ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP AND
CHANGE
YOUTHBUILD USA NATIONAL RURAL
GATHERING
SUPPORTING COMMUNITY ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT IN THE RURAL CLUSTER
OCTOBER 14, 2008
“BALL OF CONFUSION” in 1970
1970 song by the Temptations
Without taking an explicit position on any
particular issue, the song provided a
snapshot of critical issues and human
concerns as we emerged from the turmoil of
1960's
“BALL OF CONFUSION” 38
years later...
Billions (trillions?) of dollars spent
Innumerable hours of paid and volunteer
service
Changes in public policy to address
technical challenges of poverty, education,
violence, substance abuse, etc.
Accomplishments yes.
And the band played on...
What of the critical issues and community
concerns from the song have been solved to
the point where they no longer consume our
attention?
What is at the root of our inability to
successfully meet the challenges identified in
the song?
SO WHAT DOES
ALL THIS HAVE TO
DO WITH
YOUTHBUILD?
USDA RCDI OUTCOMES
Recipients will create five-year plans
The creation of new community-wide economic
development activities will be achieved in five
rural communities
Recipients will each create three new private
sector partnerships for new job placement
opportunities in their communities
USDA RCDI OUTCOMES
Recipients will each create five new partnerships
for new job training opportunities in their
communities
Recipients will each create two new partnerships
for post-secondary education opportunities at
community or technical colleges, state colleges, or
universities
There will be a 50% overall increase in job
placements among Recipients’ graduates
USDA RCDI OUTCOMES
There will be a 25% overall increase in post-
secondary placements among Recipients’
graduates
The creation and tracking of individual career and
income growth plans for every young adult
participating in Recipient YouthBuild programs will
be accomplished
Technical Change v. Adaptive
Change
TECHNICAL ADAPTIVE
CHANGE CHANGE
Addressing technical It requires leadership that
problems that can be mobilizes people's capacity
defined clearly and for to sift through and hold on
which solutions exist; it may to what's essential from
be a difficult fix, but we their past and discard what
know what to do or can find is no longer useful in order
an expert who does. to take advantage of new
Technical problems can be opportunities identified
managed and usually fall to through the reflective
some one with the authority process and the
to address them. environment.
KEY CONCEPT: Resistance to
change
Dr. Ronald Heifetz explains
"resistance to change" as a
function of the possibility of loss,
fear of letting go of something
that is valued. That which is
valued is not always positive.
JUST SOMETHING TO
CONSIDER...
YOUTHBUILD STAFF,
PROGRAM ADVISORS AND
CONSULTANTS ARE NOT
IMMUNE TO THE RESISTANCE
OF CHANGE!
SMALL GROUP EXERCISE
Gather into groups of 3-4 people and
brainstorm answers to the following
questions. Be prepared to share your
answers with the larger group.
What internal challenges or transitions are your
Youthbuild programs being affected by?
What external challenges or transitions are your
Youthbuild programs being affected by?
COMMON ELEMENTS OF
ADAPTIVE CHANGE
There is a gap between aspirations and reality.
Progress requires responses outside the
organization's standard repertoire.
Narrowing that gap will require difficult
learning.
Part of the learning will require distinguishing,
among all that is valued, what is essential to be
carried forward and what is expendable, which
will involve loss.
COMMON ELEMENTS OF
ADAPTIVE CHANGE
The losses often involve learning to refashion
loyalties and develop new competencies.
Painful choices must be made between
competing loyalties and values.
The people with the problem are the problem,
and they are the solution. Problem-solving
responsibility must shift from authoritative
experts to the stakeholders.
Adaptive work requires a longer time frame
than technical work.
COMMON ELEMENTS OF
ADAPTIVE CHANGE
Adaptive work involves experimentation.
Adaptive challenges generate disequilibrium,
resistance and work avoidance.
