{"id":29065,"date":"2022-10-13T05:46:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T12:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29065"},"modified":"2022-10-13T05:46:56","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T12:46:56","slug":"diagnosing-leaders-atychiphobia-heresyphobia-and-tropophobia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/diagnosing-leaders-atychiphobia-heresyphobia-and-tropophobia\/","title":{"rendered":"Diagnosing Leaders’ Atychiphobia, Heresyphobia, and Tropophobia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atychiphobia is the fear of failure. Heresyphobia is the fear of challenges. And tropophobia is the fear of change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do leaders have the emotional intelligence to recognize their proclivity towards these phobias? If not, can they step back to measure if they avoid activities, opportunities, and people that might create an unsuccessful outcome or their tendency to resist deviating from things that might result in radical shifts and changes? In turn, what opportunities for formation and maturation are critically bypassed?<\/span><\/p>\n

In Tod Bolsinger\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change<\/span><\/em>, the senior congregational strategist and associate professor of leadership formation, challenges readers to embrace challenges and difficult moments to better their ability to lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership, therefore, is always about the transformation and growth of a people\u2014starting with the leader-to developing the resilience and adaptive capacity to wisely cut through resistance and accomplish the mission of the group,\u201d argued Bolsinger.<\/span>\u00a0[1]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Bolsinger uses the metaphor of a blacksmith to illustrate a leader\u2019s capacity to be strengthened and developed through a craftsman’s forming, heating, pounding, and shaping. Finally, leaders are urged to embrace the moment of crisis, contending that leadership is forged under challenging experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAdaptive change only occurs when the work is \u2018given back to the people,\u2019\u201d stated Bolsinger.<\/span>\u00a0[2]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0In many ways,\u00a0<\/span>Tempered Resilience<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is a congregational and spiritualized translation of Ronald Heifetz\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Adaptive Leadership<\/span><\/em>. In fact, Bolsinger\u2019s follow-up to\u00a0<\/span>Canoeing the\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Mountain includes numerous citations from old Ronald.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heifetz urges leaders to hone their natural impulses in responding to challenges and change. Actually, acknowledging and working through conflict is challenging. \u201cThat\u2019s why most organizations respond to conflict, or potential conflict, in other ways that are simpler, but not effective, such as do nothing, react by flight or fight, or look to authority to resolve,\u201d argued Heifetz.<\/span>[3]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Bolsinger argues that resilience requires creativity and innovation to find an adaptive solution amid an intractable problem without violating our core beliefs and mission. As Heifetz adds, \u201cEveryone has a particular capacity for tolerating conflict. Some people are comfortable working through conflict, while most avoid it entirely or try to get through it as quickly as possible. But surfacing the relevant conflicts is essential when an organization is falling short of its aspirations.\u201d<\/span>[4]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

So what? How do leaders become emotionally prepared to face challenges, knowing that, as the scriptures argue, it is a joy to face trials of many kinds because you develop perseverance and maturation (James 1:2-4)?<\/span><\/p>\n

In turn, are leaders avoiding conflict, challenging ideas, and creatively new practices resisting healthy change and innovation? For congregational leaders, could it be that avoiding the crucible of change actually be an act of unfaithfulness to the new thing God is doing?<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m reminded of Acts 16, where Paul and his companions had been sent off by the discerning vote of the Apostles to encourage the churches he had already established. Except God would not allow them to move forward. That night, Paul received a vision of a man from Macedonia begging him to come to his people. Unexpected change and faithfulness to face new challenges brought about the expansion of the church into Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAdaptive leadership is not finding a new inspiring vision but reframing an original or enduring vision of the organization that allows everyone to see a new, compelling future for their beloved organization that is worth sacrifice and commitment,\u201d encouraged Bolsinger.<\/span>\u00a0[5]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Tod E. Bolsinger.\u00a0<\/span>Tempered Resilience: How Leaders Are Formed in the Crucible of Change<\/span><\/em>. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2020), 4.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/span><\/a>Ibid, 56.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Heifetz, Ronald A., et al.\u00a0<\/span>The Practice of Adaptive Leadership<\/span><\/em>. (Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2009), 150.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Ibid, Heifetz, 150.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Ibid, Bolsinger, 174.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atychiphobia is the fear of failure. Heresyphobia is the fear of challenges. And tropophobia is the fear of change. Do leaders have the emotional intelligence to recognize their proclivity towards these phobias? If not, can they step back to measure if they avoid activities, opportunities, and people that might create an unsuccessful outcome or their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2260,346,2391,1579,2390,2388,2389],"class_list":["post-29065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adaptive-leadership","tag-change","tag-conflict","tag-innovation","tag-ronald-heifetz","tag-tempered-resilience","tag-tod-bolsinger","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29066,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29065\/revisions\/29066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}