Adaptive leadership is a practice.
Adaptive Leadership® challenges the widespread idea that leadership is a personality trait and describes it instead as a practice that can be learned, a muscle that can be trained.
Adaptive Leadership allows you to:
ANALIZE
It provides tools to map the status quo, identify default behaviors, and the gaps between reality and aspirations.
INTERVENE
It enables effective interventions in the system to navigate complex scenarios with greater awareness.
MOBILIZE
It helps engage stakeholders to overcome their resistance to the losses imposed by change.
The Adaptive Leadership® model is based on the work of Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, professors at the Harvard Kennedy School.
In describing the practice of leadership, Heifetz and Linsky drew inspiration from Darwinian theory of biological evolution, in which adaptation to changing environmental conditions is a mix of preservation and renewal. In the same way, exercising leadership means guiding a group to become aware of the losses imposed by change.
Over the decades, it has been tested by heads of state, CEOs, managers, and professionals to address crises arising from various types of change: technological, political, social, or economic. Although Adaptive Leadership is a methodology developed in recent decades, many of its elements were anticipated by Adriano Olivetti. Discover the connection between Adaptive Leadership and the legacy of Adriano Olivetti in the dedicated section of our website.
Leadership as renewal.
Drawing inspiration from Darwinian theory of biological evolution, Heifetz and Linsky argue that the practice of leadership consists in making people aware of what to preserve and what to discard in order to adapt effectively to change.
What sets Adaptive Leadership apart from other models being taught?
Pratice
It starts from the premise that leadership is not an innate quality nor a personality trait, but rather a practice that can be developed—and therefore taught.
Leadership and authority
It enables effective interventions in the system to navigate complex scenarios with greater awareness.
Technical vs Adaptive
It helps engage stakeholders to overcome their resistance to the losses imposed by change and recognize different types of challenges
Diagnosis and intervention
The practice of Adaptive Leadership is a continuous balance of diagnosis and intervention, and cannot be limited to the top-down application of technical knowledge or decisions made by those in positions of authority.
Resistance
The practice of Adaptive Leadership can present challenges and risks, as it encounters resistance from those who seek to preserve the status quo.