Advancing adaptive leadership through adaption-innovation theory: enhancements to the holding environment

While adaptive leadership is a useful framework for leadership practitioners, there is limited empirical research supporting its conceptual tools and tactics. Kirton's adaption-innovation (A-I) theory contends individuals have innate problem-solving style preferences for more or less structure. In the current conceptual paper, we examine the theoretical underpinnings of adaptive leadership and A-I theory within the context of complex problem-solving. We connect A-I theory to concepts from adaptive leadership to link a more rigorous and empirically supported theory to a popular practice. We go further to explore how a leader's A-I style informs the maintenance of an adaptive leadership holding environment (HE), particularly with regard to facilitating a productive zone of disequilibrium (PZD).