How should the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated to the organization's leadership to help
gain buy-in?
How can you ensure this communication strategy is sustainable long-term, more than two years?
Communicating the adaptive leadership toolkit to the organization is vital to the success of this plan.
Leaders who encourage honesty and open communication represent integrity and courageous
authenticity. “Internal communication, to be efficient, needs to be realised between employees
involved in the process of understanding and achieving organisational goals and strategies” (Jakubiec,
M., 2019, p.48). Employees must believe in the organizational changes that will lead this company to
success. Employees also need to believe in how their efforts will assist in the success of the adaptive
leadership toolkit.
“Improving communication processes depending on the management model, information flow,
communication channels and technical solutions, both inside and outside the organisation, is a
necessary activity for creating efficient internal communication” (Jakubiec, M., 2019, p.53). Direct
communication is the best way to convey the importance of the adaptive leadership toolkit. Face-to-
face meetings can ensure the information does not get lost in translation between managers. A
follow up email that provides the details of the toolkit is a great way to ensure the employees
understand the upcoming changes and the specific timeline.
As the Director of Leadership for the We Care Prosthetics it is my responsibility to work closely with
the chief human resources officer to roll out the new plan. Technology plays a big part in open
communication in this telecommuting work environment. Communicating through text messages will
ensure information reaches all employees instantaneously. I currently work for the state government
and I have seen other cabinets use YouTube videos to relay information and maintain employee
morale. The company should use every vehicle of communication available to communicate the
strategy and vision.
Long term sustainable communication is important for the company to achieve teamwork.
Enthusiasm for open communication must sustain over the lifetime of this adaptive leadership
toolkit. Leadership must keep the momentum going and maintain employee morale through the
process of utilizing the toolkit. Maintaining realistic and attainable steps will ensure the sustainability
of the communication method. Holding management accountable for the goals they have set is also a
key element of the sustainability. Leadership accountability is accepting responsibility for the steps in
the adaptive leadership toolkit and owning the outcome.
How should the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated to the organization's leadership to help
gain buy-in?
How can you ensure this communication strategy is sustainable long-term, more than two years? f
The adaptive toolkit is a vital resource for any company and should be communicated with the
utmost importance. Transparency on a wide-spread level and engagement are two vital keys for
achieving proper communication for an organization. Internal communication within an organization
is important for its cohesive functioning and ensuring transparency across multiple departments. A
lack of coordination and internal information can be a major source of internal issues for an
organization. A company will not succeed in achieving their long-term goals if all departments do not
work as one while having the same objectives and vision. Internal communication can also bind
employees to their organization and plays a vital role in helping employees understand the values and
priorities of the organization. Proper communication provides the employees with the knowledge to
perform at their jobs and stay connected within the organization (Bhardwaj, 2016)
With technology improving communication, creating an internal communication platform such as the
intranet can encourage a large group of employees to collaborate and generate new ideas when
solving problems (Bhardwaj, 2016). At my current job, the intranet is utilized by all employees to
review pertinent vital information, which includes company news, office wide promotions, problems
we are facing, goals we are trying to achieve as an organization, and vision of the company. It is
encouraged by senior leadership to voice any concerns using the intranet so that they may be
addressed. This type of communication can allow the employees to get answers faster to their
concerns and avoid the issues from becoming a major problem. On a personal note, I believe face-to-
face communication is a more effective way in conveying the importance of the adaptive leadership
toolkit. Face-to-face communication can ensure that the information being presented to a particular
team or management group is easily understandable and not misunderstood. For example, going
over the details of an ongoing project or changes in strategy on how to address certain legal concerns
would be best if the discussion was in person. Sometimes, we get lost in the email when trying to
determine the actual message and do not always understand what is expected. At my current job, we
always ask for a volunteer to scribe the major details of the entire meeting on a word document so
that it can be emailed to the team for further review if needed. This is a great way to ensure the
entire team or management group understands potential changes that may be forthcoming or details
of an important project along with the associated timelines on when the results will be implemented.
I believe that long term sustainability for communication can occur by creating an environment
where the organization works as a team. If we are effective with communicating it should strengthen
the connections between a company and all its stakeholders. Allowing for more open communication
will give the employees an opportunity to express themselves in a manner that can contribute to the
success of the organization. When utilizing the toolkit, as leaders we should always strive to keep the
ship going in the right direction as an attempt to help increase employee morale throughout the
process. Analysing the problem at hand and coming up with proper attainable steps to help formulate
realistic goals will increase sustainability with regards to communication. We need to keep in mind
that effective communication between employees and managers results in higher production,
increased knowledge of the overall goal we are trying to reach, stronger teams acting as one, and
increased retention.
