Adaptive Leaders Celebrate the Uniqueness of Each Employee

Regardless of what you attribute today’s turbulent business climate to, an organization’s ability to weather the storm … to evolve … depends on its people.

Natural disasters, global unrest, technological change, government regulations, or economic instability can sometimes be the first domino to fall. They affect consumer confidence and spending, open the door to new competitors, or add to costs. And organizations are powerless to affect many of these drivers.

But managers and leaders can equip themselves to meet these challenges and changes. By tapping into the unique strengths and knowledge of workers at all levels and empowering them, they position their organizations to make evolving easier.

And as with the kind of evolution we might see in biology, adapting is key to surviving and thriving.

Make way for the adaptive leader

Leaders who recognize and facilitate adaptability think differently about their teams, suggests Anita Romero, SkillPath trainer and expert in adaptive leadership. “They call on everyone in the organization to take a leadership role. So, rather than the traditional role where the leader makes the decisions and they’re pushed down from the top, adaptive leaders work to develop a workplace culture where informal leaders throughout the organization are innovating and driving change from the bottom up.”

But getting employees at every level to take ownership rather than expect to be given the answers and be told what to do can be a real culture shift for many organizations.

For this to happen, senior leaders must first be receptive to ideas from employees at all levels. Mid-level managers must be able to coach employees on how to present ideas and information in a convincing way. Everyone must feel empowered and capable of instituting change. Everyone must feel safe to talk about what’s going on or disagree. And employees must know how to be informal leaders at every level of the game.

Of course, in a dysfunctional organization, an intimidating person or someone who takes over a conversation might impede this. Again, the adaptive leader is called upon to coach and help all employees develop the skills to handle this dysfunctionality in an emotionally intelligent, kind way. In doing this, he or she is arming employees with the communication tools to move beyond these disruptive situations, and helping to ensure that all perspectives are helpful to the organization and that all voices matter (yes, even those loud ones who may not even be aware of the effect they’re having).

But moving into this completely different mindset in how we interact with one another has to be developed. And every person at every level in the organization has to be on board.

Make adaptive leadership intentional

This kind of innovative, world-class, cutting-edge way of looking at how an organization does things doesn’t happen by accident. It starts with an organization’s senior leadership asking, “What are our values and how do we live them?” suggests Romaro. “What do they look like at each level of the organization?” Then honest conversations with and input from middle management should be gathered. And employees need to be involved as you outline this new thinking and find out if they’re interested in taking on this bigger role.

This is in sharp contrast to what might normally happen in discussing someone’s development at, say an annual performance review. That conversation might focus on the specific degree, courses or goals someone might be working toward.

In adaptive leadership, it’s a more holistic view of each person, rather than just their job description. You’re looking at the individual and saying: “These are the strengths I see in you and here’s how we’d like to use those so you can shine here.” “Here are the weaknesses I see … and to help you in those areas I’d like to put you a safe environment where you can work on those things and see whether with a little practice you can better at them.”

In essence, an adaptive leader is celebrating an employee’s uniqueness and making the best use of it. Identifying weaknesses and helping the person work on them or making it ok that not everybody’s good at everything.

When we tap into these unique strengths, abilities and knowledge, we are better prepared for the challenges and changes ahead. And workers at every level are happier as they are given opportunities to grow, lead and shine.

Anita and I talked extensively on this topic in episode 7 of our Career Strategies for Working Women series. Listen to the complete podcast: “The Adaptive Leader”