Adaptive Leadership

Adaptive Leadership is the activity of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive. Adaptive Leadership is specifically about change that enables the capacity to thrive, builds on the past, and occurs through experimentation. (Becoming an Adaptive Leader. Lifelong Faith, Spring 2011.)

COVID-19 has presented us an opportunity to take a breath, assess our why, values, and guiding principles, and then to observe and interpret before implementing and evaluating ministry. This can be challenging from any place of leadership, but especially if you are in a supporting staff role. Take the time to do this work for yourself and your area of ministry. Share how it is making an impact in your priorities and ministry.

Ministry going forward may look different with new possibilities. We are likely looking at a hybrid ministry model for the immediate future if not forever. This means that the church will need to adapt to having both a gathered, in-person presence as well as a digital presence. How churches do this will look different. One way to think about hybrid ministry is a teeter-totter or see-saw.

(image created by Christine V. Hides)

You can read more about the tetter-totter and future ministry possibilities from Christine V. Hides here.

 

Adaptive Leadership Resources

Canoeing the Mountains by Tod Bolsinger (I highly recommend this book. I have read it twice!)

The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky

Becoming an Adaptive Leader based on the work of Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linksy is a summary of adaptive leadership. This resource comes the Spring 2011 issue of LifeLong Faith. It is a great summary if you want to know more about adaptive leadership but don’t have the time to read a book.