Adaptive leadership is a pattern of leading presented by Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. Heifetz identifies it as the action of motivating a team of people to solve complex problems and emerge victorious in the end. The adaptive leadership model identifies two types of problems: technical and adaptive. There is already an adequate, pre-determined answer to technical problems, and one or more experts with a reputation as a reliable partner are required to solve them. In general, technical problems are problems of a mechanical nature and are solved by professionals. There are no ready-made answers for solving adaptive problems (Kuluski, et al., 2020). In addition, there is no established set of rules or procedures aimed at addressing issues. In most cases, the definition of the problem is not clearly formulated, and there are no technical solutions. It is in such situations that the experience of adaptive leadership becomes appropriate. An adaptive leader first helps to identify the problem, and then mobilizes his colleagues to develop possible solutions. Thus, this leadership model is completely connected with experimentation, gaining new knowledge and making a number of adjustments to the company’s work.
Only by changing approaches and adjusting the strategy can we maintain the pace of change and develop. Adaptive leadership can be summarized using four basic principles: distributed leadership, optimal combination of abilities, clarity of the charter and strengthening mutual trust (Laur et al., 2021). In relation to distributed leadership, the manager delegates the authority of the team members. The optimal combination of abilities involves the use of the skills of each employee, not just senior managers. The clarity of the charter means that the company or team adheres to strictly defined goals, responsibilities, and fundamental rules (Younger, 2020). Trust in adaptive leadership contributes to the establishment of strong relationships between employees, employers, and customers.
Adaptive leadership is also widely reflected in my medical practice. Last year I worked as an emergency room nurse, where adaptation and quick solution of difficult situations were simply necessary. My department received patients with serious injuries or acute conditions, whose help should have been provided here and now. According to the principles of adaptive leadership, we had an established set of rules for actions in regular cases (Yoder-Wise, 2019). If the patient’s condition was unusual for some reason, difficult decisions had to be made, using all their medical knowledge and resourcefulness. Adaptive leadership is the best strategy for situations like work in emergency departments, because it allows you to apply non-standard solutions to help difficult patients. Before working in the emergency room, I worked for 911 Emergency Medical Services for six years. Working there is also associated with quick decision-making, because sometimes in order to help the patient, it is necessary to get involved with lightning speed. There we also applied adaptive leadership, in regular cases acting by induction and applying non-standard solutions in emergency situations.
The adaptive leadership system is useful not only in emergency departments, but also in ordinary medical institutions to improve the quality of service. This approach provides a useful way to organize what happens during meetings between the patient and the service provider (Laur et al., 2021). This involves care in the inpatient units of clinics, residential care homes, and other clinical environments where individuals and suppliers collaborate to jointly enhance the patients’ health. The examination of technical work, adaptive work, and adaptive leadership offers new insights into how integrating clinical technical assistance and individualized responsive care to enhance self-management. Clinicians are educated to do technical work for patients. They either may or may not have the expertise to support the responsive work that patients require to meet the adaptive challenge. Technical problems are those that can be solved with the knowledge and skills of health care providers. Adaptive challenges have responses that are not intrinsically provider-dependent, but instead demand adaptive leadership capabilities from suppliers to underpin the development of patient solutions.
For instance, a nurse may give a bronchodilator to a chronic asthma patient who has trouble breathing. However, it cannot guarantee that the patient avoids social situations in which he is exposed to passive smoking. Most health issues involve components of both technical and adaptive work (Laur et al., 2021). Since most patients apply self-management systems during therapy, adaptive work may have a larger effect on care outcomes than technical work by providers. I believe that the theory of adaptive leadership is an excellent technique for application in the field of health protection. This technique is of great value, as it allows doctors to act in the best way based on the current clinical situation. My opinion is based primarily on my personal experience of applying this theory, as well as knowledge gained from the literature. Adaptive leadership has many applications in the clinical environment, ranging from emergency departments to conventional inpatient hospitals. In general, this technique helps to organize the work of medical staff well in order to bring the greatest benefit to patients.
References
Kuluski, K., Reid, R. J., Baker, R. (2020). Applying the principles of adaptive leadership to person-centred care for people with complex care needs: Considerations for care providers, patients, caregivers, and organizations. Health Expectations, 24(2), 175-181. Web.
Laur, C.V., Agarwal, P., Mukerji, G., Goulbourne, E., Baranek, H., Pus, L., Bhatia, R. S., Martin, D., & Bhattacharyya, O. (2021). Building health services in a rapidly changing landscape: Lessons in adaptive leadership and pivots in a COVID-19 remote monitoring program. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(1), e25507.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2019). Leading and managing in nursing (7th Ed.). Elsevier.
Younger, S. J. (2020). Leveraging advanced practice nursing in complex health care systems. Nursing Administration Quarterly, 44(2), 127-135.