How should the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated to the
organization's leadership to help gain buy-in?
d In order 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 company wide 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?
d 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.
References
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
