Adaptive Leadership in Practice

As I began writing this chapter in March 2020, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took the world by storm. The pandemic shut down countries as leaders everywhere tried to control the spread of the disease. While the COVID-19 pandemic is not the first pandemic the world has faced, it had been over 100 years since society had faced a health challenge of such global proportions. The pandemic presented an adaptive challenge because the problems and solutions of the pandemic did not have pre-determined answers. Infectious disease experts knew there was a disease but did not initially understand how the virus was transmitted. Experts did not also know the best way to treat it. Containing the spread of the virus depended on people adopting behaviors such as hand washing, self-quarantining, mask-wearing, and social distancing. However, many people (including elected officials) resisted adopting or discouraged these practices. Thus, containment was out of the hands of leaders. Getting the pandemic under control required more than the experts’ exercise of authority. Adaptation would require that individuals, organizations, and even governments change their attitudes, norms, and behaviors.