Leadership in Complex Times: Defining the Adaptive Challenge
As devastating as the COVID-19 pandemic is in terms of human loss and economic hardship, it presents an opportunity for leaders to engage in innovative approaches that will serve their companies long after the crisis is over.
This is the first of three in our series focusing on Leadership in Complex Times.
The pandemic is a once-in-a-generation challenge distinguished by its enormity and widespread impact. It has required people to change their behavior and deal with situations they have never before encountered. It is the epitome of what we call an adaptive challenge—one that requires fundamentally different ways of thinking and working—on a global scale.
The pandemic has also presented its fair share of operational challenges such as: Who should work from home? How should co-workers interact? What technology do employees need to be successful? When should employees return to the office? Most organizations have done a good job tackling these operational challenges – problems that can be solved with existing skills and problem solving capabilities.
However, the longer term implications of the pandemic require a different mindset. By definition, adaptive challenges can’t be solved with the current ways of thinking and working. Framing challenges as adaptive opens the door to creativity and innovation. The key question becomes, “How can you rethink your business so that it emerges stronger than it went into this pandemic?”
Specific adaptive challenges may be different for each company: Do you want to double the size of your business in a flat market? Consolidate your industry without creating a monopoly? Reduce your cost structure by 30 percent while maintaining morale? Move to a fully virtual workforce long term? As a senior executive, you can help set the course for your business while fostering new mental models and new capabilities.
If we see this pandemic only as a set of operational challenges, we miss the opportunity to create a breakthrough in business performance.
How we choose to define the challenge will change the approach and, most importantly, the outcome. We need to overcome the natural tendency to focus on the operational aspects of the pandemic in the short term, rather than identify and tackle the adaptive challenges that will strengthen the company for the future.
Change and implementation efforts typically require a meaningful investment of organizational time and energy. Seek to enhance the adaptive capabilities of your organization whenever you undertake a major change initiative. Focus on building the organization’s ability to adapt and change to ensure the investment reaps dividends in the future.
Defining a challenge as adaptive forces you and your leadership team to ask different questions, test long-held assumptions, build new skills, and engage the rest of the organization in new ways. How would you define the adaptive challenge your company is facing?