Adaptive Leadership Course Analysis

Climbing into my car, cap hitting the ceiling and gown getting caught in the door, I was ready to drive away from my small town of 600 people after graduation. Parked in the cow pasture directly across from my school, I realized that I did not know who I was or have any hobbies. For 13 years, I had always been surrounded by the normalcy and sameness of my small farm town, Ozawkie, Kansas. Wanting to break out of the monotony was (and is) my driving force to embrace new opportunities enthusiastically and with an open mind. This newfound mindset, my past experience in leadership, and my ambition and enthusiasm to invoke action is what drew me to enroll in this course. I expected that this course would teach me ways to become a more effective
Adaptive leadership, as defined in the “Intro to Adaptive Leadership” video in module four, is “the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive.” There are very difficult challenges when facing adaptive leadership, because adaptive leadership is so ambiguous. The module four video also states that adaptive leadership involves a system of individuals coming together to solve an adaptive challenge that does not have a clear, easy solution. The module also states that adaptive challenges are solved by encouraging an inclusive environment that offers a multitude of ideas and interpretations in its diversity. This environment helps to foster creativity, while celebrating and encouraging strength (rather than focusing on improving
Later, in journal nine, I identified two of my strengths as communication and empathy. Within my journals, I stated my adaptive challenge as my family dynamic. Being the youngest of five children, it is difficult to maintain strong connections with each of my siblings. My goal for my adaptive challenge was to develop and maintain a stronger bond with each of my siblings by “calling them more often and arranging bimonthly meetings”. When stating my two strengths in journal nine, I also stated the strengths of each of my siblings, such as the “open door policy” my two sisters have, and the “communication strength” my two brothers have. In journal eight, I examined my family “on the balcony” and realized that “the heat” (conflict) that was causing my adaptive challenge within my family was due to each of my siblings being “very busy raising their young children.” I had not realized the “hectic schedules” of my other siblings until going out “on the balcony” in this journal