Adaptive Leadership

One of the leadership concepts discussed as part of our SCLI is “Adaptive Leadership”. The main reference for this concept is from one of our readings, Toward a More Adequate Myth: The Art of Leadership, by Sharon Daloz Parks.

The article describes the myths around leadership that pervade our Western culture: myths of the warrior, king, hero or “Lone Ranger”. Just taking some time to look around and these metaphors for leadership are emulated and played out all around us. (A certain Commander-in-Chief comes to mind.) These myths are limiting and do not give the full range of how leadership may be approached. That is one thing I’m particularly interested in as part of this Institute: what are the various ways leadership may be expressed?

Parks puts forward an alternate myth, that of leader not as hero, but as artist. She describes the creative process many artists take and then applies that process to leadership.

Adaptive leadership takes on this metaphor of leadership as artistry. Rather than pencil and paper, or clay, or music, the medium of adaptive leadership is the “dynamic field of relationships” in which the leader is engaged.

“…If one learns to understand the nature of the system that needs to be mobilized (the underlying structure and patters of motion), he or she can become artfully adept at intervening in ways that are more rather than less likely to have a positive affect in helping the group to move to a new place, creating a new reality.”

Since I first participated in Artist Way several years ago, I have been continuing my process of connecting with my artist self and discovering my own creative process.

To tap into one’s own creativity, one must be willing to work on an edge, to explore the unknown. True creativity happens when one is willing to do things outside of one’s comfort zone. This has been true for me in my development as an artist. As I have learned how to draw, I’ve had to try new things. Drawing from new angles, new subject matter, or new methods for creating the result. Do I use a soft pencil less? Or a hard pencil more to get a particular shade? It’s no means a high risk sort of situation, but it is still the process of trying new things, exploring options and testing new ideas.

By working on the edge “between the familiar and the emergent,” a leader must remain open to questions and doubt as well as taking action.

“Those who practice adaptive leadership must confront, disappoint and dismantle and at the same time energize, inspire and empower. The creativity that emerges from working on the paradoxical edge is integral to adaptive work, building out of what has come before, yet stirring into being something new and unprecedented — the character of leadership that is needed at this threshold time in human history.”

This also relates to the concept of sustainable leadership. One of the principles of sustainable leadership is to be willing to work around a certain degree of chaos.

As leaders, we need to develop the courage to create. I’ve learned that creativity takes practice. To bring out something new from things that have existed once before requires some courage and risk-taking.
Part of finding the creativity in leadership is to look to where there is conflict, “conscious conflict”, and explore ways to collectively resolve that conflict. Adaptive leaders recognize the opportunity within the conflict. A leader can learn not only to take action to resolve the conflict, but to pause to allow for new insights to develop.

In the end, an artist must be invested in the work to truly reach an inspired result. The same is true with an adaptive leader, one must be invested to bringing out to potential that lies within the group, organization or society.

Creating our future

Last week I attended the Leadership Summit put on by MCN. I enjoyed networking and reconnecting with some of my fellow SCLI participants. I also heard some good speakers and attended a couple of interesting breakout sessions. One session that was definitely a high light for me was Sustainable Leadership Principles: Creating Future & Legacy lead by Dr. Mai Moua of Leadership Paradigms.

Sustainable leadership is all the rage in the corporate world as demonstrated by Jim Collins' books Good to Great and Built to Last. But theories around sustainable leadership are beginning to make their way into the nonprofit sector.

There are seven principles for developing sustainable leadership:
1. Sustainable Leadership Matters at a Deep Level At the core of sustainable leadership is that people matter as do our values and mission. We need to be true to our values first, but do so in a way that also cares for others. Also, as part of this principle, we need to always be learning and looking for new ways to live our our values and mission.

2. Sustainable Leadership endures from one life time to another, from one leader to another
Central to this principle, especially for nonprofits, is the idea of succession planning as well as providing coaching and mentoring to new leaders. Typically, nonprofits do not do a good job planning for succession of their leaders or developing leaders from within their organizations. Any sort of succession planning tends to be informal and short term. This doesn't help to build long-term sustainability for the organization. A question many nonprofits could benefit from asking themselves, "What strategies has our organization put in place to create lasting endurance?"

3. Sustainable Leadership is distributed and depends on others
To truly be sustainable, we have to recognize that one person or a few people cannot do it all. We must engage everyone in our organization to be able to get the job done and move the organization forward. That means delegating responsibilities and trusting others will be able to do the job well.

