Leader Follower
Relationship
Complex Adaptive Leadership (CAL), differently from other
leadership approaches, shows how different behaviors and strategies can be
blended for greater effectiveness. (Obolensky, 2014). At a first stage, a
leader needs to diagnose the problem/challenge in order to direct the strategy.
There are technical problems (where the solution is “known how”) and adaptive
challenges (where people are part of the problem, forced to a collective
response, when only technical solutions is not enough). (Heifetz, 2009).
Although Coutu and Kaufman (2009) show through researches
that coaches, nowadays, are hired primarily to work with executives on the
positive side of coaching (developing high-potential talent and facilitating a
transition in or up), which I believe is great for the continuous progress, I
also believe that a coach on the diagnosis process would play a crucial role,
in most of the organizations, especially those where a leader is directly
involved on the challenge, and might miss the chance of being more often “on
the balcony” seeing the big picture, the important fine points, and keep the goal
at the center.
After
identifying the depth of the challenge, through a meticulous critical thinking
evaluating all the 8+ elements (Nosich, 2012, p. 48), a leader needs to define
the strategies to be used to deal with it. Obolensky (2014) says that there are
mainly four strategies (telling, selling, involving and devolving), but the
most important strategy is being able to shift around the strategies
effortlessly and constantly, according to the needs, and allowing flexibility
on the decision made throughout the entire process.
Analyzing
the strategy I tend to apply (in a scenario with a high killed and motivated
team), I found that I would rather be involving when challenges arise than
using other strategies. It would depend on the occasion, but most of the times
I would allow others to discover the solution, when time is not pressing and
there is a good opportunity to educate and develop people’s knowledge and
skills further (Obolensky, 2014). This matches with the main passion I have
(training and teaching) so I believe the questionnaire results were accurate.
I
think my perspective changed throughout the past six weeks, mainly when related
to devolve strategy, where a follower has high skill and will, and is already
living in the fifth level of followership. Although I ask for opinions and
suggestions, I usually do not encourage shared opinions while making more
difficult decisions. I rather talk to another formal leader asking for advices
and showing my point of views, and then gather the team for direction and guidance.
Heifetz (2009) says that people are part of an adaptive challenge, and as so
they need to be a direct part of the solution, for embracement and ownership,
as a collective decision. I still struggle to apply the art of inaction (“wu
wei”) when any challenge arises, and this trait is shown on the results of the
questionnaire as well (the second most scored strategy: “telling”).
Although
I do not know the source of my behaviors (if is the nature of my job or my
personal nature), I believe that telling is a rooted trait, and comes from the
desire to educate and develop people of the involving strategy. The issue is
that telling is not necessarily the best way to do so, even though it is the
traditional way. So this is a perspective changing as well.
So
far, the main theoretical learning point of the course, is the importance of
having the ability to step back when a challenging situation arise. As I like
control and I am very active per nature, I intend to step over and act. For the
future, I want to put this learning in practice, not only for technical
problems as I already do, but for challenging ones. In my current job, I find
it hard as I do not have time to know my “subordinates” well enough, and I do
not have time to build a collective and adaptive culture (Heifetz et al., 2009)
due to job nature. I strongly believe that building this type of culture is
crucial for the effectiveness of any other strategy used in challenging
situations. In my opinion, if the adaptive culture is not built, it will
affect, sooner or later, the flow of the changing process, if the goal is
achieving a collective adaptability.
On
the collective subject matter, Hill (2014) presented examples of her researched
made along the years, stating that visionary
leaders understand the importance of collaborative problem solving, they know
how to do discovery-driven learning and they know how to do integrated decision
making, nurturing the bottom-up and not let it degenerate into chaos. A leader must
set direction and make sure that no one deviated from it, while aggregating viewpoints
and creating the space where people are willing and able to share and combine
their talents and passions.
Going
away from a traditional view of leadership, contemporary and visionary leaders should
stop giving answers and providing solutions. Instead, leaders should see the
people at the bottom of the pyramid, the young sparks, the people who are
closest to the customers, as the source of innovation (Hill, 2014). The role as
leaders is to set the stage, not perform on it, creating the space where
everybody's slices of genius can be unleashed and harnessed, and turned into
works of collective genius.
In
my case , I find it hard to change a culture in a team, when the organization
keeps reminding through actions the strong authority, and how it plays in the
system in order to get what expected. Punishments, cut-offs, favoritism, so
forth, go against the idea of CAL if applied to extract behavior from
employees. Changing policies and procedures, improving structure, enhancing
technology and many other fixing solutions will not solve an adaptive
challenge. They are all a response for technical problems, which will not last
(Heifetz, 2009) and will not change the mentality of the organization as a
whole.
As
I cannot change the organizational culture only in small operational team, it
makes hard for me to apply any adaptive strategy, but this teaches me another
lesson: the best way to apply CAL is to have all its traits applied from the
beginning, still when the organization is just an embryonic project.
References
Coutu, D.,
& Kauffman, C. (2009). What can Coaches Do for
You?. Harvard Business Review,87(1),91-97.
Heifetz, R. (2009). The
nature of adaptive leadership. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfLLDvn0pI8&feature=youtube,
on October 21, 2018.
Hill, L. (2014). How to
manage fro collective creativity. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/linda_hill_how_to_manage_for_collective_creativity/transcript,
on October 24, 2018.
Nosich,
G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical
thinking across the curriculum (4th edition). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing
Paradox and Uncertainty (2nd edition). New York, NY: Routledge.
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