adaptive challenge
Posted by: len hjalmarson
Church: Aylmer, Ontario Aylmer
Date: September 8th, 2010
Ron Heifetz, the organizational and systems specialist, identifies two distinct types of problems we face: technical problems, and adaptive problems. Technical problems have technical solutions: they are straightforward and predictable, and implementation is likewise predictable. Sometimes the solution is simply trying harder.
Adaptive problems, however, are unique, because they require not merely tweaking the system or trying harder, but usually involve knowledge we don’t yet possess. In other words, adaptive problems partake of complexity and they require a new imagination in order to address. Many of the problems we face in our churches in 2010 are adaptive problems.
In the June edition of The Other Journal, authors Bob Goudzward and Mark Vander Vennen reference adaptive problems and their solutions.
“To address these questions we need to develop a clearer understanding of our rapidly changing times before we can expect effective, enduring solutions. The deeper roots of our present predicament need to be laid bare.
“This is not an easy path. It may require challenging even our basic assumptions, views, and convictions. But we believe that this is not a path without hope. Descending to deeper layers underneath today’s grave predicament may even reveal almost forgotten, long-neglected spiritual resources.
“The lives of palm trees in Northern Africa provide a surprising metaphor for the fruitfulness of digging down to the deepest levels (see Figure 4). For centuries, palm trees have been planted in the middle of deserts, a feat that seems impossible. But it becomes truly unbelievable when one sees the actual process. The tree planters dig a hole in the sand, fifteen feet or more, and they push the young tree down into the hole. They then cover the tree entirely with sand, and they finish by carefully securing a large flat rock on top of the young tree. By all appearances, the planters have systematically eliminated every possibility of growth for the young tree!”
June 15, 2010
Global Problems: The Lost Dimension
by Bob Goudzwaard and Mark Vander Vennen
Len, any suggestion of challenging or rethinking basic assumptions always seems to bring with it many fears and objections. How do we engage in a process of challenging assumptions without causing so much conflict?
First, the missing paragraph, somehow omitted when I posted: “But the opposite is true. A young tree wants to grow by every means possible. If it cannot grow in an upward direction then it grows in a downward direction instead, until finally, it somehow reaches the groundwater far beneath the surface. If the tree reaches that level, it drinks and absorbs so much energy that it is able to grow upward and even push the stone aside. “Palma sub ponder crescit,” says an old Latin proverb: “a palm grows under pressure.”
Jake, first, I think some conflict is inevitable. The early church did not grow without conflict. Second, tension is not always a bad thing. One of the basic insights of systems theory is that in order to generate an adaptive response the system must be disturbed. When we are tense and confused we become open to learning. Third, we have to manage the level of tension or discomfort in the system, because we all know what happens when tensions get too high – things blow up, destruct, and people get hurt. Heifetz in “Leadership on the Line” works through some of these issues systematically. He suggests a few things:
1. focus on a technical, solvable issue to start
2. create structures for attacking the challenge
3. frame the challenge in a less threatening way or speak directly to fears
4. use humor to “let off steam”
5. pace the work so issues can “ripen”
6. temporarily take back responsibility for tough issues
7. show them the future. Answer “why” in terms of the primary mission and values