I have written in my blog about adaptive leadership in the past, but it seems especially relevant this year. Many leaders are discussing how to lead during a crisis/pandemic, so I think it helps to revisit the concept of growth mindset and the power of framing challenges toward learning and growing as a team. 2020 is the time to embrace different ideas to expand our options for a new normal in which all of the team can develop individually and collectively.
During a crisis, we naturally focus on what has been forced upon us, such as, working remotely from home, figuring out the new normal of work and socialization, and struggling to work productively without physical team connection. Many leaders are focusing on how to best manage instead of leading their teams in the "new normal." Adaptive leaders realize that when faced with change it is best to focus on learning from the whole team how to lead them toward their best working conditions and discuss solutions that work inside and outside your organization, especially with your customers.
I'll give a recent personal example from this final year of my doctoral classes. Since the beginning of my cohort program two years ago, I have asked if our cohort team could choose digital books instead of paper books so that I could always have my school books with me while traveling for work. Our leader told me that digital are more expensive than paper and not feasible for the whole team, so that would not be an option. Having digital books was vital to my productivity, so I paid for an Audible account to listen to my text books while on the road. Since the pandemic shutdown started in the U.S. in March, we have not received a paper book for any class because our text book providers have not been able to meet their mailing demand due to the shutdown. We have been given digital books until the paper books can be mailed -- an upside to the pandemic is that our team now has an option for my best learning and productivity. One resource strategy for all did not work well in our team before the pandemic.
What did the pandemic force you to consider as a leader that you hadn't considered before? Should you have been looking at more diverse options for/from your team before the pandemic? How do you listen to team members now? We have a growth opportunity to learn how to listen to our teams for their best productivity, personally and collectively. Actually, we have always had this opportunity to adapt our leadership to help our teams during change.
See my recent Doc Talk. Like a Ted Talk, it was my final project for my doctoral class on Strategic Leadership Communication in August 2019.
My leadership topic was about managing less and leading more to create better work attitudes.
Let me know what you think and feel free to share!
I constantly read and listen to leadership books that are assigned in my doctoral program in organizational leadership, recommended for my dissertation research, or that I find to be helpful to my training students to continue their classroom learning.and personal development.
Here is a list of the leadership books that I have read in the past year and have found very helpful in continuing to develop my authentic leadership style and helping others to discover and develop their own leadership styles.
In the classes that I train for Pryor Learning Solutions, I utilize what I have learned from these books when I train Leadership, Team-Building & Coaching Skills, Leadership & Management Skills for Women, Communication Skills for Women and Dealing with Difficult People. If you decide to read any of these books, come join me in one of these classes to apply what you have read through our rich class discussions.