Adaptive Leadership Strategies
Discussion and Reflection Questions
Resources to Explore the Topic of Adaptive Leadership During a Crisis
Adapting for the Long Haul
Discussion and Reflection Guide
IDENTIFYING YOUR PURPOSE
Consider your organization’s purpose.
What are your personal passions?
How might that purpose need to change during these difficult times?
COMMUNICATING YOUR IDEAS
Who hears your thought process and plans?
What language do you use (verbal and non-verbal) to communicate your ideas?
What about good news or bad news? How do you communicate those?
Do your followers/partners understand why you make the decisions you make?
How transparent are you with why you do what you do?
How can you become a clear, thorough, and transparent communicator?
LISTENING TO OTHERS
How often have you stopped to listen since mid-March?
To whom do you listen?
What have they shared?
How did you process their ideas/questions/criticism?
How open are you to accepting help, suggestions, criticism, and feedback?
Do your followers see you as approachable or a good listener?
DELEGATING AND COLLABORATING
How often do you engage in collaboration?
When others in your organization bring an idea to the table, how likely are you to encourage him/her to run with it?
In what ways have you (or can you in the future) given others opportunities to shine?
How willing are you to delegate tasks to others?
Can you stop to recharge your own self?
EMBRACING CONFLICT
When you think about conflict, how do you feel?
How likely are you to embrace opposing opinions (dissenters) within your community or organization?
When changes need to be made, how do you communicate with your team?
How can you balance conflict in a way that others don’t feel threatened but instead have a chance for growth?
Consider the dissenters that challenge you and your organization. How can you give them a voice without giving them power?
THRIVING INSTEAD OF SURVIVING
What technical challenges have you tackled since mid-March?
How can you shift the focus from those challenges into more adaptive change?
How can you be more purposeful and Gospel-centered in your decision making?
What is going to have to change for you to move from surviving to thriving?