The False Allure of Technical (vs. Adaptive) Leadership

The path isn’t a straight line; it’s a spiral. You continually come back to things you thought you understood and see deeper truths. - Barry H. Gillespie

As a young child, I was convinced all adults knew everything. I was enculturated into a truth/fiction binary; answers were clear, doled out with access to power.

I thought problems could be easily identified, solved quickly, always by an authority or expert, requiring a few minor, exact, modifications; then voila, the solution is quickly identified. Problem solved.

Enter lived experience. I have learned that “solutions” require experiments, many mistakes, new discoveries, adjusting, learning, and most often require much time to implement. Adaptive challenges cannot be implemented by edict.

As a new business owner, my gut reaction is to technically solve challenges. When COVID19 hit the United States last March, I had, 3-months-prior, taken the petrifying and exhilarating leap into full-time consulting. I observed veteran, male consultants in our community of practice doing their thing, seemingly cool as cucumbers. After a meeting, unexpected tears popped to my eyes. I was angry and scared: What do they know that I don't? Am I doing it wrong? Why don't they tell me the secret to success? Turns out, I had to find my own path, and it was neither linear nor technical.

“Technical challenges are those that can be solved by the knowledge of experts, whereas adaptive challenges are complex and ambiguous in nature, and may be volatile or unpredictable. Solutions to this type of challenges usually require people to learn new ways of doing things, change their attitudes, values, and norms and adopt an experimental mind-set.” Technical Challenges vs. Adaptive Challenges

In the last fifteen months, I've supported more than fifty leaders and hundreds of adult learners to grapple with adaptive challenges. From a Fortune500 company to a 3-year-old grassroots, rural nonprofit; from a large international corporation to small, local, arts organizations; from learning cohorts of educators to facilitating networks of leaders on the west coast. Leadership is one adaptive challenge after another.

Have you noticed the plethora of anti-racism public statements since last summer when more white people began to awaken to racial injustice? Adaptiveness is particularly required in anti-oppression commitments, especially when we join the efforts from privilege. Anti-racism, white consciousness, and anti-white supremacy are squarely adaptive, not technical. Adaptiveness brings anxiety, lack of clarity, challenges long-held assumptions and approaches, and much ambiguity, often via (technical) resistance. Pressure is everywhere to solve quickly and cleanly, by dominating the problem.

Although it's messy, let's resist the allure of relaxing against and taking comfort in technical solutions. Daily I’m inspired by committed leaders, working adaptively, tripping and falling along the way. I see you rising again with stronger commitment.

 "A champion is defined not by their wins but by how they can recover when they fall.” -Serena Williams

Our western brains love clarity, linearity, and a clean, crisp list of goals, objectives, and outcomes. But life is rarely linear or clear. When we leaders attempt to shove an adaptive challenge into a technical mold, it never fits. It may seem to fit for a short bit, but it will explode or seep out. Adaptive challenges will not be contained in neat and tidy technical packages.