How should the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated to the organization's leadership to help
gain buy-in?
To make the Adaptive Leadership Toolkit a valuable resource to the company and not just another
company artifact that lives in a handbook somewhere it is critical that leadership at all levels buys into
this organizational change. I recommend disseminate the toolkit through a companywide town hall
meeting followed by a series of meetings between leaders and their direct constituents. These smaller
gatherings will start with executive leadership and work its way down individual contributors. This will
allow for smaller audiences so that people are provided opportunities to ask any clarifying questions
as well as for the communication delivered face to face from each constituent’s leader. Each level of
leadership will have the benefit of being on the receiving end of these meetings before providing the
information to their teams. I recommend having a short period of time between each round of the
smaller gatherings with the intent that each attending leader should create their own personal
development plan complete with SMART goals. These plans will then be shared as each attending
leader holds their own smaller gather with their direct reports.
How can you ensure this communication strategy is sustainable long-term, more than two years?
In the book Leadership Challenge by Posner and Kouzes, Anna Blackburn discussed her experience
sustaining a long-term communication strategy at Beaverbrooks through regular focus group
meetings (2021). These meetings helped sustain continued buy in from leaders through gathering
feedback that allowed the organization to continually assess and adjust the plan as needed.
Prioritizing these self-auditing meetings communicates to employees that the company listens and
values their opinions. This also ensures that executive leaderships are keeping clear lines of
communication across the organization and can react to changes as they happen. Anna found a good
balance by keeping these focus groups to about 8 people, with each group targeting certain areas and
management levels of the business (Posner & Kouzes, 2021). This gave her feedback from multiple
different perspectives across the entire company. Another way that the organization can help sustain
the communication strategy is by keeping leaders accountable to their SMART goals. As leaders know
that they will be held accountable for their goals they will take more ownership of those goals and
they work required to attain those goals.
How should the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated to the organization's leadership to help
gain buy-in?
I suggest that the adaptive leadership toolkit should be presented to executive leadership for their
review and reaction. In my experience, executives tend to like data and accompanying visuals. The
presentation should include both and leave room for discussion and inspiration opportunities.
Another idea is to have a few ambassadors that support the toolkit. These are the people that can be
counted on to build the necessary momentum and energize the process.
How can you ensure this communication strategy is sustainable long-term, more than two years?
The launch of the toolkit with the support of the executive leadership team will be an important
foundation to sustainable long-term commitment. Part of the communication strategy should also
include a combination of company-wide messaging, be built into leadership development plans and
learning, and factor in to the annual performance evaluation process.
As described the prompts, developing the adaptive leadership toolkit was an assignment given by the
Vice President of Learning and Leadership, to respond to the employee engagement survey. The
response to the survey is being led by the Chief Human Resource Officer. Therefore, the deliverable,
the adaptive leadership toolkit, must be provided to both the Vice President of Learning and
Leadership, and the Chief Human Resource Officer. As these are two members of the executive team,
it would be beneficial to have a review of the adaptive leadership toolkit with the entire executive
team, perhaps as one of the points of discussion during the weekly/monthly executive team meeting.
I have had great success using PowerPoint presentations to cover topics when time is short and the
audience is from a variety of backgrounds (as would be the case in an executive team meeting). I find
that having a PowerPoint that is divided into "big points" and "specific data" the most useful. The big
points will capture the entire audience and be used to communicate the bulk of the message, and is
the part of the presentation meant to be shared. However, there is usually at least one person that
asks an incredibly specific question or wants to see the data. While you can always offer to meet
offline with that person to go over results in more depth, having the specific data section available
right then while you already have that person's attention really makes a difference. The specific data
should not be shared with the whole group until there is a reason to do, but having it at the ready
shows that you have put significant effort into the project and understand the complexity of the
project.
Beyond the executive team, the information and resources in the adaptive leadership toolkit need to
be shared with those individuals that directly supervise employees. Communicating this information
efficiently is even more important than reviewing the adaptive leadership toolkit with the executive
team. The suggestion behaviours, skills, and actions in the toolkit will make the most impact when
utilized by supervisors who have a direct impact on employees. I suggest that this information is
communicated slowly over time, to be able to provide opportunities to build skills. While the
executive team needs a high-level overview of what is in the adaptive leadership toolkit, supervisors
need to work with the toolkit.
Effective communication in an organization is paramount to normal business practices as well as
enabling change (which, technically, is a part of normal business practices). f From the paper by Marcin
Jakubiec (2019), we learned some of the common misconceptions of what communication truly is - it
is not just words, words themselves are subjective, any communication is good communication, we
are either born with or without communication skill. For business leaders, forming a vision centered
in effective communication that considers the unique nature of all stakeholders in change is the best
way for long-term success in sustainable change.
The adaptive leadership toolkit can be a useful tool or a worthless piece of corporate propaganda - the
difference is in the intent and delivery. f Kotter (2007) identifies the process of change implementation
and the need to follow the order and avoid skipping steps. In his method, leaders must start by driving
urgency and building a coalition of change around a fundamental vision (Kotter, 2007). In step four,
"Communicate the Vision," (Kotter, 2007), is the pivot point where the adaptive leadership toolkit
could be implemented. This adoption should happen only after the leader has identified pain points
and a significant portion of stakeholders are ready to change. f Not only should the toolkit be carefully
crafted, but the medium is important. Email newsletter? This violates about all the points raised by
Jakubiec about communication. f The format will be critical to success.
So, how do we make change that lasts? f Not easy. f As Kotter (2007) lays out, it is common for initiators
of change to be over-zealous and celebrate too soon. f Old habits die hard. f In addition, there is usually
a resisting force working against change that could take this celebration to get change agents to back
off - allowing them to slip slowly, or quickly, back to the way things were. Creating small wins along
the way is essential, but small wins alone will not in themselves make change permanent. Gustavo
Razzetti (2019) says that lasting change requires willpower, strength, a central focus, and
accountability. f This is an ongoing process, so it is important that the adaptive leadership toolkit lives
on - not simply "you have reached the end and congratulations." This journey should never end, as
change should never end.
References
Jakubiec, Marcin. (2019). THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FOR MANAGEMENT OF
AN ORGANISATION.
Scientific Papers of the Silesian University of Technology.
https://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bsu&AN=139613638&site=eds-live&scope=site
Kotter, John. (2007). Leading Change. Why Transformation Efforts Fail. Harvard Business School Prep.
https://ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbi
g&AN=edsbig.A156724769&site=eds- live&scope=site
Razzetti, Gustavo. (2019). 9 Steps to Creating Change that Will Last. Psychology Today.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-adaptive-mind/201909/9-steps-create-changes-
will-last
Posner, J.M.K.A.B. Z. (2021). Leadership Challenge, 6th Edition for
Southern New Hampshire University. Wiley Global Education US.
https://wileyplus.vitalsource.com/books/9781119850717
