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resolved by sets of interdependent agents inside the

organization. Such agent sets are seen as self-organizing.

Making "Adaptive Leadership" Work

For the outcomes of work by an 'agent set' to be seen as 'legitimate', it

must meet, at least, the following criteria.

● Composition: The issue that the 'agent set' has to resolve is a
'common interest problem. The 'agent set' must be complete, all
those who share the common interest must be involved. If the

interests of parts of the organization are not represented in the
set then those unrepresented groups will not perceive the
decisions as legitimate. A corollary of this is that even if the
composition is complete, the key people must actively

participate. Offloading attendance at key meetings to a
subordinate will slow down decision-making and destroy
legitimacy making the whole process pointless. In a highly time

constrained world this is a very common problem that
undermines the 'CAS' thinking in practice.[1]

● Interaction: Effective resolution of a problem of adaptation
requires members of the agent set to interact. Where formal

barriers to interaction are imposed or traditional leadership
seeks (consciously or unconsciously) to short-circuit the work of
the agent set by intervening in the decision process then the

adaptive behavior is undermined. Once this occurs the
organization as a whole will get the message that this is a sham.

● Interface. An agent set can resolve a problem of adaptation,
but the output always has to be ‘sold’ to the Administrative

Leadership. This sale is linked to the issue of composition; the
right agent set carries its own legitimacy. It is the role of
Enabling Leadership to ‘champion’ the output by demonstrating

a personal commitment to the idea, promoting the idea through

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