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Leaders Adapt or Become Irrelevant

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As executives, we face constant and often seismic shifts in our work. From an altered legal landscape to disruptive and uncertain funding; from increasing natural and human disasters to constantly negative media narratives. Our unique context requires us to utilize the adaptive leadership model as we strive to fulfill the public mission--or we will be overlooked.  What is adaptive leadership? How does it work? First, let’s define it: Adaptive leadership is the practice of using leadership, communication, and strategic skills to mobilize people and our organizations to tackle tough challenges—and thrive. We also have an obligation to extend this understanding of adaptive leadership and its fundamental principles to our thousands of employees, contractors, and volunteers so they can be resilient and adaptive too. Gifting them this knowledge and model may be the most important thing we do as a leader. In my 20 years in federal service, I have evolved—just as my leadership style has. I am
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Teaching is Leading

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  Leading is Teaching               President John F. Kennedy was supposed to deliver a lunchtime speech the day he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963; in the speech, he wrote that "leading...[is] essential to the leadership's hopes for continued progress and prosperity."  Kennedy knew that learning and leadership were connected like no other subject.             What we fundamentally know has been borne out in research; a professor of management at Dartmouth College conducted a study to examine specific attributes of leaders who exhibited outsized abilities and reported the findings in Harvard Business Review (2018). He notes (as the title states), “The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers.” These leaders use every opportunity to help grow and develop their staff through “ongoing, intensive one-on-one tutoring.” The study found these leaders had qualities that enabled fuller engagement, deeper dialogue, and the opportunity to gain wisdom, including:
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My Adaptive Leadership Journey

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              When I first picked up  The Practice of Adaptive Leadership  (2009), my first thought was, “oh, great, another theoretical leadership book to read.” But as I got deeper into it, I really came to appreciate how it was structured, and the various tools and techniques it offered. I have been able to use these adaptive leadership skills and hopefully will be able to implement more in the future. This book speaks to my leadership journey over the past few years, very well. I normally do not like introductory sections of books; they often feel very superficial. But this book was different – and it gave me the pause to really consider what it was all about. When they began by saying that “answers cannot come from on high,” I really began to pay attention. This idea that we—those without power or position—could in fact orchestrate major change and exercise leadership was a brilliant, and daunting, concept. The introduction also gave a “how to” guide to using the book—a meta-lea
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Building Adaptive Organizations: Creating Safe Conflict

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  In their book on adaptive leadership, the authors raise the concept of “orchestrating conflict” (Heifetz, et al., 2009, p. 149) and the implications of actually increasing the level of discord in an organization. The analogy of a symphony or orchestra—a metaphor being used more and more frequently in the literature—seems quite on point. But how do you ensure the creative conflict level is optimized to ensure good ideas, while not raising the temperature to a boiling point? How does a leader work to increase the collective idea-base (which almost always conflicts) and yet also ensure the psychological and physical safety of all? Establishing rules of engagement is a critical first step. These “ground rules” are essential to ensuring everyone is on the same page, as well as a mechanism to hold people accountable. The leader should not dictate them, but rather should be co-constructed among the group. The expectations or "group norms" should be mutually agreed upon going int
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Litigation & Civil Recovery: A Viable Fraud Remedy

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  Occasionally, I post articles that are directly related to fraud examination and investigation. This is one of those articles. Note that this does not constitute legal or accounting advice, but is for information only. Consult applicable laws and licensed counsel. The use of criminal statutes to enforce fraud or recover assets associated with criminal activity is a common avenue toward ensuring justice is served.  But, in reality, and for so many victims, as well as fraud examiners, there is a whole other realm that must be considered—the civil process.  There are a lot of similarities in working a criminal fraud case (since many fraud cases start out as a civil matter).   The investigation is nearly exactly the same as a criminal investigation (and you can never know when one will become the other).  But what is different for investigators to understand is that there are different tools available, and generally you have to work closely with an attorney to obtain the information nece
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Resume Tips for Federal Jobs

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Over the last few months, I've had several students and colleagues ask about finding federal positions. I've put this short list of resources, tips, and ideas together. I hope it is helpful. 1.       Federal Resumes are just different —In the corporate world, brevity is key…but not for federal job hunting. The resume is structured differently, is often longer and more detailed, and includes much more than just work experience. Once you accept that, it will be a lot easier. 2.       Keep a master resume —A master resume is a running list of ALL the things you have done. This will better position you to “pick and choose” or highlight various aspects of your work, based on the job description and requirements in the announcement. 3.       Keep a running list of accomplishments —Time passes and we can forget, especially if a job announcement has a short deadline. Keeping a running list will help you recall what you did and what impact it had! This is also helpful for performanc
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MOVE-ing In the Right Direction

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Early this year, a book was published by David Noble and Carol Kauffman called Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High (Harvard Business Press). David and Carol are both executive coaches and have an amazing storytelling ability in their book. I first heard Carol on the Coaching for Leaders Podcast and it was so intriguing that I purchased the book. After several delays, I was finally able to finish it this week.  Their book and cues for executive coaching are excellent and I appreciated their MOVE model for its ease and simplicity: M--Be Mindfully Alert O--Generate Options V--Validate Your Vantage Point E--Engage and Effect Change I especially appreciate their framework on the "Four Leans": Lean In  Lean Out Lean With Don't Lean I've created a summary here, but the book is an excellent and very insightful read. I highly recommend it. Note that I have not received anything for this, nor does the Amazon link below do anything for me finan
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