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MSL201L05 Adaptive Leadership
SH1
Advanced Leadership (Liberty University)
lOMoARcPSD|21126671
MSL 201, Leadership and Decision Making
Lesson 05: Adaptive Leadership
Revision Date: 31 July 2015
Student Handout 1
Adaptive Leadership
Adaptive Leadership
Adaptability is an effective change in behavior in response to an altered situation. It is an individual’s
ability to recognize changes in the environment, identify the critical elements of the new situation, and
trigger changes accordingly to meet new requirements. Adaptive leaders proactively engage their
environment by selecting a style of leadership based on all of these factors.
Adaptive leadership is an approach to command based on the situation and factors such as mission,
Soldier capabilities, geography, weaponry, and more. This “reality on the ground” approach to leadership
can give you as an Army leader both a strategic and a tactical.
But adaptive leadership is more than just reacting to the immediate situation. Adaptive leaders
anticipate and employ a broad-based style of command. As an adaptive leader, you take risks and make
decisions, learn from events, and adjust plans accordingly. You are able to switch from one critical task
to another without hesitation.
You focus on your primary purpose and handle multiple tasks within missions.
Adaptability has two key components:
•The ability of a leader to identify the essential elements critical for performance in each
new situation emergencies or crisis situations
•The ability of a leader to change his practices or his unit by quickly capitalizing on strengths
and minimizing weaknesses, work tasks, technologies, and procedures
To understand adaptability according to these two components we need to consider how well one reacts
when faced with these situations or dimensions:
•Handling emergencies or crisis situations
•Learning work tasks, technologies, and procedures
•Handling work stress
•Demonstrating interpersonal adaptability
•Solving problems creatively
•Displaying cultural adaptability
•Dealing effectively with unpredictable or changing work situations
•Demonstrating physically oriented adaptability
Adaptive leadership is more than reacting well to a situation. It anticipates and employs a broad-based
style of leadership. Adaptive leaders take risks and make decisions, learn from every event and adjust
accordingly. They switch from one critical task to another without missing a beat and then return to
another task. They are focused on a purpose and multiple missions.
Adaptability Types
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MSL 201, Leadership and Decision Making
Lesson 05: Adaptive Leadership
Revision Date: 31 July 2015
Student Handout 1
The dimensions discussed on the previous slide can be grouped into three overarching types of
adaptability:
•Mental adaptability – Being mentally adaptable means adjusting one’s thinking in new situations
to overcome obstacles or improve effectiveness. It includes things like handling emergency or
crisis situations, handling stress, learning new things, and creative problem solving.
•Interpersonal adaptability – Being interpersonally adaptable means adjusting what one says and
does to make interactions with other people run more smoothly and effectively. This includes
trying to understand the needs and motives of other people – especially people in other cultures.
•Physical adaptability – Physical adaptability means adjusting to tough environmental states such as
heat, cold, etc., pushing oneself physically to complete strenuous or demanding tasks, and
adjusting weight/muscular strength or becoming proficient in performing physical tasks as
necessary for the job.
Leading an adaptable team – For officers, it is not enough to be individually adaptable. They must
also help develop adaptability in their teams by encouraging and rewarding adaptive behavior in the
team and by ensuring everyone works together in a coordinated fashion. Therefore, we have added
the concept of leading an Adaptable Team to the above types of adaptability, and together these four
concepts provide a framework for describing.
Adaptive Leaders Effectively Handle:
According to Dr. Leonard Wong junior officers that served in Iraq developed very good adaptive
leadership skills. After interviewing many junior officers he developed an understanding what adaptive
leaders needed to be able to do in the modern battlefield. He identified that leaders need to
competently deal with ambiguity, complexity and change. Some junior officers he met were frustrated
with the constant change, while others were uneasy dealing with ambiguity but overall he came to the
conclusion that adaptive leaders must effectively deal with ambiguity, complexity and change.
•Ambiguity – Leaders must be self-aware and adaptive, comfortable with ambiguity, able to
anticipate possible second- and third-order effects, and be multifunctional to exploit all the tools of
the modern battlefield. Officers in the operational environment deal with the idea of asymmetrical
warfare. While planning is critical to a mission, officers will not have detailed plans to guide them.
•Complexity – In today’s environment officers do not just fight. One minute you may be leading a
raid and as soon as that is complete you might be working on re-building the water supply for a
school or
meeting with the media. Adaptive leaders will need to switch gears quickly. They need to be able to
deal with their mission as well as many different military and civilian organizations of the
operational environment.