BASIC TOOLKIT OF LEADING
ADAPTIVE CHANGE
Get off the dance floor and onto the balcony
Think politically
Orchestrate conflict
Give the work back
Hold steady
Taken from Leading with an Open Heart, by
Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky
CHALLENGES OF ADAPTIVE
LEADERSHIP
Get off the dance floor and onto the balcony. Leadership is
improvisational. It cannot be scripted. On one hand, to be effective a
leader must respond in the moment to what is happening. On the other
hand the leader must be able to step back out of the moment and assess
what is happening from a wider perspective. We call it getting off the
dance floor and onto the balcony. It may be an original metaphor, but it's
not an original idea. For centuries religious traditions have taught
disciplines that enable a person to reflect in action. Jesuits call it
contemplation in action. Hindus call it Karma Yoga, the yoga of action. We
call it getting onto the balcony because that's a metaphor people can
easily relate to. But it's critically important, and the reason why religious
traditions have talked about it for so long is that it's hard to do. You don't
need a major spiritual practice for something that's easy to do. It's hard, in
the midst of action, to step back and ask yourself: What's really going on
here? Who are the key parties to this problem? What are the stakes they
bring to this issue? How will progress require us all to reevaluate our
stakes and change some of our ways?
CHALLENGES OF ADAPTIVE
LEADERSHIP
Think politically. Successful leaders in any field place an
enormous emphasis on personal relationships. They spend a
great deal of time and effort creating and nurturing networks
of people they can call on, learn from, and work with to
address the issues they face. They know that leadership is
political -- it's about motivating and mobilizing people to
change. So, thinking politically is absolutely critical, not only
for the person trying to lead from below or from the middle but
also for those trying to lead from authority on high. Leaders
need to work hard on creating allies, keeping close to the
opposition, and finding ways to generate commitment from
the uncommitted.
CHALLENGES OF ADAPTIVE
LEADERSHIP
Orchestrate conflict . People don't learn by staring in
the mirror. People learn by engaging with a different
point of view. When people are passionate about their
different points of view, it generates conflict rather than
simply disagreement. Successful leaders manage
conflict; they don't shy away from it or suppress it but see
it as an engine of creativity and innovation. Some of the
most creative ideas come out of people in conflict
remaining in conversation with one another rather than
flying into their own corners or staking out entrenched
positions. The challenge for leaders is to develop
structures and processes in which such conflicts can be
orchestrated productively.
CHALLENGES OF ADAPTIVE
LEADERSHIP
Give the work back. To meet significant challenges
requiring adaptive change, people must change their
hearts and minds as well as their behaviors. Leaders
cannot do this for others. This is their work, and they
must do it themselves. Holding people accountable for
this work is not easy to do, especially when people
are looking to authority for easy answers or when
people are in effect asking the authority figure to lie to
them by projecting more certainty than she has.
Leaders who attempt to step in and take this work off
the shoulders of followers risk becoming the issue
themselves.
CHALLENGES OF ADAPTIVE
LEADERSHIP
Hold steady. Confronting major change generates a great
deal of conflict and resistance. Managing the conflict, dealing
with the politics involved, and making people accountable
requires an ability to hold steady in the heat of action.
Leaders often need to refrain from immediate action and
understand that the stew of conflicting views has to simmer,
allowing conflicts to generate new experiments and new
creative ideas. The leader's job is to contain conflict -- prevent
the disequilibrium from going too high and the conflict from
getting destructive -- and simultaneously to keep people
addressing the hard questions without opting for a technical
fix, an easy solution, or a decision from on high. In doing so,
in holding steady, the leader will be the recipient of
considerable frustration and even anger.
A selection of resources
Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive
through the Dangers of Leading, Ronald
Heifetz and Marty Linsky
The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge
Make Success Measurable! A Mindbook-
Workbook for Setting Goals and Taking
Action, Douglas K. Smith
Process Consulting Revisited: Building the
Helping Relationship, Edgar Schein
