Leadership in a new culture. Learning from Tod Bolsinger and "Canoeing the Mountains"

“Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb.”  So began Tod Bolsinger in a presentation he gave this past Thursday & Friday at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie.   

Bolsinger currently is vice president for vocation and formation at Fuller Theological Seminary.  In 2015 he published Canoeing the Mountains.  The book is a brilliant presentation of the principles of Adaptive Leadership that Bolsinger shared through the story of Lewis and Clark.  The key moment of the story of Lewis and Clark is when the expedition reached Lemhi Pass expecting to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean.  Instead they saw the Rocky Mountains.  They realized that the canoes they had with them would no longer be useful.  The expedition had to either adapt to their situation for which they were not prepared or fail in their mission.

This is the situation that church leaders—especially main-line church leaders—face today.  We are facing a culture for which we were not prepared to encounter.  The choice we have is similar to the one Lewis and Clark made.  We can either apply the principles of adaptive leadership or fail in our mission.

I read the Canoeing the Mountains shortly after it was published.  At the time I was wrestling with how to continue the momentum of starting a new church even as I encountered a vastly different world.  In 2009 I attended a New Church Development conference hosted by San Clemente Presbyterian church, the church Bolsinger served at the time as Head of Staff.  I have a high amount of respect for his insight and the lessons he communicates. 

I can’t do justice in a 800 word blog to all that Bolsinger said, but I can share the most important ideas.  Which is the point that Bolsinger borrowed from Jim Collins and communicated this past Thursday and Friday.  Once a leader has determined what must never change, the leader must be prepared to change everything else.  Just as if leaders are at Lemhi Pass, we must decide what is most important to carry forward on the journey into this culture; we then must be willing to let go of everything else.

Not an easy lesson for a church (on the whole) or church leaders who value traditions and who are more comfortable looking to the past instead of navigating a path to the future.

Bolsinger shared in the book the importance of knowing the difference between a technical problem and an adaptive problem.  “Technical problems are those where the solutions are available to and ‘within the repertoire’ of the community.  These solutions come from best practices, or are known and offered by an expert of implemented by a capable practitioner, professional or manager.”  (page 41 of Canoeing the Mountains.)   “Adaptive challenges, by contrast, are those that ‘cannot be solved with one’s existing knowledge and skills, requiring people to make a shift in their values, expectations, attitudes, or habits of behavior.’  These are systemic problems with no ready answers’ that arise from a changing environment and unchartered territory.  These are challenges leaders face when the world around them changes so rapidly that the planned strategies and approaches are rendered moot.” (page 42 of Canoeing the Mountains)

At the conference Bolsinger shared two adaptive principles from his book.  The first one is “people don’t resist change; they resist loss.”  The task of the leader is to take people through the loss into the future.  The second adaptive principle is “for change to last it must be a healthy adaptation of the DNA of the group.”

Other quotes from Bolsinger from his presentation that garnered stars in my notes are:

“At the moment of crisis, you will not rise to the occasion; you will default to your training.”

“Adaptive work is conservative work. We are conserving what is most important to go forward.”

“The task of the leader is to stay persistent [and I would add non-anxious] in the face of resistance.”

On Friday Bolsinger shared a powerful talk on the practices a spiritual leader needs to live through the inevitable sabotage that the leader will inevitably experience.  He encouraged everyone present to have a coach, a counselor and a spiritual director. (I’m one for three and am committed to being three for three in the next six months.)  He shared his own story of learning how iron is transformed into art.  This tempering process happens only after the iron is put into heat so hot that skin will be torched with contact.  It’s this continual tempering process of forming and reforming that helps the leader be prepared for tasks at hand.   

I'm grateful to St. Andrew Lutheran church for bringing Bolsinger to the Twin Cities.  My own quibble with the event is I would have preferred to hear another lecture from Bolsinger instead of breaking into workshops led by local church leaders.  

I hope to continue my own exploration of being an adaptive leader in the context of the 21^st century. I know that if I can only carry one book it will be this one.

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