Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
Chapter 11 – Adaptive Leadership
Discussion Questions and Exercises
1. What is the main function of leaders under the Adaptive Leadership approach? What are the
differences of this approach from those we have studied in previous chapters?
2. Other leadership approaches we have studied so far also take into account followers’
motivations (e.g., path-goal, LMX, transformational, authentic). How does the Adaptive
Leadership approach differ?
4. How does understanding a biological perspective on humans’ evolutionary adaptation to
different environments help explain the assumptions of Adaptive Leadership?
5. When have you experienced technical challenges at work? Technical and adaptive
challenges? Adaptive challenges? Did the responses of leaders in those situations correlate
with the prescribed behaviors of the Adaptive Leadership model?
6. How would a leader discern whether or not a challenge “strikes at the core feelings and
thoughts of others”?
7. Can you think of other archetypes or basic patterns of adaptive change besides the four
suggested by Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky, 2009)?
8. Explain the concept of a holding environment. What would it look like in a virtual team
environment?
9. What are some best practices you can share about how leaders can effectively regulate
personal distress?
11. In your current job, or role as a student, what would it mean for a leader to “give the work
back to you”?
12. How would you like being a student at Summerhill, in England? How would you like
teaching there? Would you flourish as a student or teacher?
13. Where do you draw the line between “protecting voices from below” and giving a platform
to chronic complainers in an organization?
Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
14. Does the Adaptive Leadership approach work well in every situation? In a stable and
15. Do you think men and women enact the prescribed leader behaviors differently? If so, how?
16. Explain how adaptive leadership can be applied at a societal level.
17. How can leaders “learn ways to curtail their influence and shift problem solving back to the
people involved”?
19. Complete the Adaptive Leadership Questionnaire and ask five coworkers or friends to assess
your leadership as well. Average their assessments on all six measures. How does their average
compare to your self-assessment of each behavior? Discuss how knowing your behavioral