•Change – Adaptive leaders learn to live with unpredictability. They spend less time fretting about
the inability to establish a routine or control the future and focus more on exploiting opportunities.
Leaders must manage and adapt to this while leading and motivating a team. Adaptive leaders
quickly learned lessons from each situation they encountered. They developed new skills as needed
and move on to new levels of achievement.
Adaptive Leadership Characteristics
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MSL 201, Leadership and Decision Making
Lesson 05: Adaptive Leadership
Revision Date: 31 July 2015
Student Handout 1
Adaptive leaders are tenaciously motivated to accomplish the mission, aware of themselves and their
environment, proficient problem-solvers who are resilient enough to bounce back quickly from
changes, hardship or misfortune. They understand themselves and their surroundings. They have the
mental agility to develop innovative solutions that comply with the intent for the operation. They are
confident they can accomplish their mission. They can thrive in an ambiguous environment, making
decisions quickly and effectively, adapting their leadership style to the situation. They instill the same
tenacity in their team. These characteristics are critical when it comes to serving in environments and
cultures different than our own.
Characteristics of an adaptive leader are:
•Confident
This is the characteristic of a leader who is certain either that an idea or solution is correct or that a
chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence can be a self-fulfilling prophecy as
those without it may fail or not try because they lack it and those with it may succeed because they have
it rather than because of an innate ability.
•Resilient
This is a characteristic of a leader who is able to become strong, healthy, or successful again after
something bad happens
•Open or Curious
These leaders have no enclosing or confining barriers and are accessible on all or nearly all sides having a
desire to learn or know more about many things and many people
•Driven
These leaders have a compulsive or urgent quality propelled or motivated by something internal to them
•Tolerant
These leaders are willing to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from their own as long as
they do not counter-act the Army’s core values
•Self Aware
These are leaders who are characterized by self-awareness and are able to accept their weaknesses and
utilize their strengths for the common good
•Risk Taker
These are leaders who are willing to engage in behaviors that have the potential to be harmful or
dangerous if the risk is acceptable and it will accomplish the mission
•Proactive
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MSL 201, Leadership and Decision Making
Lesson 05: Adaptive Leadership
Revision Date: 31 July 2015
Student Handout 1
These are leaders who take the initiative to control a situation by making things happen in the present or
by doing things to prepare for possible future problems / issues
•Problem Solver/Critical Thinker
These are leaders who use generic or ad hoc methods, in an orderly manner, for finding solutions
to problems; this is often a process that leads to skills that can be learned, mastered and used and
can result in reasoned conclusions based on a reasoned process.
•Great Communicator
These are leaders who effectively give information to others on a variety of subjects by either speaking
or writing to them with the goal of getting them to understand their thoughts or feelings
•Tactically and technically proficient
These are leaders who have the tactical and technical skills required for proficiency and mastery of all
aspects of their job with the specific skills demonstrated by superior performance on a consistent basis.
•Change agent
These are leaders who are champions of change and encourage people under their supervision to
change their behavior or opinions on specific topics or issues
.
Factors Necessary to Become an Effective Adaptive Leader
•Understand your strengths, weaknesses, experiences, and knowledge and that of your Soldiers
and know your Soldiers/units, skills/abilities, and motivation
Starting with knowing yourself and your Soldiers, you build adaptability by knowing what you are
capable of. As a leader you must understand your own strengths, weaknesses, experience and
knowledge and that of your Soldiers. The leader must further be attuned to his/her Soldiers’ and unit’s
skills/abilities and motivation. You must know what you are capable of and what your Soldiers are
capable of.
•Know and understand your mission and Commander’s intent
The leader must understand the mission at hand and the intent of the higher commander. A good
framework for understanding this is by stating the task, purpose, and end-state the commander seeks.
However, the adaptive leader can think through the intent strategically and operationally.
Adaptive leaders must have the confidence and resilience to fight through setbacks, staying focused on
the intent two levels up and the mission, adapting to changing situations. They should be in a position to
keep their people mission-focused, motivated, and able to react with agility to changes while influencing
the team to accomplish the mission as envisioned in the plan. Successful mission command results from
subordinate leaders at all echelons exercising disciplined initiative within the higher commander’s intent.
