Flattening the Hierarchy Curve: Adaptive Leadership during the Covid-19 Pandemic – A Case Study in an Academic Teacher Training College

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic forced institutions of higher education to adopt agile leadership behaviors. The current research aims to examine how the leadership at the Ohalo teacher training college in Israel dealt with the crisis caused by the pandemic. The research hypothesis, predicting a positive relationship between the college leadership’s decisions and lecturers’ positive evaluations regarding these decisions, was confirmed. Previous research has given scant attention to the relationship between running an academic institution and applying principles of adaptive leadership during a crisis. This article presents a case study of adaptive leadership at an academic institution during the Covid-19 pandemic. The conclusions suggest that ensuring the continued functioning of an organization during a crisis requires skills and competencies reflecting multifaceted and adaptive leadership, agility, and direct channels of reciprocal, cooperative communication. Opportunities for initiative taking should be provided, and a consistent policy must be maintained that aims to “flatten the hierarchy curve.”