In my original post-facilitation reflective piece ‘Processing the Process‘ I discussed the idea of effective planning allowing flexibility, which was my take away from my own facilitation experience.  Planning had been an up-hill battle with our group, and there was a pivotal moment where we had to adapt from meeting at a certain bus stop after lunch to just making our way back to the green corridor. Combine that scenario with being in a foreign space. It meant that we each had to navigate our own group and as a facilitator rely on the planning, hoping we had done enough to know how to get to the correct destinations despite the change in circumstances. If we didn’t have a detailed plan could we have still adapted to change in the same manner? My thought at the time was no. However is there any evidence to back up my claim? Before getting to that I want to clarify why flexibility in leadership is important as it is after all the central focus of my reflection.

Norton (2010) collaborates a number of different definitions and sums up that the common theme of flexible leadership is a leaders ability to respond positively to changing conditions. In Outdoor Education despite using foresight to plan ways to manage and eliminate most  things that could be deemed unexpected, there are factors such as weather, social dynamics and environmental changes for example that cannot be planned for. Therefore we need to be able to be able to adapt to those situations and make positive decisions.

In the weeks since we have returned from Singapore I have done plenty of digging and to my surprise I found very little on planning and flexibility being used in the same sentence. As Yukl and Mahsud (2010) point out this could be due to lack of research into aspects of flexible leadership. However there is also a notion that Priest and Gass (1997) state that experience, not planning is more beneficial in times of ‘uncertainty and improvisation’ and that planning informs more the tasks that are ‘common and repetitive’. If we take experience then is the key developer then that means experiential learning is one of the primary processes to improve that aspect of leadership. That we need to place ourselves consistently in practical experiences to broaden perspectives, make decisions, improve problem solving and to be willing to reflect and learn from them (Norton, 2010).

A key  aspect of flexible leadership from my own observation of other leaders in practice is correct decision making and having the confidence to back that decision up.  As Propst and Koesler (1998) point out, self-efficacy (confidence in ones ability) is developed beyond just experiences, but also through the development of ones knowledge and understanding relevant to the place and people you are leading. A practical example for Outdoor Education could be understanding weather patterns and management strategies in different conditions. While knowledge can be gained through and individuals own research, experiences and transfer of learning from others, from my experience you can a level of understanding through the planning process.

What can be drawn from all of this? Well for starters a combination of experiences (even specially devised experiences) and development of knowledge on relevant areas of what you are leading are vital for a leader to become effectively flexible. Can planning assist in this? well based on the above research there is little that clearly addresses this topic, but in my opinion and from observing my facilitation and other leaders in action, planning can certainly play a role in development of knowledge and therefore can assist in becoming more flexible when the unexpected arises.

References

Norton, L. W. (2010). FLEXIBLE LEADERSHIP: AN INTEGRATIVE PERSPECTIVE. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 62(2), 143-150. doi:10.1037/a0019990

Priest, S., & Gass, M. A. (1997). Effective leadership in adventure programming (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Propst, D. B., & Koesler, R. A. (1998). Bandura goes outdoors: Role of self‐efficacy in the outdoor leadership development process. Leisure Sciences, 20, 319-344. doi:10.1080/01490409809512289

Yukl, G., & Mahsud, R. (2010). WHY FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP IS ESSENTIAL. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 62, 81-93. doi:10.1037/a0019835