Adaptive Leadership in Digital Transformation: The Role of the Facilitator

Leaders’ ability to quickly adapt IT practices is especially critical in today’s increasingly turbulent environment with frequent changes in the competitive and technological landscape. However, developing such adaptive leadership is a difficult and complex process. Often, underlying assumptions within the organization result in business leaders being inattentive to digital transformation issues and in IS leaders playing sub-optimal roles within the organization. Since IS and business leaders are often unaware of these assumptions, they may find it difficult—or even controversial—to discuss them. Hence, as unbiased third-parties, facilitators can be of tremendous value to help leaders think outside the box, reflect, and change the assumptions that shape current IT practices. Drawing on the Participatory Process Model (PPM) and its application within two organizations (Hansen et al. 2011), this chapter discusses the important role of a facilitator in helping IS and business leaders uncover their underlying assumptions to quickly respond to challenges in digital transformation.