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Leadership

Adaptive Leadership

Mobilizing for Change and Disrupting the Status Quo

Course Details

Price: FREE
Start Date: Nov 13th, 2018
Time: 3 hours/week
Duration: 5 weeks
Partner: Adaptive Change Advisors (ACA)

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Start Date:

November 13th, 2018

What You’ll Learn:

Understand the root cause of a stubborn and recurring challenge in your organization, team or community
Partner with those who are in positions of authority or power
Leverage your own power for change
Design an experiment that strengthens your ability to create lasting change
Learn to lead adaptively in environments with trust issues, political sensitivities, resistance, conflict and distress

Description:

Have you have ever struggled with a problem that will not go away? The solutions may often seem obvious, such as the need for a new technology, an expert capability, a different process, or better communication. Yet you seem to face unexpected resistance to these seemingly “obvious” fixes or the problem stubbornly persists. You may be facing an adaptive challenge.

This introductory course helps you identify and make progress on a leadership challenge in your own life, team, or community. You’ll apply the tools and techniques of Adaptive Leadership, a practical framework developed at Harvard Kennedy School of Government for leading change, particularly during times of uncertainty or when there are no easy answers.

Adaptive Leadership is a critical skillset for anyone looking to drive systemic change in an increasingly complex world.

Format and Timing:

Team-Based Course: We strongly encourage (but do not require) that you form a team of 2-8 people to take the course with. It works best to find friends or coworkers who can meet in person. Need to find team members? You can post to the discussion forums a month before the course starts.
Platform: NovoEd (+Acumen developed the course. We host this course on the NovoEd platform.)
Timing: This course will be open for 5 weeks. You can work through the materials at your own pace during the time the course is open. There are no required times for you to log in. There will be suggested deadlines for you to complete each assignment. The final deadline is the final day of the course.

Course Syllabus

Download (2.73 MB)

Learning Tools

4 reading guides highlighting case studies and examples
4 discussion guides to help you identify, analyze and craft an experiment for your own adaptive challenge
Video tutorials from Eric Martin

Section 1: Identify your leadership challenge

Reading: Getting on the Balcony
Exercise: Getting on the Balcony
Exercise: The “Gap”
Reading: The “Gap” and the System Around It
Reading: The Illusion of the Broken System
Activity: Discussion
Activity: Frame Your Adaptive Challenge

Section 2: Think Politically to mobilize support

Video: Think Politically
Reading: Why “Thinking Politically”?
Exercise: Reflection
Reading: Practicing the VLL Framework
Exercise: Values, Loyalties, Losses
Reading: Stakeholder Categories (Factions)
Reading: Additional Resources
Activity: Faction Mapping
Activity: Engage with Your Map

Section 3: Distinguish Technical and Adaptive Problems

Video: Technical and Adaptive Challenges
Reading: What’s the “Work”?
Reading: Technical vs. Adaptive Problems
Exercise: Technical vs. Adaptive Problems
Reading: Bundled Challenges
Reading: Unbundling Your Challenges
Activity: Reframing Your Challenge
Activity: Seek External Perspectives

Section 4: Adaptive Experiments

Video: An example of a courageous conversation
Reading: Experimenting Adaptively
Reading: Readying Yourself and Others
Reading: Orchestrating Disequilibrium
Reading: Avoiding Work Avoidance
Exercise: Productive Zone of Disequilibrium
Reading: Experiment and Take Smart Risks
Activity: Design Your Adaptive Experiment
Activity: Summary Deck

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The course already started. Can I still enroll?

You can enroll up to 2 weeks after the start date of the course.

When will the next course be offered?

We offer our courses a few times a year. Sign up for our emails to be notified of the next time the course will be offered.

Do I get a certificate for this course?

You will earn a Statement of Accomplishment if you complete 5 of 6 assignments, including the final assignment, by the last day of the course.

How do teams work?

We recommend you find friends or colleagues for your team that you can meet with in person each week. Each team member should register for the course individually. You’ll then be able to form your team on the NovoEd platform once the course begins.

Do I have to complete the course with a team?

While we believe taking the course with a team will give you the best experience and chance of completing the course, it is possible to complete the course individually if you wish.

What should I expect from the assignments?

You will create a Life Map, develop your own personal story, integrate it into a larger presentation, and record your presentation for feedback from your classmates. You should allocate at least one hour a week to complete each assignment.

Supported By

Adaptive Change Advisors (ACA) was founded by Eric Martin, who stewarded adaptive leadership from Harvard Kennedy School to real-world application. ACA seeks to “democratize leadership” – making it possible for anyone, anywhere to improve their livelihood by effectively mobilizing others.

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What People Are Saying

"I am a Certified Executive Coach and consultant working with leaders and organizations to create change. I'm already starting to think and behave differently in having hard conversations. Great tools to support key concepts."

Lucille C. Michigan, U.S.