This week’s lesson hit VERY close to home for me…. or rather, “close to work.” My organization is 12-
15 months past a major system change that appears to be failing. When I say “appears,” I mean that
the system is doing what it is supposed to be doing, but the communication and training of new
processes supporting the system have proven disastrous. Our senior leadership team is now in
recovery mode; assessing the damage done, what went wrong, and what needs to be done to fix it.
While I consider the best ways to develop the communication for my adaptive leadership toolkit, I sit
here wondering… how could the senior leadership team at my organization have done better leading
its stakeholders through a major organizational change?
I believe one of the most important steps in establishing buy-in amongst a leadership team is
establishing a shared vision. A changed directed from only the top level down with insufficient
support from middle management will lack support from the very people expected to carry out the
transformation. First and foremost, leaders and stakeholders need to know WHY change is necessary
to inspire the vision, “connecting the dots between the what, when, who and how to the WHY is a key
strategy for making information relevant and personal” (Jakubiec, 2019). A recent survey in my
organization asked the question “Are you excited about the changes that we are implementing within
our organization?” The resounding response was “No.” The reason being was that most stakeholders
were very concerned about how their role would change and the lack of information or training they
had received regarding new processes. They had no personal connection to the change, nor did they
know the “why.” With, newsletters, emails, and corporate media posts are all helpful in advertising
change, but all levels of management should be communicating directly via personal or group
meetings to share what that vision means for their respective teams and how it affects them directly. f
Not only will they gain buy-in, but leaders and managers might be able to gain valuable insight as to
how to successfully implement the change or how to avoid potential roadblocks.
To ensure change is successful and sustainable long term, I believe leaders need to maintain a high
level of involvement. There should be consistent check-ins at all levels of management. Part of those
check-ins should be an inventory with stakeholders of what is working and what is not working
amongst cross functional teams. Most importantly, short term goals should be established amongst
all affected parties. All too often, organizations declare victory with performance improvements too
soon, not realizing that the change might have negatively affected another part of the business
(Kotter, 2007). Small wins should be celebrated across the organization and those meeting goals
should be recognized.
Organizational Communication
Adaptive leadership is considered completely distinct nowadays than in previous years. The belief
that a courageous person without help from anyone else creates outcomes by imposing his desire is
viewed as old-fashioned. Currently, leadership is regarded as a team sport. The organization leaders
and other leaders interact with their workers to achieve goals and begin transformations. Adaptive
leadership addresses complicated continuous problems or issues (Srivastava, 2021). This leadership
style aims to find a solution to constant organizational problems through a well-planned
transformation. It is founded on the opinion that challenging issues are perfectly resolved with
guidance from the whole organization. Nobody forms a successful business alone; there must be
motivated to find beneficial solutions to gain alignment.
To make it and succeed in business, one must be extra high-powered, and organizational leaders
must embrace new techniques to conquer any difficulty that may arise. The adaptive leadership
strategies founders Ronald and Marty explain successful adaptive leadership's foundational
principles (Srivastava, 2021). The organizational justice principle is whereby an adaptive leader is
expected to create an environment where each organization member can be listened to. f An adaptive
leader should be capable of handling the relationships with compassion and understanding, i.e.,
should take time to ensure members of the organization are listened to and favoured when finding a
solution.
Effective communication assists members in establishing a strong relationship and certainly play a
part in the organizational culture and long-term advancement of the organization (Lau, 2020). To
stimulate the flow of communication, one must create an open environment that will help ensure
members feel at ease consulting about a problem, mistake, or question. By clarifying that they can
always consult in case of anything, they feel at ease and develop a free communication environment.
How should the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated to the organization's leadership to help
gain buy-in?
