Welcome to a special episode where Bill is featured on another podcast talking about adaptive learning and leading the dialogue. We hope you enjoy this special episode and be sure to subscribe and share!
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Special Episode – Adaptive Learning & Leading The Dialogue
This blog you are going to read is rooted in a couple of things. One is called Leading the Dialogue, and another topic is called Adaptive Leadership. Leading the dialogue is about having these conversations. We all live in this same crazy divisive world, country, and community. Many people are waiting for somebody to figure out what to do. What I know now is that there is no waiting. We are the ones who need to do whatever it is that we need to do. It needs to start with having conversations with each other.
The idea of leading the dialogue is rooted in the notion that everyone has the ability to lead these conversations. Everyone can start to articulate what we need to do to be less divisive. How do we talk about our own stereotypes, biases, and judgments that lead to these inauthentic interactions that we have all been experiencing that lead to a culture of divisiveness and unrest?
The idea of adaptive leadership is looking at how adaptive we are and our ability to move to the issues coming to us. There is no leader we are waiting on that is going to come, anoint us, and tell us, “If we take this path, everything will be fine.” That leader does not exist. From an adaptive perspective, we move forward with the perspective that, collectively, we can have the answer. All of you as leaders, as long as we are talking to each other, have the ability to shift the tide.
As you read this, think about two things. How are you leading the dialogue? How are you leading these conversations? How adaptive are you to being able to flex, move, twist, and turn to all of the nuances that life is throwing at all of us? I hope you enjoy this. We will see you on our next episode of Finding the Origination Point.
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Bill, our series is called Lead the Dialogue. Where did that come from?
It came from conversations that I have had with the team that we are working with. The idea is that from an adaptive perspective, everybody has the potential to drive change. Everyone has the potential to lead this dialogue. It is not for a certain group of people, for a status set, and for some level of leader that people look up to. We need to get away from all of that and realize that the person next door, you and I, the young people in our community, all have the power to lead this dialogue because the dialogue that we are talking about is rehumanization.
Everyone has the desire to be connected. Lead the dialogue is about each of us playing a role in our schools, workplace, church, and grocery store in our community to reach out to one other person. It could be somebody that you already know. It could be somebody you want to get to know and have a conversation with them because that is how we create connections and rehumanize ourselves to each other. I would encourage and challenge everyone reading to take risks, lead this conversation, lead the dialogue, and see what happens.
It feels that this is a charge for anyone who can do it, and anyone can make that key difference we all need moving forward.
The way that I explain it through my own path is that I’m not a special guy. All of these things we are talking about, I have learned. I know that if I, in the life I have led, have access to all of these tools and skills and they are available to anybody, all you have to do is want to do your own personal growth work. Leading the dialogue is something that is not only accessible we need because this needs to happen in the far reaches of our planet to make the changes that we want to make to rehumanize, reconnect and see each other as authentic human beings that play a pivotal role in the changes that we all want to see.
Bill, we hear a lot about the word collaboration or being collaborative, but sadly, even though there are some great meanings behind it, it has become a little bit of a buzzword. When you hear collaboration, and you talk about its importance in what we do, what does it mean?
For some people, collaboration is like, “Ugh.” For others, it is like, “Yay.” To me, what collaboration means in relation to leading the dialogue is we are working together. We are taking risks. We are willing to share our perspectives and ideology even if we think it won’t be accepted or is not the same as everyone else around the table. To collaborate in the conversation is to create a space. It is to say, “We are going to create an entry point for anybody who wants to enter into this conversation, whether this is the first time you have thought about it, or this has been your life’s work. We are going to create an entry point and have an authentic conversation.”
Adaptive Learning: To collaborate in the conversation is to create a space.
Maybe it is using some of that, being authentic, creating a space, creating an entry point, and accepting multiple perspectives and ideologies because we all have different life experiences. If we are going to rehumanize, we have to create those connections, and we do it through our stories. Another element of collaboration in terms of this rehumanization is how we create a space where people can share their stories, whether it is the most professional workspace or the most laid-back community group so that everybody feels a sense of belonging, and they can bring their most authentic selves.
When you talk about appreciating multiple perspectives, it feels like it is abandoning the idea, “I have the answer. All the pressure is on me. I have to do this all by myself,” that when I let other people into the process, it is all going to be a better product. That can be tough. You have to put yourself out there. It seems to me that it is the guarantee to make something better. You include other people.
We talked about adaptive leadership. Let’s talk about being an adaptive human being. Being an adaptive human takes all the pressure off of me because I don’t have to have all the answers. If I can dip into my humility, I can step into engaging people who are completely different from me and say, “Tell me your perspective on this. How would you go about solving what we are talking about?” What happens if we become adaptive humans is we create ideas that no one person could have ever thought of. My perspective is different than yours. Together, I bet we could come up with a lot of ideas and ways to move this work forward and support people in leading the dialogue.
When we become adaptive humans, we create ideas that no one person could have ever thought of. Share on XCollaboration comes down to, “I’m willing to accept that I don’t have the answers. I’m willing to work with other people to find the best solution.”
Other people may be completely different from me.
It has been great to have this discussion, Bill.
