Technical Problem vs Adaptive Challenge

As our Community Unitarian addresses the various issues and questions that come up, it is important to be able to distinguish a "technical problem" from an "adaptive challenge." At the Board of Trustees retreat on Sat Aug 16, the Board studied the differences. As we go forward, it will be crucial to ask ourselves: "Is this simply a technical problem? Is there an underlying adaptive challenge here -- for, if so, a very different approach is called for."

The single biggest failure of leadership is to treat adaptive challenges like technical problems.

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS VS. ADAPTIVE CHALLENGES

	TECHNICAL PROBLEMS	ADAPTIVE CHALLENGES
1.	Easy to identify	Difficult to identify (easy to deny)
2.	Often lend themselves to quick and easy (cut-and-dried) solutions	Require changes in values, beliefs, roles, relationships, & approaches to work
3.	Often can be solved by an authority or expert	People with the problem do the work of solving it
4.	Require change in just one or a few places; often contained within organizational boundaries	Require change in numerous places; usually cross organizational boundaries
5.	People are generally receptive to technical solutions	People often resist even acknowledging adaptive challenges
6.	Solutions can often be implemented quickly — even by edict	“Solutions” require experiments and new discoveries; they can take a long time to implement and cannot be implemented by edict

EXAMPLES

TECHNICAL PROBLEM	ADAPTIVE CHALLENGE
Take medication to lower blood pressure	Change lifestyle to eat healthy, get more exercise and lower stress
Implement electronic ordering and dispensing of medications in hospitals to reduce errors and drug interactions	Encourage nurses and pharmacists to question and even challenge illegible or dangerous prescriptions by physicians
Increase penalty for drunk driving ƒ	Raise public awareness of the dangers and effects of drunk driving, targeting teenagers in particular

Adapted from Ronald A. Heifetz & Donald L. Laurie, “The Work of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, January-February 1997; and Ronald A. Heifetz & Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line, Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

Table 1.

Kind of Challenge	Problem Definition	Solution	Locus of Work
Technical	Clear	Clear	Authority
Technical and Adaptive	Clear	Requires learning	Authority and Stakeholders
Adaptive	Requires learning	Requires learning	Stakeholders

Table 2.

Task	Technical	Adaptive
Direction	Provide problem definition & solution	Identify the adaptive challenge; frame key questions and issues
Protection	Protect from external threats	Disclose external threats
Orientation	Orient people to current roles	Disorient current roles; resist orienting people to new ones too quickly
Conflict	Restore order	Expose conflict or let it emerge
Norms	Maintain norms	Challenge norms or let them be challenged.