All adaptable leaders can quickly assess the situation and determine the skills needed to deal with it. If
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MSL 201, Leadership and Decision Making
Lesson 05: Adaptive Leadership
Revision Date: 31 July 2015
Student Handout 1
the skills they learned in the past are not sufficient for success in the new environment, adaptable
leaders seek to apply new or modified skills and applicable competencies.
Agility and adaptability at all leadership levels of Army organizations are becoming more important to
address situations that cannot be fully anticipated. In the operational environment, the importance of
direct leaders— noncommissioned officers and junior officers—making the right decisions in stressful
situations has taken on a new significance. Decisions and actions taken by direct-level leaders—the
sergeants and lieutenants carrying out the missions—can easily have major strategic-level and
political implications. While adaptability is an important tool, leaders at all levels must leverage their
cognitive abilities to counteract the challenges of the operational environment through logical
problem solving processes. Adaptive leaders must focus on fighting the enemy and not the plan.
•The work environment you are part of
Adaptive leaders study the environment around them. They learn to anticipate changes, identify the
critical elements of the new situation, and trigger changes accordingly to meet new requirements. They
must think creatively to adapt. A unit deployed for stability operations may find itself isolated on a small
secure compound with limited athletic facilities and without much room to run. This situation would
require its leaders to devise reliable ways to maintain their Soldiers’ physical fitness. Innovative solutions
might include weight training, games, stationary runs, aerobics, treadmills, and other fitness drills.
Leaders must know and understand the situation he/she and the unit face. They adapt to changes in the
operational environment and exploit emerging opportunities by applying a combination of intuition;
analytical problem solving, systems integration, and setting the example there are a myriad of external
factors that adaptive leaders must consider. It is best when leaders do not simply see these factors as
limitations but also opportunities.
These factors include:
▪ Enemy activity, capabilities, and tactics
▪ Civilian population factors
▪ Weather and terrain
▪ Time
▪ Political implications
•Education and experience of the leader and the Soldiers he/she leads
In the 4th century Roman military philosopher Vegetius said “The courage of a soldier is heightened by
his knowledge of his profession.” Adaptability is also heightened by knowing your profession. The
adaptable leader is most likely a passionate learner, able to handle multiple demands, shifting priorities
and rapid change smoothly. Institutional training, Training, education, and job experience gained during
operational assignments and self-development are the three core domains that shape the critical
learning experiences throughout Soldiers’ and leaders’ careers.
These three domains interact by using feedback and assessment from various sources and methods.
Today’s Army increasingly requires proficient small unit leaders capable of operating in widely
dispersed areas and/or integrated with joint, multinational, special operations forces as well as
nongovernmental agencies.
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MSL 201, Leadership and Decision Making
Lesson 05: Adaptive Leadership
Revision Date: 31 July 2015
Student Handout 1
As a lifelong learning institution, the Army addresses the differences between operations today and in
the future and continuously develops enhanced training and leader development capabilities. Army
leaders who look at their experiences and learn from them will find better ways of doing things. Leaders
must remain confident in their own and their subordinates’ ability, stay positive and learn from their
mistakes.
Leaders acquire experience through trial and error and by watching the experiences of others. Learning
from others can occur through mentoring and coaching by superiors, peers, and even some
subordinates. Another method of expanding experience is self-development by studying history, recent
conflicts, potential adversaries and the lives of notable men and women to learn from their successes
and failures. The histories of successful people offer ageless insights, wisdom, and methods that might
be adaptable to the current environment or situation.
Leaders lacking adaptability enter all situations in the same manner and often expect their experience
in one job to carry them to the next. Consequently, they may use ill-fitting or outdated strategies.
Failure to adapt may result in poor performance in the new environment or outright organizational
failure.
Leaders who have the interest of others and the organization in mind will fully support available
developmental opportunities, nominate and encourage subordinates for those opportunities, help
remove barriers to capitalize on opportunities, and see that the new knowledge and skills can be
reinforced once they are back on the job.
Judgment requires having a capacity to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly and to draw feasible
conclusions. Good judgment enables the leader to form sound opinions, make sensible decisions and
reliable guesses. Good judgment on a consistent basis is important for successful Army leaders and
much of it comes from experience.
Many junior officers have learned to be comfortable with complexity, change, and ambiguity. They
have a savvy and wisdom that can only be gained in a crucible experience.
Warren Bennis, a prominent leadership researcher believed an intense, transformational experience
called a crucible experience is critical in the development of effective and adaptive leaders. This event
challenges the leader to use kills and make choices as it sharpens the leaders focus, resulting in a new
self awareness. The operational environment has provided such an experience for many officers.
