Adaptive Challenges and Holding Environments

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Adaptive Challenges and Holding Environments
October 2010
Calev Ben Dor
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Closing the Gap Adaptive Work
Leadership is an activity to mobilize adaptation
(Ron Heifetz)
Solution Clear
Solution Requires Learning
Problem Technical
Problem Adaptive
Responsibility Authority Figure
Responsibility Constituency
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Work Avoidance
People fail to adapt because of the stress
provoked by the problems and the changes it
demands. They resist the pain, anxiety or
conflict that accompanies a sustained interaction
with its situation. Holding on to past
assumptions, blaming authority, scapegoating,
externalizing the enemy, denying the problem,
jumping to conclusions or finding a distracting
issue may restore stability and feel less
stressful than facing and taking responsibility
for a complex challenge. These patterns of
response to disequilibrium are called work
avoidance mechanism.
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Orchestrating Conflict
To orchestrate conflict effectively think of
yourself as having your hand on the thermostat
and always watching for signals that you need to
raise or lower the temperature in the room.
Your goal is to keep the temperature that is,
the intensity of the disequilibrium created by
discussion of the conflict high enough to
motivate people to arrive at creative next steps
and potentially useful solutions, but not so high
that it drives them away or makes it impossible
for them to function.
The harder the adaptive work, stronger holding
environment must be to contain divisive forces
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Raising and Lowering the Temperature
Address aspects of the conflict that have most
obvious and technical solutions
Draw attention to tough questions
Give people more responsibility than they're
comfortable with
Provide structure by breaking problem into parts
Temporarily reclaim responsibility for tough
issues
Bring conflicts to surface
Employ work avoidance mechanisms (taking a break
/ telling a joke)
Tolerate provocative comments
Use dynamics in the room to illustrate some
issues facing the group
Slow down the process of challenging norms and
expectations