The adaptive leadership toolkit should be communicated in a few different ways. First the bare
minimum should be via memo, email, corporate newsletter. This first level of communication will give
leadership the ability to begin to understand and investigate it, however it cannot be the only venue
of communication. The next step should be a town hall style meeting where upper management
explains the process and the goals of the toolkit in a more high-end approach then prior. Additionally,
this is the time where the applicable leadership can ask questions. A final step would require those in
the highest of upper management positions to bring forward their expectations and buy in. During
this whole process it is vitally important for it to be clear that this process has buy in from upper
management and that this toolkit is not in responses to what we as a company do wrong but how we
can be better. This three-pronged approach is how we are given information or alerted to changes in
philosophy as Pfizer. This approach of communicating expectations and goals and showing support
from corporate management goes a long way in showing leadership what is expected and the
importance of taking this change with open hands and minds. f
How can you ensure this communication strategy is sustainable long-term, more than two years?
This communication strategy is sustained long-term by setting realistic and attainable goals for the
toolkit. Additionally, by showing there is buy in with corporate management it can help leadership
sustain the movement. f When upper management sets forward goals that are SMART it allows for
leadership to have a sense of direction, defined organizational skills, and achievable goals.
How should the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated to the organization's leadership to help
gain buy-in?
The adaptive leadership toolkit is a vital tool that can showcase to the organization how to improve
leadership ultimately retaining employees. In the personal development plan, I discussed creating a
website that all employees can access. Departments that are making the change to the Canada are
encouraged to post issues they have encountered and how it was corrected. This will ensure that
other departments that may experience something similar are not wasting time searching for an
answer that has been solved. This can be taken further in developing an organization intranet. This
can reflect specific aspects of the toolkit and how they will be done.
The website is an important tool in the communication strategy, but not the entire part. f It is vital to
have a clear intranet as the company is growing larger and needs to place for central values and
important information. According to Jakubiec, the most relevant factors creating a process of internal
communication are: communicative skills of a manager, quality of statements delegated by
managers, communicative skills of fellow workers, organisational structure, organisational culture
and climate and relations between employees” (Jackubiec, 2019). The data from Juckubiec’s study
reflects that employee feel that ‘communicative skills of the manager’ are the most effective aspect
factor. In the same study, direct conversations and meetings with managers were the most effective
method of communication.
Because of this, the adaptive leadership toolkit can be communicated with a mix of face-to-face and
virtual settings of learning and discussion.
An email to leaders outlining the various aspects of the toolkit will be sent. During a leaders meeting,
visuals should be depicted exemplifying how the leadership toolkit will positively affect the company.
Having the combination of in-person meetings and emails is important because emails can be used to
share specifics and people can learn what is required, whereas in-person meetings can be best
utilized for discussion and questions. In person meetings can first include an upper-level
management meeting discussing the toolkit, then smaller meetings within departments can discuss
how it affects them.
How can you ensure this communication strategy is sustainable long-term, more than two years? f
To ensure that these strategies are sustainable for the long-term, the company must be able to
effectively deal with obstacles in the business environment. This is why it is important to develop
SMARTER goals, mainly because of reviewed. A change may happen in the prosthetics industry that
affects the move into Canada or another aspect of the business. Reviewing current goals based on
emerging data on a quarterly basis will aid in a sustainable communication strategy.
References:
Jakubiec, Marcin. (2019). The Importance of Internal Communication sfor Management of an
Organisation. Scientific Papers of the Silesian University of Technology (No. 134). Pg. 56. https://eds-
s-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=6b11b74d-7eb6-4170-
afb4-77ecdb16b7b2%40redis
Lau. (2020, November 20). 7 effective strategies for better workplace communication. RingCentral.
https://www.ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/effective-communication-strategies-in-the-workplace/
Srivastava. (2021, February 12). Principles and examples of adaptive leadership | Better Up. Better
Up: The People Experience Platform. https://www.betterup.com/blog/adaptive-leadership
As always, my ideas are open to feedback. I am looking forward to reading others input! JAKUBIEC, M.
(2019). The Importance of Internal Communication for Management of an Organisation. Scientific
Papers of Silesian University of Technology. Organization & Management / Zeszyty Naukowe
Politechniki Slaskiej. Seria Organizacji i Zarzadzanie, 134, 47–62. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.29119/1641-3466.2019.134.4
Kotter, J. P. (2007). Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 85(1).
Bhardwaj, R. (2016, April 16). Why Effective Internal Communication is Critical to an Organization's
Well-Being. Retrieved from entrepreneur.com: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/273838
JAKUBIEC, M. (2019). The Importance of Internal Communication for Management of an
Organisation. Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology. Organization & Management /
Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Slaskiej. Seria Organizacji i Zarzadzanie, 134, 47–62. https://doi-
org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.29119/1641-3466.2019.134.4
