The team wasn’t coping: Charli’s story
Adaptive leadership training
My story: Charli, EL1, Defence, Commonwealth
Before attending the Leadership Strategies Workshops, our team was experiencing high angst due to structural and leadership changes that had left little time to adapt. Most were seeking support in one way or another yet their needs were not being met.
My biggest challenge was that the team had become very unhappy. There was minimal role clarity, unnecessary competition, and a lot of blame circulating. The storming stage was perpetual and we weren’t able to move forward.
I decided to attend the workshops with peers to help change this dynamic and learn how to better support myself and others.
Things started shifting for me once I left the workshops and had clarity about what I could change vs what was out of my control. I saw my colleagues in a different light, and with that came a deeper understanding of them as individuals.
Since the workshops I feel wiser and more resilient, patient, and understanding. I now take a step back and reflect on situations objectively, choosing to be curious rather than immediately judging someone’s behaviour. I try to work out what makes people tick, what motivates or demotivates them. I’ve also learnt that while difficult situations are hard to go through, they are temporary. Change is constant and I have a choice in how I manage my day-to-day and role model being a valued team member and an adaptive and kind leader.
If my colleagues had the same challenge, I imagine they’d ask these 3 questions – and here’s how I’d respond today…
How do we establish better ways of working?
It helps to understand the team dynamics – what each individual’s strengths and weaknesses are, and what our work preferences or styles might be. Once we understand each person’s preferences and personality type, the team can work together with more empathy and adapt better to one another. Effective communication is key.
Why are certain people clashing?
Clashes often come from misunderstanding each other’s ways of working. It helps to be curious and keep an open mind. The person may not be deliberately being difficult, rude, or disruptive – it could just be a difference in style or preference. When people understand where others are coming from, it’s easier to work through friction.
How can we influence leadership to manage change better in our workplace?
The best approach is to keep conveying the importance of implementing change with appropriate consultation. Most people are willing to adapt if they’re treated well and not made to feel like pawns in organisational changes or staff movements.
From Kim’s perspective
The value of adaptive leadership can only be recognised by people with emotional intelligence, like Charli. The same applies at an organisational level – only organisations with the maturity to create systems and nurture the traits of adaptive leaders will fully realise the benefits.
Adaptive leadership is more than individual skills. It includes the wider systems and processes that guide entire teams. It requires leaders to understand individual and collective needs, and use organisational resources deliberately. By combining personal insight with team awareness and systemic thinking, leaders help their teams navigate challenges and seize opportunities.
This is why I often see strong systemic advantages to whole teams attending the Leadership Strategies Workshops, or bringing relevant diagnostics and activities back to the broader team. The mindset, traits, behaviours, emotional capabilities, and shared language create a whole new way of relating to each other and establishing clarity around real workplace issues.
As we move into a new year – which will undoubtfully bring fresh challenges and the need to adapt – I invite you to reflect on your own adaptive leadership capabilities and those of your organisation. Like Charli, what can you do to help yourself and others reach that next level of understanding?To learn more about adaptive leadership, head to the Leadership Strategies Workshops or get in touch.