June 23, 2025 • 11 mins
In consulting for software, biotech, and pharmaceutical companies, we distinguish between technical problems and adaptive challenges, a crucial concept from Heifetz and Linsky’s "Leadership on the Line." Technical problems have known solutions, while adaptive challenges demand organizational transformation and stakeholder involvement. Misidentifying these can lead to ineffective solutions, especially among managers accustomed to solving technical issues.
#leadership, #transformation, #adaptivechallenges, #technicalproblems, #organizationalchange, #stakeholderengagement, #HeifetzandLinsky
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to this episode of The Colig Experience.
(00:07):
We're thrilled to have you join us as we dive into bold insights, experimentation and groundbreaking leadership strategies.
Today, we're exploring the crucial distinction between technical problems and adaptive challenges
and how recognizing the difference can transform organizations.
Get ready to uncover how adaptive leadership can navigate complex changes and propel your team to new heights.
(00:33):
Let's dive in.
In our consulting work across software companies, biotech firms and pharmaceutical organizations,
we've repeatedly encountered a fundamental distinction that Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky illuminate in their book,
Leadership on the Line.
They differentiate between what they call technical problems and adaptive challenges
(00:56):
and understanding this difference has become crucial to how we approach organizational transformation.
A technical problem, even when it's incredibly complex and difficult to solve, has certain defining characteristics.
The solution exists somewhere, even if it's not immediately available or accessible.
(01:18):
The process that will lead to solving it is known and can therefore be planned.
Most importantly, the solution typically lies with some authorized person or expert who has the necessary expertise.
We want to be clear here that technical doesn't mean technological.
We're talking about any problem where the path to resolution is fundamentally known.
(01:42):
An adaptive challenge operates in entirely different territory.
The organization or part of it needs to undergo transformation,
which involves letting go of some components of its identity while adopting others.
These challenges typically share several characteristics.
The challenge itself isn't clear or agreed upon, which means the solution isn't obvious either.
(02:06):
The path to resolution requires a process of learning, experimentation, discovery and adaptation.
Success demands involvement from all stakeholders, not just experts.
There's a need for willingness to re-examine values, norms and fundamental assumptions.
Often, these challenges involve value conflicts, either between different organizational values
(02:33):
or between organizational values and reality.
Let us share a concrete example from our work with a fast-growing biotech company.
On the surface, they came to us with what seemed like a technical problem about their research and development workflow.
They wanted us to help them implement new project management software
and restructure their teams to handle their expanding pipeline of drug candidates.
(02:58):
But as we dug deeper, we discovered this was actually an adaptive challenge.
The real issue was that the company's identity was still rooted in being a small, nimble startup
where everyone knew everyone and decisions could be made over coffee.
Their informal, relationship-based culture was now colliding with the need for rigorous compliance protocols
(03:22):
and structured decision-making processes that regulatory approval requires.
The technical solution of new software wouldn't address the deeper challenge of helping the organization
evolve from a startup identity to a more mature, pharmaceutical company
while preserving what made them innovative in the first place.
(03:43):
The hybrid work model provides another excellent illustration of this distinction.
We can approach it as a technical problem, focusing on logistics like which days people come to the office,
how to allocate seating and what technology to provide for remote work.
When we view it through the lens of an adaptive challenge, entirely different questions emerge
(04:06):
about the evolving relationship between employees and the organization amid dramatic changes in the work world.
If the relationship between the organization and its employees is characterized by distrust,
then no matter what techniques they use to manage remote work,
there will always be a cloud of suspicion about whether employees are taking advantage of the organization.
(04:29):
Success in transitioning to a hybrid work model must therefore involve fundamental changes in employee relationships
which clearly falls into adaptive challenge territory.
Heifetz and Linsky categorize adaptive challenges into four main types.
The first is value gaps, which occur when there's conflict between organizational values
(04:53):
or when there's a significant disconnect between the values an organization claims to hold
and how it actually operates day to day.
We encountered this with a software company that proclaimed innovation as a core value
while simultaneously punishing any failure, creating a risk averse culture
that stifled the very innovation they claim to want.
