Changing Campus: Adaptive Leadership

Dr Tanveer AhmedPsychiatrist and Author

Changing World

more interdependent

challenge to innovate

difficult to know what to keep from the past

defining purpose paramount

Connect to Purpose

articulate your deepest values

exercise leadership for something you care about

the change may need to occur elsewhere

Adaptive Problems

more and more problems are adaptive

most of us more used to technical problems

adaptive leadership is more about marshalling stakeholders

Some Adaptive Characteristics

change that enables capacity to thrive

build on past rather than jettison the past

experimentation

diversity- nature is like a fund manager!!

new adaptations displace, rearrange

time

Leadership, Authority, Management

leadership as a verb

“Some leaders cannot manage...some managers cannot lead.”

there is an overlap eg project, delegation, organisational change

“You cannot manage men into battle. You manage things; you lead people.” General Shwarzkopf (US Army)

“Underperforming organisation are usually overmanaged and under led.” Jack Welch, CEO General Electric

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker

Diagnose the System

You are a system too!!

Collect Data

Don’t Leap Into Decision Making

What is the Status Quo?

Structural Norms

Default Interpretations ( Reframe Truths as Assumptions)

Diagnose Adaptive Challenge

dependence on authority

competing committments

speak the unspeakable

work avoidance

Political Landscape

Identify Stakeholders

Loyalties

Values

Losses at Risk(Identity, Security, Reputation etc)

Hidden Alliances

Qualities of Adaptive Worlplaces

elephants in the room are named

responsibility is shared

independent judgement is expected

leadership capacity is developed

reflection and continuous learning are institutionalised

Making Interpretations

technical to adaptive

benign to conflictual

individual to systemic

Your Own System

identify loyalties- colleagues, community and ancestors

prioritise loyalties

Know Your Tuning

know your triggers

hungers and carrying water:

eg power and authority, affirmation and importance, intimacy and delight

Broaden BandWidth

your repertoire of technique

must teach old dog new tricks

understand your roles- parent, manager, friend, teacher

?role conflict

identify your scope of authority

Articulate Purpose

prioritise purpose

story you tell yourself

keep purpose alive- physical reminders, rituals,

integrate ambitions and aspirations

Avoid Common Traps

going blind and deaf

becoming a martyr

appearing self righteous

being self appointed chief purpose officer “Sometimes a cigar is a cigar” Freud

Engage Courageously

get past the past

watch for gaps between words and action

stay in the present

identify loyalties you need to refashion

conduct needed expectations

create rituals for refashioning ancestor loyalties

fo

What Makes A Tough Decision?

close call

known vs unknown

doing the right thing would incur significant losses

several of your values are in conflict

Thrive

grow your personal support network

find confidants

satisfy hungers outside work

anchor yourself in multiple communities

create sanctuaries

renew yourself

Take Away

We are all leaders and exercise it in many facets of our lives

Change is the constant of our times

Don’t have too rigid a view of yourself

Connect to purpose and integrate it with your work and life