The adaptive leadership style
Why being adaptive is key in leadership…
First and foremost, we live in a fast-evolving world, where challenges and opportunities often
emerge from unexpected sources.
The top-down model, hierarchical organizations and unchanged solutions might not be
enough anymore.
There is an unconscious or conscious need for leaders that could guide organizations,
businesses and their teams through changes, that could implement systemic transformations
while focusing on learning and growing. This type of leader is what is needed in the world of
adaptive leadership.
What does it mean to be adaptive in leadership…
I like to take Nature as an example of being adaptive: Nature holds at its core this force to
grow, to evolve no matter what. We can see sometimes very unexpected and unusual natural
things (trees with branches making a 90° turn, plants growing on concrete, water rearranging
the shape of cliffs or pebbles, spider building their web in the most unexpected place…).
Nature finds a way.
In leadership, leaders take the challenge to implement a vision in their organizations and this
require a set of skills among knowledge, constant learning and refining, holding the
emotional aspects of changes for their teams, keeping and adjusting a strong mindset,
dealing with unfamiliar and new problems etc… all this while taking care of their own
humanness, emotions, nervous system, mindset and growth.
As I always say to my clients, technical issues can be solved, solutions will be found. As for
the team members, a different set of competences is required. Leaders will need to help
individuals and groups adjust their mindsets, behaviors, and expectations to confront
complex, unfamiliar problems, to help them navigate their emotions and fears.
Adaptive leaders know that and will constantly be challenged at experimenting, improvising
and rethinking the models.
Indeed, technologies are developing fast, people change more often positions in their career,
the expectations are high and taking responsibility might not be understood by everyone yet.
Challenges are tougher and in order to thrive, mobilizing the right people to tackle them is
key, whether it’s within the team or among the leaders.
The 4 pillars of the adaptive leadership style
Those 4 pillars compose the essence of the modality I built to orient leaders on their journey;
they are the foundation required to navigate the adaptive leadership:
Self-Leading: it’s about knowing how to navigate uncertainty, create and hold the
momentum, lead with agility, maintain the bold vision even in challenging times,
accept the lessons from success and failure, pivot, refine, use the creation force
Leading Others: refers to building strong effective teams and lead leaders, moving
together toward the vision, thriving, bringing autonomy and willingness to work
together, setting standards, elevating frequency, creating a ripple effect, setting the
right mindset, communicating effectively
E-Mastery: concerns the processing and mastering of emotions, embodiment,
envision, excellence, expansion, evolution, expression of self-mastery, energetics,
enrichment, exploration
Soul Care: brings the balance between personal well-being and professional
demands, in both cases with sustainable high standards for a long-lasting journey of
fulfillment
This 4-pillar method allows leaders to focus on what is needed on their journey of adaptation.
Challenges they may face demand innovation (see my article on the topic of innovation),
clear values, firm boundaries, and strong emotional regulation—both of their own and that of
their team, including other leaders. It’s also about setting standards for autonomy, teamwork,
responsibility, and full team involvement, so they don’t end up taking on everything
themselves. There is a constant curve of learning and refining. Guiding and holding the
vision and the people require different skills than executing tasks directly.
One of the key points of changes is that they may bring discomfort and perhaps insecurity,
sometimes anxiety of not knowing what’s coming.
The example I often give to my clients: when you climb a staircase, there is one foot solid on
the stair step and the other one in the air until it reaches the next stair step. The foot in the air
represents momentary discomfort but if we don’t go through it, we would standstill all the
time.
The equilibrium between moving toward the vision feeling discomfort, facing the emotional
distress that accompanies transformation, and innovation is something adaptive leaders
learn to master while leading. Learning while doing it is another pattern of the adaptive
leadership style.
The mindset here is to focus on solutions, not obstacles. There will always be reasons to
hesitate, to hold back or to avoid taking the next step. The journey of leadership might often
feel like a series of leaps of faith, and, in a way, faith is essential.
Adaptive leadership stresses the importance of empowering the team to take full ownership
of the challenges and the implementation of the pivotal solutions. This presupposes an
environment in which individuals and teams are encouraged to experiment, learn from
failures, and develop new capacities. Leaders open space for dialogues and diverse
viewpoints where they don’t feel their authority is questioned. A transparent and trustworthy
environment like this attracts resilient and committed individuals.
Conclusion
Adaptive leadership is essential for guiding organizations through complex and uncertain
times. By focusing on learning, collaboration, and the emotional dynamics of change,
adaptive leaders can help groups and other leaders confront challenges and emerge
stronger. The key is to create the conditions for others to discover new ways of thinking and
acting.
As the pace of change accelerates in today’s world, the need for adaptive leadership will only
continue to grow. Whether in their own business as CEO or in the businesses they work for,
leaders who can manage resilience, adaptability, shared purpose will be essential to
navigating the challenges of the future.
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