•Deciding the timing of when to adapt
Deciding when to adapt is as important as determining how to adapt. Adaptation does not produce
certainty that change will improve results. Sometimes, persistence on a given course of action may have
merit over change.
•How you communicate with others your intent to adapt
An essential aspect of any leadership model is the ability to communicate and motivate. A leader cannot
implement decisions or effectively lead without the ability to communicate his/her decision and
motivate followers to implement and execute. The adaptive leader looks much like a transformational
leader here because he/she is focused on the purpose and vision of what needs to be accomplished.
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MSL 201, Leadership and Decision Making
Lesson 05: Adaptive Leadership
Revision Date: 31 July 2015
Student Handout 1
He/she must work hard to communicate effectively so that the team understands from their point of
view.
•Results and lessons learned in regards to future missions
As they accomplish their mission, adaptive leaders learn something from each situation. They
understand the results and consequences of their actions and apply their experiences to future
missions. In the future they will be better able to select appropriate leadership styles and make effective
decisions.
Adaptive Leadership Development Actions
•Challenge what you know
Like self-awareness, adaptability takes effort. To become adaptable, leaders must challenge their
previously held ideas and assumptions by seeking out situations that are novel and unfamiliar. Leaders
who remain safely inside their comfort zone provided by their current level of education, training, and
experience will never learn to recognize change or understand the inevitable changes in their
environment.
•Develop thought habits
Adaptability is encouraged by a collection of thought habits. These include open-mindedness, ability to
consider multiple perspectives, not jumping to conclusions about what a situation is or what it means,
willingness to take risks, and being resilient to setbacks.
•Learn to adapt while adapting
To become more adaptable, leaders should learn to adapt by adapting. Leaders must go beyond what
they are comfortable with and must get used to experiencing the unfamiliar through diverse and
dynamic challenges. For example, the Army’s best training uses thinking like an enemy to help leaders
recognize and accept that no plan survives contact with the enemy. This encourages adaptive
thinking. Adaptive training involves variety, particularly in training that may have become routine.
•Lead across different cultures
Lead must also learn to lead across cultures. Leaders must actively seek out diverse relationships and
situations. Today’s joint, interagency, and multinational assignments offer challenging opportunities to
interact across cultures and gain insight into people who think and act differently than most Soldiers or
average U.S. citizens. Leaders can grow in their capacity for adaptability by seizing such opportunities
rather than avoiding them.
•Seek challenging positions and assignments
Leaders must seek develop their experiences in the operational environment. Leaders can be specialists,
but their base of experience should still be broad. As the breadth of experience accumulates, so does the
capacity to adapt. Leaders who are exposed to change and embrace new challenges will learn the value
of adaptation. They carry forward the skills to develop adaptable Soldiers, civilians, units, and
organizations.
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MSL 201, Leadership and Decision Making
Lesson 05: Adaptive Leadership
Revision Date: 31 July 2015
Student Handout 1
•Develop critical thinking skills
While adaptability is an important tool, leaders at all levels must leverage their cognitive abilities to
counteract the challenges of the operational environment through logical problem solving processes.
They must learn to develop critical thinking skills.
References:
•Review ADRP 6-22 Chapter 9 Adaptability Tools (pgs 9-4 – 9-6)
http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adrp6_22c1.pdf
•Review White, Susan S., Rose A. Mueller-Hanson, David W. Dorsey, Elaine D. Pulakos,
Training Adaptable Leaders: Lessons from Research and Practice. Research Report 1844.
Arlington, VA: Personnel Decisions Research Institutes Inc., October 2005.
http://www.chapnet.Army.mil/pdf/RR1844_Adaptive%20Ldrs.pdf
•ADP 3-0, Unified Land Operations, 10 OCT 2011 (pg 8)
http://Armypubs.Army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adp3_0.pdf
•ADRP 3-0, Unified Land Operations, 15 MAY 2012 (pg 2-11 – 2-13)
http://Armypubs.Army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adrp3_0.pdf
•ADP 7-0, Training Units and Developing Leaders, 10 August 2012 (pg 5-
6) http://Armypubs.Army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adp7_0.pdf
•Wong, Leonard, Developing Adaptive Leaders: The Crucible Experience of Operation Iraqi Freedom,
July, 2004 at http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.Army.mil/pdffiles/PUB411.pdf
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