Technical or Adaptive?

As a leader, are you engaged in technical or adaptive work?

...it was Ron Heifetz (1994) who focused attention on the concept of an adaptive challenge.  An adaptive challenge is a problem situation for which solutions lie outside current ways of operating.  This is in stark contrast to a technical problem for which the know-how already exists.  This distinction has resonance for educational reform.  Put simply, resolving a technical problem is a management issue; tackling adaptive challenges, however, requires leadership.  Often, we try to solve technical problems with adaptive processes or more commonly force technical solutions onto adaptive problems.  ...

Almost by definition, adaptive challenges demand learning, as progress here requires new ways of thinking and operating.  In these instances, it is 'people who are the problem', because an effective response to an adaptive challenge is almost always beyond the current competence of those involved.  Inevitably, this is threatening and often the prospect of adaptive work generates heat and resistance. 

Mobilizing people to meet adaptive challenges is at the heart of leadership practice.  In the short term, leadership helps people meet an immediate challenge.  In the medium to long term, leadership generates capacity to enable people to meet an ongoing stream of adaptive challenges.  Ultimately, adaptive work requires us to reflect on the moral purpose by which we seek to thrive and demands diagnostic enquiry into the realities we face that threaten the realization of those purposes. 

From: Every School a Great School by David Hopkins
Published by: McGraw Hill

Crucial Conversations

As a leader, do you sometimes need to engage in crucial conversations?  Do you avoid them or handle them? 

What's a Crucial Conversation?

The crucial conversation we are referring to....are interactions that happen to everyone.  They're the day-to-day conversations that affect your life. 

Now what makes one of your conversations crucial as opposed to plain vanilla? 
First, opinions vary.....
Second, stakes are high...
Third, emotions run strong...

What makes...these conversations crucial - and not simply challenging, frustrating, frightening, or annoying - is that the results could have a huge impact on the quality of your life. 

By definition, crucial conversations are about tough issues.  Unfortunately, it's human nature to back away from discussions we fear will hurt us or make things worse.  We're masters at avoiding these tough conversations. 

But it doesn't have to be this way.  If you know how to handle (even master) crucial conversations, you can step up to and effectively hold tough conversations about virtually any topic. 

From: Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzer
Published by: McGraw-Hill