(05:17):
The second category involves competing commitments where the organization is pulled in directions
that seem contradictory or conflicting.
What often happens is either the organization gets caught in pendulum-like movement
arbitrarily favoring one side of the equation
or it chooses a superficial win-win approach that doesn't actually advance the necessary changes.
(05:41):
The third category addresses difficulty in discussing real pain.
Due to lack of appropriate language and the silencing presence of authority figures,
the system struggles to develop organizational dialogue about what's truly difficult or painful.
This creates emotional flattening, cynicism and fear of engaging with feelings.
(06:03):
For instance, when an organization grows, it typically needs to adopt different norms
and operating mechanisms from those that served it as a young organization.
This transition involves grief, saying goodbye to dreams like achieving an exit,
departing from familiar habits and leaving behind organizational identity.
(06:25):
Instead of being a small commando unit where everyone does everything,
they become a more structured system with bureaucracy.
These departures can be difficult for some employees.
When they're not discussed openly, they can manifest in various, sometimes unpleasant ways.
Dealing with adaptive challenges sometimes requires acknowledging and discussing the difficulty and pain.
(06:50):
The fourth category is work avoidance, where the system finds itself in a state of paralyzing anxiety.
Organizational resources get directed toward attacking the central task instead of advancing it.
From the very nature of technical problems versus adaptive challenges,
it becomes quite clear that each requires a different approach.
(07:13):
Both the organization and its leaders need to respond differently to technical problems than to adaptive challenges.
This leads to Haifetz and Linsky's penetrating observation.
The single biggest leadership failure is to treat adaptive challenges like technical problems.
Yet this distinction, which might seem trivial on the surface, proves very unnatural for many managers.
(07:39):
The difficulty in distinguishing between technical problems and adaptive challenges,
or more precisely, the tendency to confuse them and try to treat both as technical problems,
stems from several main reasons.
First, most of the daily preoccupations of managers relate in some way to technical problems.
(08:00):
Adaptive challenges represent a small percentage of all managerial challenges,
so naturally the tendency will be to treat them as technical problems.
The second reason relates to the personal tendencies of those who reach senior management positions.
The natural selection process for those suited to management roles is based on their ability to handle technical problems.
(08:23):
The prominent skills of these managers as problem solvers was part of why they received management positions in the first place,
so this will naturally be how they approach adaptive challenges.
The third reason is that sometimes technical problems disguise themselves as adaptive challenges,
and sometimes it's the reverse.
(08:44):
There are situations where a technical problem at the organizational level becomes an adaptive challenge for the individual manager.
We experienced this first hand with a pharmaceutical company that was struggling with what they initially described as a
communication problem between their research teams and regulatory affairs department.
(09:05):
They wanted us to implement new communication protocols and create clearer handoff procedures between departments.
As we worked with them, we realized this technical sounding problem was actually rooted in a deeper adaptive challenge.
The research scientists, many of whom had spent their careers in academic settings,
(09:27):
held values around open inquiry and following scientific curiosity wherever it led.
The regulatory team, however, operated in a world of strict compliance, documented procedures, and risk mitigation.
These weren't just different communication styles,
but fundamentally different professional cultures that had developed different ways of thinking about their work.
(09:53):
The real challenge wasn't creating better handoff procedures,
but helping both groups understand and respect each other's professional values while finding ways to collaborate effectively.
This required both sides to examine some of their assumptions about how pharmaceutical development should work.
Therefore, the first and critical step in dealing with adaptive challenges is recognizing them
(10:18):
and understanding that everything that served us until now might no longer be suitable.
At CoLEAGUE, we constantly move along the axis between the organizational and the personal.
The conceptualization of adaptive challenges and the distinction between them and technical problems
allows us to reveal another layer in the complex relationship between managers and organizations.
(10:43):
When we can properly identify whether we're facing a technical problem or an adaptive challenge,
we can choose the appropriate tools and approaches for each situation,
rather than defaulting to the problem-solving methods that got us to leadership positions in the first place.
And that wraps up today's podcast.
