Organizations

Individuals

At an organizational level…

Adaptive Leadership™ is for any company or group that seeks to achieve its most cherished goals and realize its mission more quickly. Frequently, these are organizations whose change initiatives have stalled and that want to create a culture that is more adaptive and better able to deal with the difficult issues of change more openly and effectively. Sometimes, these are organizations that are doing well, but their top management sees a rapidly-changing external environment ahead that will require great organizational adaptive capacity.

Does this describe your organization?

• The tough questions don't get asked; they are the elephants in the room at meetings. Everyone knows they're there. No one dares to mention them.
• The important issues get discussed inside peoples' heads or in private, whispered conversations…at the water cooler, in the lavatory, in twosomes and threesomes.
• Those who try to lead change often find themselves out on the proverbial limb, marginalized, in professional jeopardy, and subject to personal attacks for their risk-taking.
• Personal turfdoms are zealously guarded against encroachment, while collaborative efforts are undermined or simply stall out for lack of unified support.
• Established ways of doing things have become sanctified into an immutable culture.

This describes a non-adaptive organization…and most organizations are non-adaptive because resistance to change is normal. At an organizational as well as a personal level, no one wants to give up familiar, safe, perhaps long held and cherished beliefs or behaviors.

Our goal is to create an adaptive organization, where sensitive issues can be brought out in the open safely, and thoughtful risk-taking is encouraged, protected and celebrated. Adaptive organizations have done the tough work of distinguishing what's essential in their culture from what is expendable, developing an adaptability that enables the organization to thrive and carry the best from its history into the future. In an adaptive organization, people in senior authority roles share responsibility for the organization as a whole, and there is a connection to shared values that promotes forward movement for both the organization and the people who are part of it.

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At a personal level…

Adaptive Leadership™ is for individuals who want to

• Jumpstart stalled initiatives;
• Introduce and manage change more skillfully;
• Work through deep value conflicts within an organization;
• Unstick dysfunctional and uncommunicative senior management teams; and
• Increase their personal tolerance for withstanding the chaos and conflict that inevitably accompany systemic change.

Although senior managers are most likely to be involved in CLA programs and trainings, Adaptive Leadership™ is for anyone concerned with bringing about meaningful change within an organization and thwarted in the effort to do so. Participants in CLA programs may be corporate executives or civic activists, politicians or senior government officials, or simply members of the general public. In short, Adaptive Leadership™ is for anyone facing the challenges of leadership and seeking new leadership skills.

Are you

• Attempting to change your organization in ways that require new thinking and behaviors from team members and employees?
• Facing internal resistance while implementing new strategies?
• Experiencing difficulty in building coherent leadership practices from the top team members down?
• Wrestling with deep value conflicts at the core of your organization or community?
• Facing uncertainty about personal approaches and styles in exercising leadership within the organization?

There is also a very personal side to the exercise of leadership that Adaptive Leadership™ addresses. Are you asking yourself questions like these?

• Why is stimulating change so difficult, professionally and personally?
• How can I be most successful? What do I need to know to reduce the risks to me personally?
• How do I keep myself going when the going gets tough?

If so, Adaptive Leadership™ is for you.

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