A belated happy New Year to all! I hope this month’s issue of The Driller finds you healthy, safe and taking a coffee break on a jobsite somewhere as you read this. In December’s issue, I painted a picture of what I described as a “blind” leader: essentially, someone who makes things up as they go along. I mentioned the dangers of such a leader: a lack of decisiveness leading to rapidly made, dangerous decisions; and an inability to take input or feedback from others. All of these traits sow frustration and doubt within a team. I also mentioned some do’s and don’ts for approaching a blind leader. Namely, we should not use our subject matter expertise to discredit blind leaders openly or find ways to rid the team of them. Instead, we should offer feedback and attempt to help that person grow and develop into the kind of leader we all strive to become or would trust to lead us in the field.
This month, I would like to discuss adaptive leadership, a growing topic of conversation among friends and colleagues. While scholarly articles and studies discuss this topic in detail, I would like to share my personal perspective on how I came to understand this concept and how it shaped the leader I became. In addition, I would like to share an example of how and why some resist adaptive leadership.