(11:05):
We explored how recognizing the difference between technical problems and adaptive challenges,
as highlighted by Haifetz and Linsky, is key to effective organizational transformation.
Don't forget to like, subscribe and share this episode with your friends and colleagues
so they can also stay updated on the latest news and gain powerful insight.
(11:30):
Stay tuned for more updates.
Welcome to this episode of The Colig Experience.
(00:07):
We're thrilled to have you join us as we dive into bold insights, experimentation and groundbreaking leadership strategies.
Today, we're exploring the crucial distinction between technical problems and adaptive challenges
and how recognizing the difference can transform organizations.
Get ready to uncover how adaptive leadership can navigate complex changes and propel your team to new heights.
(00:33):
Let's dive in.
In our consulting work across software companies, biotech firms and pharmaceutical organizations,
we've repeatedly encountered a fundamental distinction that Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky illuminate in their book,
Leadership on the Line.
They differentiate between what they call technical problems and adaptive challenges
(00:56):
and understanding this difference has become crucial to how we approach organizational transformation.
A technical problem, even when it's incredibly complex and difficult to solve, has certain defining characteristics.
The solution exists somewhere, even if it's not immediately available or accessible.
(01:18):
The process that will lead to solving it is known and can therefore be planned.
Most importantly, the solution typically lies with some authorized person or expert who has the necessary expertise.
We want to be clear here that technical doesn't mean technological.
We're talking about any problem where the path to resolution is fundamentally known.
(01:42):
An adaptive challenge operates in entirely different territory.
The organization or part of it needs to undergo transformation,
which involves letting go of some components of its identity while adopting others.
These challenges typically share several characteristics.
The challenge itself isn't clear or agreed upon, which means the solution isn't obvious either.
(02:06):
The path to resolution requires a process of learning, experimentation, discovery and adaptation.
Success demands involvement from all stakeholders, not just experts.
There's a need for willingness to re-examine values, norms and fundamental assumptions.
Often, these challenges involve value conflicts, either between different organizational values
(02:33):
or between organizational values and reality.
Let us share a concrete example from our work with a fast-growing biotech company.
On the surface, they came to us with what seemed like a technical problem about their research and development workflow.
They wanted us to help them implement new project management software
and restructure their teams to handle their expanding pipeline of drug candidates.
(02:58):
But as we dug deeper, we discovered this was actually an adaptive challenge.
The real issue was that the company's identity was still rooted in being a small, nimble startup
where everyone knew everyone and decisions could be made over coffee.
Their informal, relationship-based culture was now colliding with the need for rigorous compliance protocols
(03:22):
and structured decision-making processes that regulatory approval requires.
The technical solution of new software wouldn't address the deeper challenge of helping the organization
evolve from a startup identity to a more mature, pharmaceutical company
while preserving what made them innovative in the first place.
(03:43):
The hybrid work model provides another excellent illustration of this distinction.
We can approach it as a technical problem, focusing on logistics like which days people come to the office,
how to allocate seating and what technology to provide for remote work.
When we view it through the lens of an adaptive challenge, entirely different questions emerge
(04:06):
about the evolving relationship between employees and the organization amid dramatic changes in the work world.
If the relationship between the organization and its employees is characterized by distrust,
then no matter what techniques they use to manage remote work,
there will always be a cloud of suspicion about whether employees are taking advantage of the organization.
(04:29):
Success in transitioning to a hybrid work model must therefore involve fundamental changes in employee relationships
which clearly falls into adaptive challenge territory.
Heifetz and Linsky categorize adaptive challenges into four main types.
The first is value gaps, which occur when there's conflict between organizational values
(04:53):
or when there's a significant disconnect between the values an organization claims to hold
and how it actually operates day to day.
We encountered this with a software company that proclaimed innovation as a core value
while simultaneously punishing any failure, creating a risk averse culture
that stifled the very innovation they claim to want.
(05:17):
The second category involves competing commitments where the organization is pulled in directions
that seem contradictory or conflicting.
What often happens is either the organization gets caught in pendulum-like movement
arbitrarily favoring one side of the equation
or it chooses a superficial win-win approach that doesn't actually advance the necessary changes.
