Practice of Adaptive Leadership

by Heifetz, Ronald

• ISBN13: 9781422105764
• ISBN10: 1422105768
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-14
• Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services, Inc.

Summary

When change requires you to challenge people's familiar reality, it can be difficult, dangerous work. Whatever the context?whether in the private or the public sector?many will feel threatened as you push though major changes. But as a leader, you need to find a way to make it work.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction: Purpose and Possibility
How to Use This Book	p. 5
Overview	p. 8
Adaptive Challenges and Adaptive Capacity	p. 10
The Theory Behind the Practice	p. 13
The Illusion of the Broken System	p. 17
Distinguishing Technical Problems from Adaptive Challenges	p. 19
Distinguishing Leadership from Authority	p. 23
Living in the Disequilibrium	p. 28
Observe, Interpret, Intervene	p. 32
Experiment and Take Smart Risks Smartly	p. 36
Engage Above and Below the Neck	p. 37
Connect to Purpose	p. 38
Before You Begin	p. 41
Don't Do It Alone	p. 41
Live Life as a Leadership Laboratory	p. 42
Resist the Leap to Action	p. 44
Discover the Joy of Making Hard Choices	p. 45
Diagnose the System
Diagnose the System	p. 49
The Elegance and Tenacity of the Status Quo	p. 49
Discover Structural Implications	p. 54
Surface Cultural Norms and Forces	p. 57
Recognize Default Interpretations and Behavior	p. 63
Diagnose the Adaptive Challenge	p. 69
Determine the Technical and Adaptive Elements	p. 70
Listen to the Song Beneath the Words	p. 76
Four Adaptive Challenge Archetypes	p. 77
Diagnose the Political Landscape	p. 89
Uncover Values Driving Behavior	p. 91
Acknowledge Loyalties	p. 93
Name the Losses at Risk	p. 96
Realize Hidden Alliances	p. 97
Qualities of an Adaptive Organization	p. 101
Name the Elephants in the Room	p. 102
Share Responsibility for the Organization's Future	p. 103
Value Independent Judgment	p. 103
Build Leadership Capacity	p. 104
Institutionalize Reflection and Continuous Learning	p. 105
Mobilize the System
Make Interpretations	p. 113
Notice When People Are Moving Toward the Left Side of the Chart	p. 116
Reframe the Group's Default Interpretations	p. 118
Generate Multiple Interpretations	p. 120
Audition Your Ideas	p. 122
Generate a Diversity of Interpretations	p. 122
Design Effective Interventions	p. 125
Get on the Balcony	p. 126
Determine the Ripeness of the Issue in the System	p. 126
Ask, Who Am I in This Picture?	p. 128
Think Hard About Your Framing	p. 128
Hold Steady	p. 129
Analyze the Factions That Begin to Emerge	p. 130
Keep the Work at the Center of People's Attention	p. 130
Act Politically	p. 133
Expand Your Informal Authority	p. 133
Find Allies	p. 136
Stay Connected to the Opposition	p. 138
Manage Authority Figures	p. 142
Take Responsibility for Casualties	p. 144
Protect and Engage the Voices of Dissent	p. 145
Orchestrate Conflict	p. 149
Create a Holding Environment	p. 155
Select Participants	p. 158
Regulate the Heat	p. 159
Give the Work Back	p. 161
Build an Adaptive Culture	p. 165
Make Naming Elephants the Norm	p. 166
Nurture Shared Responsibility for the Organization	p. 168
Encourage Independent Judgment	p. 169
Develop Leadership Capacity	p. 170
Institutionalize Reflection and Continuous Learning	p. 171
See Yourself as a System
See Yourself as a System	p. 181
Your Many Identities	p. 182
Identify Your Loyalties	p. 187
Prioritize Your Loyalties	p. 189
Name Your Unspeakable Loyalties	p. 191
Know Your Tuning	p. 195
Know Your Triggers	p. 200
Hungers and Carrying Water	p. 201
Broaden Your Bandwidth	p. 205
Discover Your Tolerances	p. 206
Understand Your Roles	p. 209
What Roles Do You Play?	p. 210
Identify Your Scope of Authority	p. 215
Articulate Your Purposes	p. 221
Prioritize Your Purposes	p. 225
The Story You Tell Yourself	p. 228
Deploy Yourself
Stay Connected to Your Purposes	p. 233
Negotiate the Ethics of Leadership and Purpose	p. 233
Keep Purposes Alive	p. 236
Negotiate Your Purposes	p. 239
Integrate Your Ambitions and Aspirations	p. 242
Avoid Common Traps	p. 244
Engage Courageously	p. 247
Get Past the Past	p. 247
Lean Into Your Incompetence	p. 252
Fall in Love with Tough Decisions	p. 255
Get Permission to Fail	p. 258
Build the Stomach for the Journey	p. 260
Inspire People	p. 263
Be with Your Audience	p. 264
Speak from the Heart	p. 269
Run Experiments	p. 277
Take More Risks	p. 280
Exceed Your Authority	p. 282
Turn Up the Heat	p. 284
Name Your Piece of the Mess	p. 286
Display Your Own Incompetence	p. 287
Thrive	p. 289
Grow Your Personal Support Network	p. 289
Create a Personal Holding Environment	p. 292
Renew Yourself	p. 295
Notes	p. 299
Glossary	p. 303
Index	p. 309
About the Authors	p. 325
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