2019 Fall Leadership Event Resource List

Resources for Transformational and Adaptive Leadership
“Lead for the Jesusian Transformation of the World”
Crossroads District 2019
Charge Conference Connection Leadership Event

Videos

Books Specifically about adaptive leadership and adaptive change:

• Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory, Tod Bolsinger which is quite readable
• Transforming Church by Kevin G. Ford which is quite good and deals directly with adaptive leadership. The author is a consultant. It goes deeper than Bolsinger. It is a bit more academic.
• The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky offers an accessible (though not theological) understanding of the specific steps we need to take in practice to employ adaptive leadership, helpful in the sense of actually knowing what to do (how to deal with resistance, how to identify my own resistances, etc.)
• The New Parish by Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens, and Dwight Friesen. While dealing directly with adaptive leadership only at points, it deepens the conversation as it focuses on the external environment (what can be called the third component along with the leader and the led). It's theologically grounded which is helpful.
• Necessary Endings: The employees, businesses, and relationships that all of us have to give up in order to move forward, Henry Cloud. The subtitle gets to the heart of the matter in the assessment and discernment phases of adaptive leadership.

More Leadership Books

• Preaching for Church Transformation, Bill Easum.
• Lay Servants as Christian Transformational Leaders. Brown, Marc. Discipleship Resources. Written for United Methodist Lay Servant Ministry.
• Impact: Reclaiming the Call of Lay Ministry. Kay Kotan and Blake Bradford.
• Small Church Checkup: Assessing Your Church’s Health and Creating a Treatment Plan by Kay Kotan and Phil Schroeder
• Mission Possible: A Simple Structure for Missional Effectiveness, Kay Kotan (Lay person and UMC conference leader)—simplified local church leadership structure (single board).  Also see: Simplified Structure Training Videos by Kay Kotan in the video section.
• The Coach-Approach Leader: Questions, Not Answers, Make Great Leaders, Steve Gladis.
• Immunity to Change, Robert Kegan & Lisa Laskow Lahey, 2009—a proven and effective guide to overcoming fears, changing behavior for persons and teams.  Excellent for those persons and teams willing to engage in the intentional effort to be free of our immunity to change and free to realize new vitality and fruitfulness.

Articles

• Becoming an Adaptive Leader: Based on the work of Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky,” Spring 2011: Lifelong Faith, p. 28)—a brief and very helpful “how to” that can easily be used in a local church with leadership teams.  (Download link: https://www.lifelongfaith.com/uploads/5/1/6/4/5164069/becoming_an_adaptive_leader.pdf  )