Building Trust and Risking Trust in Adaptive Change
Leading adaptive change in a church or any other organization requires a foundation of trust. As a leader builds trust, people grant the leader increasing authority to lead them. Adaptive leadership requires that a leader finds a balance between building trust and then knowing when to risk that trust in order to help the organization address an adaptive challenge.
Building Trust Through 4 Cs
As I have come to see it, the foundation of trust that is necessary for effective leadership during periods of change rests on four pillars: Competence, Character, Commitment, and Cultural Fit. Followers develop trust and extend authority to lead when leaders consistently evidence these four dimensions of their role.
First, leaders must demonstrate competence by assuring those who authorized them that they have the skills, knowledge, ability, and experience to perform the job that the organization appointed or called them to do. Before embarking on meaningful change initiatives, it is crucial that the members of the organization trust that the organization’s basic functions are being competently attended to by the leader.
Second, leaders build trust by exhibiting high character. The pastor or leader proves to be a person of integrity, authenticity, curiosity, courage, and love. People know that they are trustworthy, honest, and accountable.
Third, people in the congregation or organization know they can count on the leader’s commitment. She or he has taken the time to get to know the people, to listen to their
stories, and to value their history. The leader invests in strong interpersonal relationships and chooses to lead collaboratively. The leader has helped the members of the church or organization grow in their ability to work together effectively. There are agreed-upon norms and ways to engage in productive conflict that leads to healthy outcomes rather than destructive division. The leader equips the organization with the skills to work through the process of addressing adaptive challenges.
Fourth, there is a clear cultural fit. The core values and sense of purpose of the leader align well the congregation’s or organization’s core identity. The leader clearly embraces the mission and values that define the organization’s DNA. Their work, leadership, and communication styles match the organization’s expectations.
Risking trust *
The authority that members grant to a leader comes with expectations. People volunteer to follow a leader because they believe that the leader will provide specific services, champion their causes, represent their particular interests, or solve problems within the parameters they understand and accept. This creates an implicit agreement between leaders and followers.
Adaptive leadership often requires challenging these expectations, risking the trust that has been built over time.
Rather than simply meeting or exceeding authorizers’ predefined notions of success, adaptive leaders must sometimes disappoint people, though not to the point of completely alienating them. Rather than solving a problem or addressing an issue alone they invite the organization to address an adaptive challenge with them. The art of addressing an adaptive challenge lies in managing the resistance that inevitably emerges when expectations are challenged, and the leader exceeds her or his authority.
The Pushback to Adaptive Leadership
When leaders exercise adaptive leadership by deviating from their authorized role, resistance naturally follows. Authorizers called or hired the leader to perform one function, now the leader is doing something different—challenging the status quo, asking questions to which there is no known answer, raising taboo issues, or highlighting contradictions between stated and actual values.
Addressing adaptive challenges requires stepping into unknown territory and disturbing the equilibrium. This activity is inherently uncertain and risky for both the organization and the individual leader. Such changes are often disruptive and disorienting, creating anxiety throughout the system.
A Crucial Question for Leadership
A fundamental question for leaders becomes one of timing and approach:
When should a leader exercise her or his authority and manage well within existing structures, relationships, and expectations?
And when should a leader risk hard-earned trust, exceed authority, and “dance on the edge of authority” to challenge the status quo and move the organization forward?
This dance on the edge of authority involves four key elements:
- Disappointing people by challenging comfortable assumptions.
- Challenging established patterns and ingrained behaviors.
- Learning novel approaches and developing additional capabilities.
- Experimenting with innovative solutions and methods.
Conclusion
Leading adaptive change is not about maintaining the status quo. Leading adaptive change is a risky process of guiding a congregation or another organization through necessary transformation.
Competence, character, commitment, and cultural fit build the trust that the leader can manage the organization well. Adaptive leadership requires discerning when to sustain that trust and operate within authorized boundaries and when to invest and risk that trust, to exceed our authority, and to lead the congregation to address an adaptive challenge. To modify a well-known phrase from Ted Bolsinger, “When do I invest the trust I earned on the map to lead people off the map?”
Effective leaders recognize that deep, transformative change often demands disappointing people’s expectations, challenging established norms, fostering continuous learning, and encouraging experimentation.
By skillfully navigating this tension between building trust and risking that trust and exceeding their authority in order to help adapt the organization’s core DNA for a new day, leaders help their organizations adapt and thrive in changing environments.
* These thoughts about authority have their roots in the work of Ronald Heifitz and Marty Linsky, primarily in their book, Leadership on the Line, as well as Ken’s Doctoral of Ministry work at Princeton Theological Seminary, 1988.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth Eriks
M.Div., Western Theological Seminary
D. Min., Princeton Theological Seminary
Ken retired from full time, active ministry in the Reformed Church in America at the end of 2018. He currently serves as a leadership coach, consultant, and facilitator. Ken is also on the staff of Churches Learning Change (https://www.churcheslearningchange.com/)
