ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP Empowered Leadership Workshops 2013

Adaptive Challenges  Leading the Church in rapidly changing times  Shifting Church culture to stay relevant  Facing adaptive challenges and practicing adaptive leadership  Three to focus on today:  Generational Challenges  Economic Challenges  Engagement Challenges

Defining Adaptive Leadership  Adaptive leadership is the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive and has three characteristics:  Preserves essential DNA  Discards the DNA that no longer serves  Creates DNA arrangements for the ability to flourish All this takes time and can build adaptive capacity in the congregation.

Leadership vs. Authority  Authority relationships: power entrusted for service  Leadership challenges some expectations and creates an environment where the system can adapt.

Leadership & Authority Tasks TaskAuthorityLeadership DirectionProvide problem definition and solution Identify the adaptive challenges and frame the key questions ProtectionProtect from external threats Disclose external threats OrderOrient people to current roles Restore order Maintain norms Disorient current roles; resist orienting people to new roles too quickly Expose conflict or let it emerge Challenge norms or let them be challenged

Adaptive Leadership Process observeinterpretintervene

Resistance  Equilibrium Strength – people like things the way they are  Known is more acceptable than the unknown  External and internal forces, values, narratives at work in the system

Living in Disequilibrium  Manage yourself  Help people tolerate the discomfort  Keep everyone in the productive zone of disequilibrium Productive Zone Tolerance limit Threshold of change

Influencing Change MotivationAbility PersonalMake the undesirable desirable Surpass your limits SocialHarness peer pressureFind strength in numbers StructuralDesign rewards and demand accountability Change the environment

Will plus Skill  Courage requires all: heart, mind, spirit, guts  Skill requires competencies  Connect with values, anxieties and beliefs of those you are serving  Connect to larger purpose

Work Collaboratively  Gather a network of support and feedback  Adaptive change takes time and ripples through the system  Discern vital behavioral changes and DNA changes with others  Create a climate for imagination and experimentation  Work toward gathering critical mass of support