Time to Hunker Down?

07/23/2012

Leaders are the ones who keep faith with the past, keep step with the present, and keep the promise to posterity.
Harold J. Seymour

"The danger in the current economic situation is that people in positions of authority will hunker down," writes Ronald Heifetz in the July 2009 issue of Harvard Business Review. "They will try to solve the problem with short-term fixes: tightening controls, across-the-board cuts, restructuring plans....

"That is understandable. It is natural for authority figures to try to protect people from external threats so that everyone can quickly return to business as usual. But in these times, even the most competent authority will be unable to offer this protection. The organizational adaptability required to meet a relentless succession of challenges is beyond anyone's current expertise. No one in a position of authority has ever been here before....

"People who practice what we call adaptive leadership do not make this mistake. Instead of hunkering down, they seize the opportunity of moments like the current one to hit the organization's reset button. They use the turbulence of the present to build on and bring closure to the past. In the process they change key rules of the game, reshape parts of the organization, and redefine the work people do."

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