#adaptiv ledelse

Like any group of people in times of change, a congregation needs: time to adapt, appreciation for available talents, coming to terms with the past, overcoming the fear of being rejected by former generations, and identification of its core values – hence to be able to find its Mission and Vision, in order to be able to take off for the future.

Core values should not be mistaken as technical ways of doing things. It is not about how often Sunday school has to take place and when and who did it best, it is not about how often an afternoon for seniors should be provided and whether storytelling or crafting, or travel reports are the best way - as it used to be. It ‘s about: Spreading the Word and sharing the Meal!

Along with that a parish needs to (re-)discover what we need to stand for in this time and in this place.

Not just add 5000 after each preaching…., but rather: how to build community in this time and age and what specific offer can we make as a congregation in the here and now? What is our unique selling point (in German: “Alleinstellungsmerkmal”) as a local congregation? We do need to be fully aware of the fact that protestant/christian congregations are not the only ones to offer community.

First and last though, a congregation in the present needs adaptive leadership!

Define leadership, define adaptive!

Leadership should not just be a means to gain power! Often enough the perception of leadership is (still) shaped by Macchiavelli’s “Better to be feared, then to be loved, if you cannot have both.” (cfr. “The Prince”). Another still wavering view on leadership is about the one, who can tear a sword from a stone, like in King Arthur.

And variations of the theme (male and female) can be found in ancient storytelling (like in Irish myths) about the one being able to haul the sword out of the water or pull a specific gem or key from its cage or glass box.

And then there is the more modern definition: the CEO being at the top of an organization, by appointment, (hopefully) by skills and certainly by salary.

Leadership then is not about the best technical way of doing things and having people follow the demanded course of action. Often enough though, (in people’s mindset) this is the protective barrier laid out between the self and the leader. Like a banner rolled out, when the leader appears. A seemingly valid reason for denial of guidance by the assigned person.

Furthermore, Leadership is not necessarily synonymous with management. Even though management could be defined differently, in this case (for the purpose of comparing) management is used in the sense of planning, making policy decisions and giving instructions. The discourse between different theoretical approaches on Führung, Leadership and Management however remains highly inconsistent. This seems to be the case in German as well as in Anglo-American perspective. * Therefore, it will be necessary to define, what is meant with Leadership in general and Leadership more specific in the church in this time and age.

Leadership in teams used to be very modern. Under the heading: no one should be more important than others. Realistically speaking it also must be said that oftentimes a team still has or needs a leader – but then again not always. Working in teams basically means to use the expertise of the team-members. Choosing or assigning a team-lead may then break up with the idea of a team as such – reshaping the team to a task force with a leader (a person in charge). It certainly needs to be clear, whether that is what we want.

Hence clarity and distinctness are major factors when defining the (new) structure, which we aim to establish. Especially in church, we tend to avoid calling things by name, mainly because, we know people (pastors, preaching teams, church councils, church members) are not going to like it. This however is no solution, since being confronted with unclarity and indistinctness urges “people” to suspect the worst. The latter mostly is an extreme waste of time and energy. Both of which could have been used to create something new and adequate – and creative!

Therefore, it is necessary to look at an even newer way of enhancing leadership.

Like myths and cultural narratives also film and literature are not just fiction but very often a mirror of contemporary perceptions of leadership. Fans of James Bond (e.g.) may have discovered that recently, the protagonist is not always brave, does not always have the solutions, is not really superior to the surrounding women and often works in teams, while appreciating the different expertise of other team members also assigned to the job, or found willing to step in. The same can be said about all-age stories like The Lego Movie, about Emmet, an ordinary Lego minifigure, who helps a resistance movement stop a tyrannical businessman from gluing everything in the Lego world into his vision of perfection. Heroic teams have become quite common as a motif in films. Combining network theory and an unavoidable notion of hierarchy, new forms of leadership are developing. According to Jonatan Jalle Steller** important continua seem to be: “from hierarchy to network, from superordinate to peer-to-peer relations, from networked individuals to makers, and from micromanaging to consensual and interim leadership.”*** “Networks, in this view, emphasise reciprocity and consensual, common goals: a cooperative bike shop, for example, in which workers are also shareholders, distributes power and pay based on a negotiated arrangement that usually changes along with the staff.” **** And as such its about an area of “negotiation between vertical and horizontal power” unifying “both the egalitarian and the hierarchical model.” ***** In this sense, makers “favour trust over micromanagement and expose their interest in cooperation rather than in individually gaining authority” ******.

