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Help Diagnose the Challenge—Technical or Adaptive?

IN SIMPLE TERMS, great leaders challenge those around them to learn, grow, and approach new and challenging problems creatively. They understand the importance of creating an environment that challenges individuals to “think different,” as Apple would say. Leadership experts Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky discuss the concept of adaptive challenges. Heifetz and Linsky assert that

great athletes can at once play the game and observe it as a whole as Walt Whitman described it, being both in and out of the game. Jesuits call it contemplation in action. Hindus and Buddhists call it karma yoga or mindfulness. We call this skill getting off the dance floor and going to the balcony, an image that captures the mental activity of stepping back in the midst of action and asking, what’s really going on here?²¹

Adaptive challenges are problems that do not have an easily defined technical solution. In other words, a flat tire has a technical solution with a well-defined process, while teaching a group of autocratic managers engagement strategies may not be as sequential and focused. The context and the players involved certainly can change how one adapts or not. Leading an organization through adaptive challenges is difficult work. Here is the good news: At least now you can pinpoint which kind of problem you and your team members face.

Remember, adaptive challenges require deep work. They are challenges without existing or clear solutions. There is no bridge from “here” to “there.” You and your team need to build it. As a result, the group will likely determine the best course of action. We think the quote “All of us are smarter than one of us” is so true. When confronted with adaptive challenges (and organizations are filled with them), utilize collective knowledge to lay down a conceptual bridge over this chasm. A team that realizes the difference between these two kinds of problems is a team that is ahead of many others.

What do leaders need to do to help their teams understand how to address these adaptive challenges? One director we have consulted with used a simple process within her existing team meetings. Once a month during the team’s regularly scheduled weekly meetings, the leader gave team members an opportunity to address particular difficulties they were having. Typically, it was one or two individuals who had the floor for about ten minutes each. During these ten minutes, a discussion emerged regarding potential ways the team member could handle a particular adaptive challenge. A few weeks after the meeting, the individual sent an e-mail to the team members about their solution. Team members have reported how much they appreciated this process and what a positive difference it made when working through adaptive challenges.

This short entry cannot do the concepts justice, so we suggest you look into the work of Heifetz and Linsky. They are on the cutting edge of what leaders do, and their thinking will challenge your team to reach new levels. To learn more about their work, visit http://www.cambridge-leadership.com/.