Adaptive Leadership for Team Success

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