Week 12 of approximately 130 is in the books in my doctorate program.
This week in BMAL 702 we are studying adaptive and team leadership, and fellowship. I found some interesting articles that apply adaptive leadership an outdoor leadership setting.
Score: 114/115
To read the paper:
No paper available
One of the discussion board replies from a fellow student:
I always love reading your posts like this one, Robert. The experience is described so clearly we get a sense beyond the leadership model. We are immersed in feeling the stress, the anxiety, and the adrenaline prompting quick thinking. We get to see Adaptive Leadership play out in a scenario requiring adjustments of tactics, resource use, and follower responsibilities it appears. Your participants’ confidence levels must grow to an amazing extent as they take on these challenges, pivoting along the way to play a part in accomplishing the team goal. The psychological and social benefits to participants have been well-documented as the empowering experiences and time outdoors provide powerful self-efficacy and mood boosts (Holland et al. 2018).
Depending upon the scope of the program and the challenges faced, the Adaptive approach will lead to a positive group outcome with lasting impact on the participants. To me, this brings up the blurred lines between Adaptive and Transformational. At first, I viewed Adaptive as the “light” form of change leadership. Followers must be motivated to adjust their actions and behaviors. It may be semantics, but Transformational seems so much more sweeping in demand on the follower and impact of the culture.
While searching for articles, I found an interesting read by Hovey et al. (2016) regarding female body image following outdoor educational programs. There is a documented, positive correlation between participation and body-image improvement among women who previously assessed poorly in body-image (Hovey et al., 2016). The ability to adapt, adjust, and succeed in experiences outside their homes and comfort zones is critical for execution of the goal. The self-efficacy takeaway goes beyond that blurred line to transformation.
It must be incredibly rewarding work. I must confess there’s inevitably a part in reading your posts at which I pause and think, “Well, I ran a mean Zoom session today.” I think I need to step up the assignments I give my clients between meetings.
