adaptive leadership contributing to sustainability: global agri-food supply chains connected with emerging markets

Despite numerous promises on the links between data-driven and adaptive leadership, non-financial sustainability and financial sustainability, scholars have not conducted enough empirical research to test the links based on globally and massively connected emerging supply chains. This study therefore scrutinizes the interlocking links by applying the data collected from chief executive officers, managing directors and senior operations managers of such supply chains rooted in emerging markets.The possibly purified results raised from structural equation modeling indicate that data-driven and adaptive leadership is a key determinant for non-financial sustainability, which in turn contributes to financial sustainability. Directly, the leadership also plays a vital role for financial sustainability. Interaction effects further depict that the companies which apply more data-driven and adaptive leadership practices perform better compared to those which less focus on such practices. Consequently, the results provide the deeper understanding of the mechanism of how global supply chain leaders can use data-driven and adaptive leadership to co-create financial and non-financial sustainability.

The Development of the Personal and Professional Values-Integrated Framework as an Aid to Ethical Decision Making

The process of developing a new framework, such as the personal and professional values-integrated framework, helps to explain the dynamics of the ethical decision making required of adaptive leaders for appreciating divergent perspectives. Ethical analysis frameworks can help to identify the ethical dimensions in academic disciplines and provide a method for justifying ethical decisions. Published frameworks, however, have some limitations to easy, practical use. The purpose of this paper is to use the five sources of ethical standards identified by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics [21] to describe and explore consequentialist and deontologist forms of ethical reasoning for deciding matters of morality in education. A literature search identified published frameworks that define the components of ethical decision making. On this basis, a new framework, called the personal and professional values-integrated framework, is constructed. Consideration is given to areas and practices in the guidelines or rules for the process of forming ethical reasons and variations that are less easily accommodated by these ethical frameworks. The idea of Will as described by Chinese philosopher Mencius (371-289 BC) is used to gain insight into some of the implications of ethical decisions. It is demonstrated that leadership rules in education are realized by acknowledging the reasons for an action, and ethical decision making is defined as conforming to the criteria pertaining to these considerations as well as the professional conduct expected.

Editors' Notes

Summer has ended and fall is around the corner. Many of our readers find themselves in the middle of the academic semester. The current issue of the Journal of Leadership Studies contains articles that may take us back to our philosophical foundations. Sprinkled throughout the articles we will find references to St. Anslem, ontology, self, Nisbet, Existential–Experiential, Metaxy, Rogers, Voegelin, Nietzsche, Maslow, Heidegger, and more. Our authors implore us to consider how philosophical traditions can challenge us as leaders or may shape us as leaders. In our lead article, Existential–Experiential View of Self-Sourced (In)Authentic Healthcare Identity, the concept of self is used to frame leadership in healthcare professionals. Although the framework provided by Koskiniemi, Perttula, and Syväjärvi is focused on healthcare professionals (i.e., doctors and nurses), the authors argue that their framework is applicable to leadership in any field (e.g., law, social work) where leaders possess a strong professional identity. Stork, Grant, and Darmo in the second feature article (Leadership Graduate Degree Programs: A Comparative Review and Analysis of Value Propositions) provide an extensive examination and analysis of the discourse styles found on graduate leadership programs’ websites to communicate to potential students the “value” of the program. History in the Study of Leadership is the focus of the symposium. Guest symposium editor Nathan Harter has assembled a variety of articles and authors that explore the context of history on leadership, the intersection of history and leadership, and the role history can play in leadership. Harter argues in his introduction that history is of “greatest importance to the study of leadership.” His article explicates the role and intersection between history and leadership. The second article by Tim Blessing provides an Anselmian argument for the use of history in leadership studies. Blessing uses the logic of St. Anselm's ontological proof for the existence of God to argue that leadership studies has no choice but to deal with a history that “imprisons us” as an “inescapable matrix.” Harter's second article introduces Robert Nisbet's thoughts about history and social change. Harter cautions leadership scholars that history has its own nuances, so that when using history to understand leadership one must be careful to take into account those nuances. The role of history, the understanding of history, and the need to reflect on history is essential for leaders according to Thomas in his article Eric Voegelin, Reflexive Distance, and Harnessing the Benefits of Metaxy: The Leader's Imperative to Participate in History and Becoming. Thomas argues that understanding these aspects of history will provide a leader “a deeper understanding of a person's place in society.” The last two articles of the symposium examine the use of history in training military leaders and the examination of leadership during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Williams offers his robust insights into the “staff ride,” a technique used to train military leaders to take into account the historical aspects of war and its impact on leadership. Chace's article on leadership during the Cuban Missile Crisis frames President Kennedy's leadership through the frameworks of historical consciousness (Voegelin) and adaptive leadership (Heifetz). As you can see, this issue of the Journal of Leadership Studies offers significant depth and breadth in its topics. We think this issue of the journal offers readers unique articles that do indeed bring us back to our philosophical foundations.

