The Challenge

After 19 years of service, the Director of the Center for Community Service-Learning was preparing to exit her role in order to take on an opportunity for larger scale community service work abroad. She reached out to Adaptive Edge for consultation on succession planning.

In the early phase of work, two themes emerged:

• a passion for community service, and
• a routine avoidance of conflict and organizational politics.

Opportunities for enriching the Center’s offerings were being lost, despite the depth of her commitment. Adaptive Edge helped the Director understand that, for the sake of both her career as well as the Center’s future well-being, additional leadership competence was critical; specifically, she needed to build her capacity to strategically manage conflict and organizational politics.

The Solution

Adaptive Edge positioned this challenge so that it aligned with the Director’s passion for the Center’s core purpose — ongoing opportunities for students to learn through helping communities to improve. Clarifying this crucial link helped the Director to activate her motivation and resourcefulness to engage with conflict and organizational politics. Adaptive Edge provided additional tools for the Director to develop her vision for the Center’s emerging opportunities, to map the political terrain within the university, and to develop her strategic plan.

The Outcome

As a result, the Director was able to sustain work at the edge of her comfort zone, establishing productive coalitions with a range of key influencers and schools within the university. She leveraged these coalitions to create innovative community service programs which enhanced the Center’s reputation and funding. A virtuous cycle was created, fulfilling the Center’s purpose and providing a strong legacy for the incoming Director.