This blog is about my journey through a text called ‘The Practice of Adaptive Leadership’, (Heifetz, Grashow, Linsky, 2009).
The key here seems to be understanding where your values and or perspectives are shared with others in relation to the challenge at hand. Simply because this creates a faction and factions are needed to lead adaptive change. It is incredibly challenging to lead adaptive change on your own. Not least as you don’t have the extended networks of relationships and allegiances that a faction does.
Within any group or faction you will have an assigned role(s) for which you are recognised. The more roles you can play the more effective you will be as they give you a wider repertoire to draw from in different situations, making you less predictable and readily pigeonholed. Plus the more roles you play, the more factions you will be connected to.
The main point here is to give yourself permission to play different roles to lead effectively from different places in different contexts. To play roles such as a parent may mean putting your heart and soul into that role; however it doesn’t mean that role defines you alone. It’s what you are doing at a particular moment in time and doesn’t permanently define you. This is important as we must understand that if playing a particular role doesn’t work it’s not you who did not work – it is simply your performance within that role. This can help you feel less vulnerable and not take things as personally if your performance in that role does not work out in that moment or over time. Taking things personally and turning your attention inwards taking your eye off the problem at hand.
Separating self from the role you need to do allows you greater emotional strength to ignore personal attacks which can be expressly to divert you. A great tactic for this type of manipulative approach from others might be to say “I’m sure I could be a better person. Let’s get back to the issue before us.” Consider also that undue praise is just as powerful diversion as a powerful attack.
Heifetz and Linsky also point out that a progression to idealisation is problematic – hard to resist and a sure sign somebody is displacing responsibility squarely onto your shoulders. As Heifetz and Linsky go on to point out, “Adaptive leadership generates capacity not dependency.”
This blog is about my journey through a text called ‘The Practice of Adaptive Leadership’, (Heifetz, Grashow, Linsky, 2009). This is the seminal text in the Leaders Institute of SA’s flagship program the Governor’s Leadership Foundation (GLF). As Director of Programs my role is to develop programs and evolve the GLF to meet our mission of creating wiser leaders.’
WISER LEADERS 