(05:41):
The third category addresses difficulty in discussing real pain.
Due to lack of appropriate language and the silencing presence of authority figures,
the system struggles to develop organizational dialogue about what's truly difficult or painful.
This creates emotional flattening, cynicism and fear of engaging with feelings.
(06:03):
For instance, when an organization grows, it typically needs to adopt different norms
and operating mechanisms from those that served it as a young organization.
This transition involves grief, saying goodbye to dreams like achieving an exit,
departing from familiar habits and leaving behind organizational identity.
(06:25):
Instead of being a small commando unit where everyone does everything,
they become a more structured system with bureaucracy.
These departures can be difficult for some employees.
When they're not discussed openly, they can manifest in various, sometimes unpleasant ways.
Dealing with adaptive challenges sometimes requires acknowledging and discussing the difficulty and pain.
(06:50):
The fourth category is work avoidance, where the system finds itself in a state of paralyzing anxiety.
Organizational resources get directed toward attacking the central task instead of advancing it.
From the very nature of technical problems versus adaptive challenges,
it becomes quite clear that each requires a different approach.
(07:13):
Both the organization and its leaders need to respond differently to technical problems than to adaptive challenges.
This leads to Haifetz and Linsky's penetrating observation.
The single biggest leadership failure is to treat adaptive challenges like technical problems.
Yet this distinction, which might seem trivial on the surface, proves very unnatural for many managers.
(07:39):
The difficulty in distinguishing between technical problems and adaptive challenges,
or more precisely, the tendency to confuse them and try to treat both as technical problems,
stems from several main reasons.
First, most of the daily preoccupations of managers relate in some way to technical problems.
(08:00):
Adaptive challenges represent a small percentage of all managerial challenges,
so naturally the tendency will be to treat them as technical problems.
The second reason relates to the personal tendencies of those who reach senior management positions.
The natural selection process for those suited to management roles is based on their ability to handle technical problems.
(08:23):
The prominent skills of these managers as problem solvers was part of why they received management positions in the first place,
so this will naturally be how they approach adaptive challenges.
The third reason is that sometimes technical problems disguise themselves as adaptive challenges,
and sometimes it's the reverse.
(08:44):
There are situations where a technical problem at the organizational level becomes an adaptive challenge for the individual manager.
We experienced this first hand with a pharmaceutical company that was struggling with what they initially described as a
communication problem between their research teams and regulatory affairs department.
(09:05):
They wanted us to implement new communication protocols and create clearer handoff procedures between departments.
As we worked with them, we realized this technical sounding problem was actually rooted in a deeper adaptive challenge.
The research scientists, many of whom had spent their careers in academic settings,
(09:27):
held values around open inquiry and following scientific curiosity wherever it led.
The regulatory team, however, operated in a world of strict compliance, documented procedures, and risk mitigation.
These weren't just different communication styles,
but fundamentally different professional cultures that had developed different ways of thinking about their work.
(09:53):
The real challenge wasn't creating better handoff procedures,
but helping both groups understand and respect each other's professional values while finding ways to collaborate effectively.
This required both sides to examine some of their assumptions about how pharmaceutical development should work.
Therefore, the first and critical step in dealing with adaptive challenges is recognizing them
(10:18):
and understanding that everything that served us until now might no longer be suitable.
At CoLEAGUE, we constantly move along the axis between the organizational and the personal.
The conceptualization of adaptive challenges and the distinction between them and technical problems
allows us to reveal another layer in the complex relationship between managers and organizations.
(10:43):
When we can properly identify whether we're facing a technical problem or an adaptive challenge,
we can choose the appropriate tools and approaches for each situation,
rather than defaulting to the problem-solving methods that got us to leadership positions in the first place.
And that wraps up today's podcast.
(11:05):
We explored how recognizing the difference between technical problems and adaptive challenges,
as highlighted by Haifetz and Linsky, is key to effective organizational transformation.
Don't forget to like, subscribe and share this episode with your friends and colleagues
so they can also stay updated on the latest news and gain powerful insight.
(11:30):
Stay tuned for more updates.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.