Leadership Challenges
in the 21st Century
RACMA
February 2007
Traditional models of
leadership
The task of leadership is to bring about
the achievement of objectives with
people
Traditional leadership models range from:
 autocratic
 to negotiated
 to participative
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‘New’ leadership models
Traditional theories of leadership are under
strain:
 rapid change diminishes ability for one person
to know what to do
 democratic values lead to a search for
alternatives to power relationships
 gender issues have shown the importance of
affiliative leadership - the web
New ideas – adaptive leadership and Level-5
leadership
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Leadership without easy
answers
Ronald Heifetz, from Harvard’s John Kennedy
School of Public Administration, wrote a book
called “Leadership without easy answers”
In that book he explores how leaders can bring
about change:
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He notes that the challenges for leaders are
adaptive
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Concerned with people’s perceptions, values, models
Not technical

Concerned with products, processes
Hence the approach is concerned with adaptive
work
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Adaptive work:
Adaptive work is required when our
deeply held beliefs are challenged,
when the values that made us
successful become less relevant, and
when legitimate yet competing,
perspectives emerge. Adaptive
problems are often systemic problems
with no ready answers.
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Get on the Balcony
Distinguish technical from adaptive challenges
Find out where people are at
Listen to the song beneath the words
Read the behaviour of authority figures for clues
Strategies:
look at the larger picture, yet focus on the play
 ‘helicopter’
The trade-off: perfect knowledge is unattainable,
but don’t trust gut feelings too far!
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Think politically
Find partners
Keep the opposition close
Accept responsibility for your piece of the mess
Acknowledge their loss
Model the behaviour
Accept casualties
Strategies

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Assess the political realities
Build coalitions for the future
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Regulate Distress
Create a ‘holding environment’
Control the temperature
Pace the work
Show the future
Strategies:
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proving a sense of direction
allowing productive conflict
reframing issues ‘out of control’
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Give the Work Back to
People
Take the work off your shoulders
Place the work where it belongs
Make your interventions short and simple
Strategies
 empowerment
 trust
 building self-confidence
 ‘managing relationships’
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Hold steady
Take the heat
Let the issues ripen
Focus attention on the issue
Strategies
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Protect voices of leadership from below
translate and articulate
be willing to listen
hear
‘don’t shoot the messenger’
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Leadership as Learning
the learning organisation
 lifelong learning
 being flexible and creative
 ‘power of imagination’
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Simulation
Reflection
Identifying the Adaptive
Challenge
Stand on the balcony and ask:
 what are the key changes?
 examine symptoms of stress and trouble for
clues – what’s causing the stress?
 What internal contradictions does the stress
represent? (What’s the adaptive challenge?)
 What perspectives and interest do I and
others have that are now in conflict?
 Are we reinforcing or reducing the problem?
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Developing your skills
Some key issues:
 Managing your hungers
 Distinguishing role from self
 Externalising conflicts – focus on tasks
 Keeping confidantes – and not confusing
them with allies
 Listening – using yourself as data
 Finding a sanctuary
 Preserving a sense of purpose
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