{"id":31460,"date":"2023-03-01T13:23:51","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T21:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31460"},"modified":"2023-03-01T13:23:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T21:23:51","slug":"the-textbook-on-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-textbook-on-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"The Textbook On Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I cannot remember the podcast\u2019s name, but I do remember the statement: \u201cYour church is perfectly designed to achieve its current results.\u201d Ouch. Whoever said that piercing comment to church leaders got that idea from a trio of leadership consultants named Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky. Classified under general management, this leadership book serves as a textbook on the dynamics of leading change amidst uncertain challenges. Adaptive leadership is the author\u2019s term for the kind of leadership that successfully navigates the intricacies or ambiguities of an organization\u2019s most challenging issues. Technical challenges get solved with known solutions. Adaptive challenges require learning, experimentation, and courageous action. Why is courage a requirement? \u201cExercising adaptive leadership is dangerous.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>Challenging the status quo is bound to unsettle some who like the way things already are.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The authors define adaptive leadership at a high level as \u201cmaking progress on the most important challenges you face.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> Adaptive serves as an adjective, describing a particular approach when solutions are not evident. Corporately, adaptive leadership is \u201cthe practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> The authors combine leadership theory with evolutionary biology principles. The specific analogies from other fields to adaptive leadership include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adaptation is the kind of change that enables the capacity to thrive.<\/li>\n<li>Adaptation builds on the past rather than jettisoning it.<\/li>\n<li>Organizational adaptation occurs through experimentation.<\/li>\n<li>Adaptation relies on diversity.<\/li>\n<li>New adaptations significantly displace, reregulate, and rearrange some old DNA.<\/li>\n<li>Adaptation takes time.<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Adaptive challenges do not present a clear direction forward, requiring consideration of diverse interests and people groups to produce a beneficial outcome for all. The book\u2019s structure contains five sections. Part one helps with defining challenges faced when adaptive leadership gets enacted. Part two details the diagnosis of a leader\u2019s environment, the people in it, and the leader\u2019s role in leading adaptive change. Part three contains critical elements of the process once adaptive change begins. Part four helps a leader to understand one\u2019s role between diagnosis, action, and vital elements of the change. Finally, part five assesses an organization\u2019s system and ways a leader can grow using adaptive leadership.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">This book was quoted nine times in Tod Bolsinger\u2019s <em>Tempered Resilience<\/em>. Bolsinger also used this book\u2019s analogy of the \u201cbalcony\u201d and the \u201cpractice field\u201d to cast the vision for utilizing diagnosis and action in equal amounts. In contrast to some characterizations of strong leadership as quick and decisive decision-making, Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky argue for leadership decisions that take the time to understand the nature of the issue faced before making a decision. The caution against deciding and acting too quickly reminded me of Kahneman\u2019s appeal to utilize System 2 thinking, which does not act on heuristics but takes time to engage in deeper thinking and reflection.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">It would be impossible to relate a comprehensive summary of this dense book. Instead, I will focus on one concept that relates to a ministry context, especially the local church. Let me return to the podcast statement above. This book states, \u201cThere is no such thing as a dysfunctional organization because every organization is perfectly aligned to achieve the results it currently gets.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a> In America, church attendance continues to decline. Some have found new avenues to practice their Christian faith, while others have disconnected from organized faith altogether. Some of the reasons for the current trend I heard expressed in pastor\u2019s gatherings focused on external causes. \u201cPeople are just not as committed as they used to be.\u201d \u201cPostmodernism is wreaking havoc on the youth.\u201d \u201cParents are not doing their part to disciple their kids.\u201d A significant takeaway from this book points the finger at leaders for the responsibility and the current status of their organization.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The authors offer a starting point for changing an organization with a model of \u201cobserve, interpret, intervene.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a> When people ask for action, a wise leader might be better served by collecting data to understand the issue. Each step contains its level of challenge. \u201cInterpretating is more challenging than observing.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a> Interpreting is a skill gained through practice and provides a crucial step before taking an action step. I fear that the church in America observes sweeping changes as only threats, not opportunities, and interprets the current time as a call to stay the course informed by past successes. Political extremes, the advent of a digital age, changing attitudes toward organizational faith, and the like all present constant change as an ongoing reality. Tom Holland in <em>Dominion <\/em>demonstrated how the church, through its two-thousand-year history, adapted to cultural changes that unfolded more slowly, than today.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A common myth about change states that people do not like change. Heifetz counters that argument by saying \u201cpeople do not resist change per se, but changes that accompany loss or potential losses.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn8\" name=\"_ftnref8\">[8]<\/a> What is a leader to do? \u201cTo mobilize stakeholders to engage with your change initiative, you have to identify their strongest values and think about how supporting your program would enable your stakeholders to serve those values.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn9\" name=\"_ftnref9\">[9]<\/a> I have served two churches as Lead Pastor. Each time, I led significant changes. Each time, the price paid was high. How I wish I had the insight and direction from this book. I could have benefited by helping more people to embrace change with the insights found in this week\u2019s reading. This book will occupy a prominent and accessible place on my shelf as I envision its value in future seasons of leading change that benefits all, not just me. After all, \u201cExercising adaptive leadership is at its heart about giving meaning to your life beyond your own ambition.\u201d<a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftn10\" name=\"_ftnref10\">[10]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky, <em>The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World <\/em>(Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2009), 26.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Ibid., 3.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Ibid., 14.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Ibid., 14-16.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> Ibid., 17.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> Ibid., 32.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> Ibid., 33.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref8\" name=\"_ftn8\">[8]<\/a> Ronald Heifetz, \u201cAdaptive Leadership in 12 Minutes,\u201d <em>How to Dialogue <\/em>2022, accessed February 28, 2023, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9kVxxfknua4<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref9\" name=\"_ftn9\">[9]<\/a> Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky, <em>The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, <\/em>92.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/\/E8DA435C-424B-408E-B819-A8FE5E32517A#_ftnref10\" name=\"_ftn10\">[10]<\/a> Ibid., 224.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I cannot remember the podcast\u2019s name, but I do remember the statement: \u201cYour church is perfectly designed to achieve its current results.\u201d Ouch. Whoever said that piercing comment to church leaders got that idea from a trio of leadership consultants named Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky. Classified under general management, this leadership [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"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":[2654],"class_list":["post-31460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-heifetz","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31460","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\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31461,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31460\/revisions\/31461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}