The Cuban Missile Crisis: Leadership as Disturbance, Informed by History

AbstractThe Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 cannot be over‐studied for the lessons it teaches about leadership. As documents have become declassified, it has now become known that President Kennedy and his team of advisors considered the crisis from multiple angles, ranging from a traditional response to perceived aggression to transactional leadership—in this case, secretly trading the removal of Soviet missiles in Cuba for the removal of American missiles in Turkey. The resolution of the Cuban missile crisis involved more than transactional leadership, however. In the complex negotiations that followed the discovery of the missiles, President Kennedy and his team of advisors experienced an evolution in their thinking, while operating under intense strain. The conceptual frameworks that best describe Kennedy's leadership in this context are Voegelin's notion of historical consciousness and Heifetz's conceptions of adaptive leadership.

Adaptive Challenges Rising from the Life Context of African-American Caregiving Grandmothers with Diabetes: A Pilot Study.

To understand the challenges arising from the context within which diabetic African-American caregiving grandmothers self-manage their diabetes we used the Adaptive Leadership Framework. Additionally, challenges to retaining this population in a longitudinal study were examined. In this exploratory, longitudinal, qualitative pilot study, data were collected at five time-points over 18 months. We coded the data using content analysis and conducted the within-case and cross-case analyses using data matrices. Lack of awareness of available resources, represented a technical challenge within the life context of these grandmothers and the remaining three themes: family upheaval; priority setting (with subthemes of difficulty meeting basic needs and competing demands); and self-silencing and self-sacrifice represented adaptive challenges. The context of African-American grandmothers’ lives created primarily adaptive challenges that were complex and without immediate solutions. Research is needed to develop culturally and contextually appropriate interventions to help this vulnerable group develop capacity for adaptive work.

Montage

The Problem Adaptive leadership calls for leaders to open up conflicts and differences and to help others engage with them. However, this sets up some tension with organizational priorities such as order and productivityWorking with difference and conflict is built on assumptions other than those that privilege efficiencies and smooth functioning. Taken-for-granted habits and assumptions about what is “good” and productive are at issue. Engaging with differences and conflict is not just a matter of learning new skills, it involves engaging with questions of mind-set and assumptions. The prospect of making space for differences may be threatening or seem to be out of bounds, particularly in traditional organizations. The Solution In this article, we argue that new practices privileging conflict and difference call for methods that disrupt habitual ways of working and that support people as they learn to respond to familiar situations in new ways. We offer montage, a technique adopted from the movie industry that sets disparate images side-by-side, as promising in this regard, providing temporary “new rules” that enable people to experience new ways of working. The Stakeholders This article will be of interest to human resource (HR) professionals who select and sponsor leadership development interventions It will be particularly relevant for those in the area of learning and development who support new learning beyond workshops, in the context of day-to-day organizational life. It will also be of interest to researchers who seek to understand felt experiences in organizations and managers who are interested in reshaping their practice.

Curriculum Reform as Adaptive Leadership Challenge

The adaptive leadership framework developed by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky provides a valuable strategy for curricular change.Prior to engaging in a change process, it is im...

Adaptive leadership framework for chronic illness: framing a research agenda for transforming care delivery.

We propose the Adaptive Leadership Framework for Chronic Illness as a novel framework for conceptualizing, studying, and providing care. This framework is an application of the Adaptive Leadership Framework developed by Heifetz and colleagues for business. Our framework views health care as a complex adaptive system and addresses the intersection at which people with chronic illness interface with the care system. We shift focus from symptoms to symptoms and the challenges they pose for patients/families. We describe how providers and patients/families might collaborate to create shared meaning of symptoms and challenges to coproduce appropriate approaches to care.

Tracking change in Northern Ireland policing: temporal phases and key themes

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore and explain the change process in Northern Ireland policing through an analysis of temporally bracketed change phases and key change delivery themes ranging from 1996 to 2012.Design/methodology/approach– The research approach adopted is process based, longitudinal and multi-method, utilising “temporal bracketing” to determine phases of change and conjunctural reasoning to unravel the systematic factors interacting over time, within the case.Findings– The paper identifies and temporally brackets four phases of change: “Tipping point”; “Implementation, Symbolic Modification and Resistance”; “Power Assisted Steering”; and “A Return to Turbulence”, identifies four themes that emerge from RUC-PSNI experience: the role of adaptive leadership; pace and sequencing of change implementation; sufficient resourcing; and the impact of external agents acting as boundary spanners, and comments on the prominence of these themes through the phases. The paper goes on to reflect upon how these phases and themes inform our understanding of organisational change within policing organisations generally and within politically pressurised transition processes.Originality/value– The contribution of the paper lies in the documentation of an almost unique organisational case in an environmentally forced change process. In this it contains lessons for other organisations facing similar, if less extreme challenges and presents an example of intense change analysed longitudinally.