Adaptive Leadership

According to Harvard Professor Ron Heifetz *******, adaptive leadership is especially required in situations in which the “gap between aspirations and operational capacity” […] cannot be closed by the expertise and procedures currently in place.” *********).

The past COVID-years and the ongoing war in Ukraine certainly account for manyfold situations, in which this gap became highly manifest. Hence the need and the opportunity for adaptive leadership is immense. This goes for, business, society and politics as well as for an organization like church. Adaptive leadership then certainly requires more, then just wanting to be the boss – to put it bluntly. Open mindedness, a (thoughtful) capacity to correct the course of action in the process, and empathy regarding co-workers and employees. It then would need the necessary respect of the talents and skills of all team members, as well as flexibility of negotiating between vertical and horizontal power, as we have seen.

In protestant churches in general and local congregations in specific, we are entwined in a vertical AND a horizontal line of power, at the same time. In protestant churches we have sovereignty of the local congregation – with the council (the main board, the presbyterium or the vestry) being the instrument of shared power on the parish level. On the other hand, we have the church structure, with deanery synodical council on the deanery level and the the church synod with the church board and the church administration on the church level. We also have the pastor (+ in future: church pedagogue and cantor), the dean, the provost and the church president (EKHN), respectively the priest (+ deacon, cathechet, cantor,), prost, bishop, presiding bishop (DNK).

According to Keri Bennington in “What is Adaptive Leadership: Definition & Heifetz Principles, “In an organization with adaptive leadership characteristics, every person’s opinions are valued. Each team member is seen to have the ability to solve an unknown problem. When external factors such as a crisis disrupt an organization, adaptive leadership is needed to find creative solutions. These solutions focus on win-win outcomes and differ from traditional approaches.” **********. And “The adaptive leadership approach doesn’t rely on one individual alone to solve problems. Instead, this model enables a group of people to find practical solutions. It embraces critical thinking among all members of an organization and teaches them to adapt. Instead of sticking to the old methods that worked in the past, it encourages innovation.”

Since especially on the local level in the church, we have (DNK) or we will have (EKHN) multi professional teams not just learning to work together, but at the same time having to deal with unusual situations, such as, the receding number of pastors and members of the church, while the acceptance of church in contemporary society becomes increasingly less, the choice for adaptive leadership seems more then appropriate and timely.

Adaptive leadership and wiggle room

In combination with wiggle room (see former article), adaptive leadership may give the church – especially on the local level – a chance, to line up nicely in order to meet the challenges at hand and ahead.

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*) cfr. Marco Böhmer: „Die Form(en) von Führung, Leadership und Management: Eine differenztheoretische Explizierung“, Der Verlag für Systemische Forschung im Internet: www.systemische-forschung.de und Carl-Auer im Internet: www.carl-auer.de , 2014 p. 11

**) In: “Maker ideology: The representation of small collectives in present-day Anglo-American blockbuster fiction”, Doctoral Dissertation in the field of English Social Studies by Jonatan Jalle Steller (Dr. Phil, Leipzig 2020), / with kind permission of the Author

***) “Maker Ideology” p. 36

****) Idem p.48

*****) Idem p. 59

******) Idem p. 210

*******) cfr. Ron Heifetz: Adaptive Leadership, in Creelman Research, 2009 Vol. 2.5 file:///C:/Users/lieve/Downloads/Adaptive_Leadership_by_Dr_Heifetz.pdf

*********) Ron Heifetz: Adaptive Leadership, in Creelman Research, p. 1