Thanks, Dominic.
Bill, let’s start by looking at the adaptive of leadership. What does adaptive leadership mean?
There are two types of leadership that I have been learning about and experiencing. One is called technical. Technical is an approach where we already have the answers. The example I use is when COVID hit, and everybody had to switch into this Zoom world, as challenging as it was to move into that, we had everything we needed. We had computers, platforms, connectors, and IT people. We had all the technical answers to be able to make that shift.
When we are looking at adaptive, and if you look around the world nowadays, social issues are all adaptive, the divisiveness that we have, and the racial issues that are going on. How do we get kids back in school? They are adaptive because there isn’t one person that has the answer. The idea of approaching things through an adaptive lens is looking at it from a much broader perspective. It is a redefining of how we look at the typical all-knowing leader and looking at different elements of what it means to lead through an adaptive lens.
Adaptive Learning: To approach things through an adaptive lens is looking at them from a much broader perspective. It is a redefining of how we look at the typical all-knowing leader.
What are the key elements for a leader to install or execute so that he or she can lead in an adaptive leadership style?
First, it is a big mindset shift. Leadership in the status quo has been that the leader’s going to come, show the way, and everyone will follow. First is humility and vulnerability. Vulnerability-based trust is about sharing stories. A lot of our leadership models are more of a stoic perspective. It’s humility, vulnerability, and the idea of saying, “I don’t have the answers.”
Being self-reflective is another element and heightened the sense of self-awareness around what is happening as leaders who have been trained in a traditional style are now having to shift into this more adaptive approach. Humility, vulnerability, self-awareness, and critical self-reflection mostly begin with a mindset shift that leads to different behaviors and skills that people start to practice as leaders.
It seems a big part of this would be for a leader to not only embrace the team around them but also to utilize their listening skills that we are all in this together as a leader. We are bringing everyone’s energy toward the problem. Is that part of how a leader would adapt to using adaptive leadership?
The answers are in the room. That is the basic premise of adaptive leadership. We have to figure out as leaders how to push the conversation out to those that we lead so they become actively engaged in the process. A lot of my approach in working with groups and people is around this idea of deep listening. Deep listening is the notion that, for most of us, we are socialized to be thinking about what we want to say before the other person is even done with their stream of thought. From a deep listening perspective, we are being more responsive. We are shutting off all that mind chatter and having a reactive conversation.
Adaptive Learning: With a deep listening perspective, we are being more responsive. We are shutting off all that mind chatter and having a reactive conversation.
The difference between deep listening and not deep listening is whether I’m being more reactive or responsive. In a reactive conversation, I’m thinking about what I want to say to you before you are even done talking because all that mind chatter is going on in my head. In a responsive conversation, I’m waiting for you to finish your stream of consciousness. I might even ask you some questions to deepen your thinking. I’m responding in a way that I’m connecting what I’m saying to what I heard. Another element of adaptive leadership is the idea of listening to hear versus listening to speak.
We have talked about the different values involved in listening, but patience is involved in the deep listening that you are talking about. This seems like a key advantage in being a leader, not only with a team but also when you are working within a community. It involves more people, which seems to make the answer even better.
Sometimes I will tell a story to answer a question. I’m going to tell you a story. I served on a school board for several years in Boulder. There were a few times when we, as seven people, created a solution to a problem for 29,000 families, pushed it out in the community, and they said, “We didn’t want you to solve that. That is not the problem we are experiencing.” We had to go back, reengage the community, and bring them into the process early as issue identifiers and problem solvers.
Typical leadership doesn’t bring the community in, whether an internal organization or external clients, long after they have solved the problem. With an adaptive model, we are bringing people in right away, and I’m saying things like, “We are attempting to solve this. Is this the correct issue that you all are experiencing? We love to get your voices in right away on the ground floor.” What it does is create more buy-in.
Typical leadership doesn't bring the community in, whether an internal organization or external clients, long after they have solved the problem. You need an adaptive model. Share on XWhen the community, whether it is internal or external stakeholders are a part of that, they are bought into it, and there is more commitment to solving it, even if it doesn’t work the first time correctly, because the adaptive process is implement, assess, adapt. It is an iterative process that is always going on. We are always checking. By bringing in the community, they are part of that assessment structure. When the adaptability has to happen again, they are all bought into it. It is not something like, “You are wrong.” We are all a part of it.
If our conversation has piqued the interest of some people who want to learn more about adaptive leadership beyond this informative conversation, what do you recommend as people taking maybe the next step?
If you start with yourself, and you are vulnerable, humble, and honest, you will know if you have made an impact as a leader. Share on XRon Heifetz is the guru of this adaptive leadership. He has books, and there are lots of things online. We do development and training work in my organization. First of all, they have to start to think about what is their style of leadership and how effective it is. The first step is the impetus to change. The impetus to change is by looking at what the impact is, “Am I having the impact as a leader that I want to have?” If you start with self and you are vulnerable, humble, and honest, the answers will be there. They will know intuitively what’s the right thing to do for their community, school, or organization.
Thank you for this informative discussion.
It has been a pleasure. Thank you. It is a topic that I’m very passionate about, as you can tell.