Skill 2: Master our response
they don’t also make changes to their lifestyle. Constant firefighting is not a good indicator of an adaptive organisation. It highlights that we’re not tackling the underlying issues.
Trap: Being hijacked by emotions
Develop double vision
Remain resourceful and setting the thermostat
As adaptive leaders we need to practice a kind of double vision. In addition to scanning our external environment, we need to develop our ability to monitor the effectiveness of our response to it. How are our preferences, values, assumptions, loyalties, strengths and comfort zones biasing our response? Similarly, how effective is our emotional response? We obviously want to avoid panic under pressure. But complacency about the need for change can also be very damaging.
When making decisions under time pressure we need to be able to remain calm and resourceful. If we start to go into overwhelm or panic, our clarity of thought is affected. The special forces have a 3-step process for dealing with feelings of overwhelm: Breath. Observe. Make a call. Note the first step is to take a moment to compose yourself. Our emotional response as a leader sets the tone for the team. One way we can help others to respond effectively, is to be conscious of setting the ‘thermostat’ temperature to the right level of urgency to prompt productive action. Not too hot that people panic, but equally if people are complacent, we may need to up the heat. In the film of the Apollo 13 rescue, we see Flight Director Gene Kranz constantly monitoring and changing the thermostat temperature in the team around him following the explosion on board the spacecraft. Initially raising it when the team think it must be an instrumentation issue.
Two types of Adaptive Challenge
Adaptive challenges come in two types. Emergency situations that require an immediate response, and situations where we have more time to adapt. Each of these has their own traps and requires a different approach. In situations which require a rapid response, our first priority as leaders is often to figure out how to buy ourselves time. Once we’ve done so, it is critical we then follow up with a broader process of adaptation to prevent the issue arising again. Failing to do so is comparable to a patient who fails to see that cardiac surgery is only a temporary solution if
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Adaptive Leadership : Building your capacity to thrive in a disruptive environment
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