
Leadership for our times.
Our complex world needs a new approach to leadership now more than ever. An approach that brings together collective action and isn’t afraid to experiment with bold, new ideas.
We provide research, coaching and bespoke training to help leaders adopt and implement adaptive leadership practices so they can thrive in turbulent times, help societies make progress and advance communities and opportunities within – and between – their jurisdictions.
In a fast-paced, complicated environment, change initiatives need to succeed.
Yet too many of them fail.
And often, it is because people diagnose problems incorrectly and try to apply the wrong solution.
An adaptive leadership model offers tools and a framework to help leaders correctly identify problems and apply the right approach to tackle them. Based on more than 40 years of research, it develops leaders’ capacity to respond to complex adaptive challenges and mobilise people to make progress on these issues.
Traditional fixes won’t help our communities tackle today’s problems.
Mainstream leadership frameworks often rely on a top-down approach, designed for technical challenges easily solved through resources, expertise and money.
But our societies are facing much deeper and more complex challenges that require deep listening, engagement, empathy and collaboration.
Adaptive leadership helps organisations face complex challenges head-on by:
Adaptive leadership encourages us to slow down so we can hurry up – and provides deliberate, thoughtful ways to reframe our routines and bring mindfulness to our actions and assumptions. And by seeking out progress rather than solutions, it allows for innovation and strategy to emerge.
At the Academy of Adaptive Leadership, we empower today’s leaders to take a more holistic view when addressing modern-day challenges.
We provide a one-stop shop to help private, public and civil sectors in the Indo-Pacific region respectfully harness the best of different cultures, genders and histories and forge new ways of making progress through adaptive leadership.
Based at the University of New South Wales (Canberra) and Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW Sydney), we provide research, education, curriculum development and bespoke training options.
If you are facing messy, complex challenges, talk to us today.
Email: adaptiveleadership@unsw.edu.au
We partner with the global founders and leading experts of adaptive leadership at Harvard University, including Professors Ron Heifetz, Marty Linsky and Farayi Chipungu, as well as the award-winning Kansas Leadership Center and previous Harvard-KSG visiting faculty Maxime Fern and Dr. Michael Johnstone.
Our faculty, staff and coaches have deep expertise and experience in adaptive leadership practice and scholarship. We build off this combined wisdom of long-standing adaptive leadership practitioners and newly emerging adaptive leadership innovators. We are proud to partner with founders and members of the Australian Adaptive Leadership Institute (AALI) and Adaptive Leadership Australia (ALA).
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about The Academy of Adaptive Leadership at UNSW, please contact Anya Holzman.
This unique three-day immersion program will allow you to seize new opportunities and create real and meaningful impact for your organisation – regardless of the challenges ahead.
Ronald is among the world’s foremost authorities on the practice and teaching of leadership. He speaks extensively and advises heads of governments, businesses, and non-profit organisations across the globe. Heifetz founded the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School where he has taught for nearly four decades.
Julia Fabris McBride is chief leadership development officer at the Kansas Leadership Center, where more than 15,000 people around the world have attended programs since 2007. A certified coach, former actor and co-author of When Everyone Leads, Julia splits her time between Wichita and Matfield Green, Kansas.
Dr Alison Beamish is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Presently her research focuses on Adaptive Leadership, however, her expertise extends to Servant Leadership and Abusive Supervision. Alison's interests include how leadership behaviours have lasting effects on a leader's health and wellbeing.
Dianne van Meegen (Di) is a Principal of Directions for Change. She has extensive experience as coach, facilitator and designer of learning design and delivery for APS agencies. Much of her work over the last ten years has been based on adaptive leadership concepts and practice.
Robyne is an experienced Organisational Development, Change, and Leadership consultant, formerly with McKinsey, based in New Zealand. She specialises in multi-year interventions and has worked with renowned organisations globally. Her practical experience and role in driving systemic change enhance her credentials.
Professor Nick Wailes is the Senior Deputy Dean (External Engagement) at UNSW Business School, and Director AGSM. Professor Wailes is the architect of the online MBAX, and his research focuses on the impact of technology on organisations. He teaches and consults in the areas of strategy, leadership and digital transformation.
Maurizio is Director for AGSM’s MBA Executive and online MBAX and has led many leadership programs. His research focused on how project professionals develop the cognitive and emotional capacity to deal with adaptive challenges. He is also alumnus of the Harvard KSG Masterclass on Adaptive Leadership.