Leadership and Management Programmes

In Module 2, you will look at typology of problems and followership, as well as the 7 Principles of Adaptive Leadership.  

To prepare for this:  

• Read Crisis! what Crisis? by Irwin Turbitt
• Watch this  vimeo (8 minutes, 12 seconds) from 2025 in which Ashley Goodfellow describes putting the 7 Principles of Adaptive Leadership into her practice. (You can read Ashley’s full case study in the Optional Supplementary Material if you wish, this is not a pre-work requirement.)
• Read pages 10 to 19 of Followership in the NHS  by Keith Grint/Clare Holt
• Review, download and enable editing of the 7 Principles of Adaptive Change, for use during the session.  You will bring the 7 Principles to life for your wicked issue in an exercise in module 2 working on your own, which you will then discuss with partners in a trio.  You are welcome to do this in advance if you wish, and you can add to it during the exercise in the session.  Use the first page to guide you on what to put against each of the headings.  You might need to leave some of your 7 Principles blank – and this is OK. 

Finally, if it is your preference to take notes on the slide pack, and to see the full agenda in advance, you can download the slides from the Resources section below. This is optional and not a requirement.

To expand on leading without formal authority, a clumsy solution, and its associated followership, read:

‘Doing politics differently: How a ‘nerdy Professor’ engaged with the citizens of Calgary’ by Holt, Clare A. (2016) Engaging individuals to be effective collectives : a ganzian analysis of leader/follower relationships in times of challenge. PhD thesis, University of Warwick. Pp 208-219

Principles of Adaptive Leadership

For a recent case study in public service in Scotland, read Adaptive leadership in the real world: putting theory into practice (2025) by Ashley Goodfellow, (for which the vimeo was provided in the pre-work) in which she describes putting the 7 Principles of Adaptive Leadership into her practice.  Consider what aspect of this case study resonates with you, and for what reason. If helpful to your reflections, you can consider the points below:

• What led to Ashley getting on the balcony and what she got from identifying the adaptive challenge.
• How Ashley created the holding environment and her observations on cooking the conflict.
• How Ashley maintained disciplined attention and gave back the work.
• What was important for Ashley about protecting the voices of leadership from below.
• The skills she needed during each of the 7 Principles.

For more on adaptive leadership focussed on public service, read:

• Adaptive Leadership Sowing Seeds, written for the Academi Wales and Welsh Government by Martin Lewis and edited by Jo Carruthers, the Director of Academi Wales. (2018) This considers ‘adaptive and systems leadership in support of the continuing challenges and transformation reform agenda within Wales.’
• Applying the principles of adaptive leadership to person-centred care for people with complex care needs: Considerations for care providers, patients, caregivers and organizations, Kerry Kuluski MSW, PhD, Robert J. Reid MD, PhD, G. Ross Baker PhD. (2020)

For an explanation of the theory of the 7 Principles of Adaptive Leadership, with real life examples, read The Work of Leadership (Harvard Business Review. Jan/Feb1997, Vol. 75 Issue 1, p124-134) by Ron Heifetz and D Laurie. You can access this either by copying and pasting the title and author into your internet browser, or by clicking on the link above, for which a Google sign in is required.

Or you can watch Barry Eustance and Adrian Stratta, from the Sixess Consultancy, delve in the concept of adaptive leadership (December 2024). Though 29.5 minutes long, a summary is provided, and chapters. You can take your mouse along the timeline at the bottom of the video and see when different sections start and end to focus on specific areas of interest.

Go to Masterclass in January