4. Sustainable Leadership does no harm to and actively involves the surrounding environment through shared knowledge and resources
The principle is really about doing justice. We have to recognize that we are all citizens together (of our organizations, our sector, our world) and that we have a responsibility to more than just our organization, but to all.

5. Sustainable Leadership promotes diversity
We learn more from others than just from ourselves. Diversity of all kinds is valuable. When we push ourselves to be uncomfortable, even to the brink of chaos, we are then better able to innovate and develop people, ideas and actions. We need to constantly be open to new ideas.

6. Sustainable Leadership renews the energy of people and resources
If we operate holistically, we are able to accomplish more. This takes us back to the first principle that we need to care for others we are able to be more effective.

7. Sustainable Leadership builds upon the past to create a better future
We don't want to get caught up reflecting too much on the past, but there are things that we can learn from things that have (and haven't) worked in the past.

At the very root of all this is who we are as leaders and what we bring to the strategies and principles of sustainable leadership.

From what I learned about sustainable leadership at the workshop, I like the emphasis on organizational consciousness in connection with individual leadership consciousness. The important part is knowing who you are (either as an org or an individual), having a clear vision, mission and values with an awareness and authenticity. I try to practice mindfulness each day. Leadership consciousness is about being mindful of our values, how we live out our values, and how our values affect those around us. I also resonate with the principles of caring for people and resources beyond yourself or your organization and to always strive to be learning.

The idea of sustainable leadership is also important to my work at Ready 4 K. I want to do more to develop leaders of the advocates in the field so that when I one day leave my position there will continue to be strong voices for early learning in communities all around Minnesota.

photo by AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker

What's with the sandbox?

One question in your mind, dear reader, may be why I chose to title this blog "Leadership Sandbox". To answer, I'll share a bit more about the Strategic Connectors Leadership Institute (SCLI) itself.

The SCLI gathers 23 nonprofit leaders from around Minnesota for an extended leadership experience. I am so impressed by the diversity of the group: age, experience, type and size of organization, etc. More than just a conference or workshop, we gather together monthly to discuss various aspects of leadership in general and nonprofit leadership in particular. Topics for each of our sessions include:

• Strategic Communication
• Leveraging Information and Technology
• Examining Boards
• Program Development
• Shaping Organizational Culture
• Leading in the Middle
• Money and Power
• Financial Sustainability
• Community Engagement Strategies
• Working with Government
• Leadership for the Long Term

I'm excited about all these topics as well as the readings and projects related to the institute. As part of the institute I will be working on a leadership project for Ready 4 K, the organization I work for day to day. In my application to the SCLI, I wrote a bit about what I thought I'd do for a project. It's still not set in stone yet, but I plan to do some work to build up and support Ready 4 K's Grassroots Leaders Network... a loose "network" of people around Minnesota who have been Ready 4 K's strongest advocates for early care and education in their communities. I want to strengthen these advocates so that they see themselves as part of a network and identify as a group. I also want to support these individuals to be even stronger and more effective advocates (not that they aren't all truly fantastic as it is).

To help us delve more deeply into our projects and gain the most support that we can, all 23 of us have been divided into small groups. There are four others in my group and we all reflect the diversity I mentioned earlier. In true group-bonding spirit, each of the small groups was asked at our opening retreat to come up with a group name and a logo. We had 15 minutes to do this! Now, I live with someone who is a graphic designer by training and from what I've learned from his creative process is that this is no time at all.

After letting go of a mild sense of panic, our group came up with the name Sandbox for the Common Good. We thought that a sandbox was a good metaphor for how we want to approach the institute and our time together: in a sandbox you are free to create new things, try new ideas but know that nothing is permanent. A sandbox is a place for creativity and play. Our group hopes to play and create with the common good in mind. I hope you'll join us.

Step up to step back

In the past week I have completed both a two and half day retreat and a one and half day conference on leadership.
Over the next eight months I will be participating in MCN's Strategic Connectors Leadership Institute. The Institute brings together 23 other leaders in the Non-profit field to discuss, explore and grow in our leadership. The two and a half day retreat was the first time we all gathered together and the beginning of our journey.

The one and a half day conference was MCN's annual leadership conference. Over 400 people from Non-profits in Minnesota gathered at the University of Minnesota to discuss the future of leadership.

I certainly have a lot to process, think about and discuss. This is my online processing space for exploring my learning and the ideas that are being discussed. It is where I will test out new thinking... to get down and dirty, if you will. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions and feedback. The sandbox is more fun when there are others to play with.