Adaptive Challenges vs Technical Problems

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

- Heifetz & Linsky, Cambridge Leadership Associates

Adaptive	Technical
Has a solution that is already known (knowledge and capacity already exist)	Has no known solution or solution is outside people's current repertoire
Can be solved by an authority or expert, or by tested procedures, norms and systems	Can only be addressed through changes in people's beliefs, priorities, loyalties, and habits

Most challenges involve BOTH technical and adaptive dimensions

*Lahye, L. (2017, May 22). Seeing and overcoming the immunity to change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6reQY1MIBA8