Adaptive leadership and followership are two important concepts in leadership. Adaptive leadership is about leaders having the ability to organize, mobilize and motivate individuals to face challenges and solve complex problems. Followership is about training individuals to embrace certain values and traits to perform assigned tasks. Followers are perceived to be just as important as leaders because the two are intricately related. Some situations and environments need people who can implement instructions.
Leadership Approaches
The two most prominent concepts for discussion are adaptive leadership and followership. All these concepts are important in leadership and at the same time are applicable in diverse leadership environments. Firstly, adaptive leadership perceives the leader as an individual that should have the temerity and skills to assist people to confront tough problems (Northouse, 2018). Most of the time, leaders are expected to solve problems or come up with solutions and the people who are led are required to only implement them. However, with adaptive leadership, the leader is supposed to organize, mobilize and motivate subordinates to solve certain challenges.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
According to Nelson & Squires (2017), the behavior and to some extent, the inherent traits of an individual could be very vital in adaptive leadership. One such trait is ultimately, resilience. An adaptive leader must face real or impending situations, no matter how difficult they could be. For instance, an organization may be compelled to implement certain technological changes as a consequence of the changing business environment. One of the challenges such an organization may certainly confront is the backlash from older employees, who may not be technology-savvy to adapt to the changes (Nelson & Squires, 2017). The leader in this case must have a plan to roll out the changes and ensure that the employees adapt to the new changes. In the bible, after Jesus had preached to a crowd near the Sea of Galilee, he, together with the disciples, took a boat to cross the lake. While Jesus was sleeping comfortably, a storm ensued and the disciples were afraid. When they woke Jesus up, he comfortably told the storm to be still, and it did (Merida, 2015). This bible story is quite significant and relevant to adaptive leadership; that a leader should have the ability to enable subordinates to tread through difficult situations, face the challenges and cope.
Although adaptive leadership is viewed as necessary in implementation of change in organizations, it also has its weaknesses. Firstly, an adaptive leader could be perceived to be autocratic; instead of consulting or involving collaborative approaches, the leader appears to enforce changes (Nelson & Squires, 2017). Such an approach may not auger well with some employees. One main criticism against adaptive leadership is that it seems more theoretical and is not backed up by empirical evidence (Northouse, 2018). The leader is portrayed as an individual who should calm the storm and lead employees through thorny situations, but it is not evident how the leader should achieve results. Therefore, this approach seems to be a suggestion or rather, a proposal and requires further research to develop it so that it can address issues such as strategies that adaptive leaders can use to influence positive outcome in organizations. Nevertheless, adaptive leadership when clearly defined can be instrumental in implementing important changes while at the same time motivating employees to adapt to the new changes.
Regarding followership, a lot of literature and even conventions seem to emphasize that being a leader is better than being a follower. However Suda (2013) mentions that being a follower is equally important. Some people naturally do not tend to work well in a team, and such a group, for instance, comprises of introverts. A lot of emphasis is usually placed on having leadership skills or being a team player. It is usually assumed that the ability to work in a team defines how best an individual performs in given tasks. On the contrary, having good followers is also very important in leadership. Suda (2013) argues that without followers, there will be no leaders and that for any project or organization to succeed, there ought to be people who effectively and willingly follow. Taking the example of a military environment, it is important to have good and loyal followers to implement orders and instructions. Therefore, obedience is an ideal trait in being a good follower. If everyone was to be a leader in the military environment, then some operations would be jeopardized because nobody would be willing to take the commands of the other. On the aspect of individuals who are introverts or are not very social, working in a team may present various challenges. Introverts may prefer to solve problems on their own rather than being compelled to become productive in a team
One weakness of being a follower is that in times of emergencies, solutions may not come quickly. Urgent issues require urgent solutions and in the event that subordinates are not independent decision-makers, some undesirable consequences may occur. Additionally, some complex problems may require brainstorming, and if an organization has employees who are introverts in nature or do not like working in teams, then it could be very difficult to solve some problems (Emanuelsson, & Lindqvist, 2014). However, organizations can still manage by setting up structures that support people who are less social and at the same time train them to be problem solvers. In the bible, despite Jesus having followers, they still carried the good work of Jesus even after he was long gone.
In conclusion, adaptive leadership would be very important if it is clearly defined and various specifics provided. It could help in organizational transformation, especially when implementing novel changes because in this aspect, the leader is supposed to enable the subordinates feel comfortable and reassured in the wake of new challenges. Regarding followership, it is also just as important as leadership because organizations must have loyal subordinates who are able and willing to implement instructions. Out of these dedicated employees, organizations could make tremendous steps in achieving their goals and objectives.
References
Emanuelsson, A., & Lindqvist, S. (2014). Leadership of Introverts: An exploratory study of how introvert managers lead in Sweden. http://bth.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:831842/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Merida, T. (2015). Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings . B&H Publishing Group.
Nelson, T., & Squires, V. (2017). Addressing Complex Challenges through Adaptive Leadership: A Promising Approach to Collaborative Problem Solving. Journal of Leadership Education , 16 (4).
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice . Sage publications.
Suda, L. (2013). In praise of followers. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2013—North America, New Orleans, LA. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
