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Adaptive Action @Work

Turning Sticky Issues into Strategic Solutions

By Christi Olson, PhD and Glenda Eoyang, PhD

That’s why change is so challenging and why it’s essential to focus on patterns of behavior, specifically patterns you want to keep, amplify or change. Focusing on patterns allows you to take actions that move your organization, teams and individuals forward effectively and quickly. Adaptive Action allows you to influence patterns to get them unstuck or to shift them before they get locked.

Adaptive Action works because it is the DNA for complexity in our VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, change and ambiguity) world, and it aligns with how things work today – complex, fast moving, unpredictable, uncertain and always in flux. Change is dynamic; long term planning isn’t reliable; our global economy and markets are unpredictable; technology solutions are introduced at a furious pace; and people work hard to keep up.

Patterns are the foundation for behavior . . .and behavior is the hardest thing to change. Simple Design.

Flawless Execution. Focused Success.

2 www.adaptiveactiongroup.com. ©2014. All rights reserved.

When you change the behavior, you change the pattern. When you change the pattern, you change the behavior. Adaptive Action makes the most of this powerful process.

So what do we mean by patterns? A pattern is a

repetitive set of behaviors, and Adaptive Action

breaks the pattern.

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Let’s look at an example of Adaptive Action. Let’s say your colleague wants to get fit and lose 20 pounds over the next six months. He gets up each morning at 7 a.m. and walks the dog for two miles (current pattern). That pattern is considered positive behavior and supports the goal to get fit.

As the day goes on, your colleague eats a healthy lunch and dinner consisting of mainly protein and veggies (this pattern of protein and veggies is aligned with his goal of getting fit).

Around 7 p.m. each evening your colleague eats cookies and other sweets. This pattern – eating sugar every night – does not help with the goal to get fit and lose weight. In organizations and teams, you find similar patterns. There are patterns around communications – the senior leader only shares information with the senior

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team or the senior leader shares information across the organization.

There are patterns around decision-making – you can see and identify patterns around consensus decision- making or command and control decision-making.

Other examples of patterns can be around the level of risk, product delivery (on time or late to market), innovation, execution, employee engagement, productivity, global expansion and so forth.

Almost all our behaviors can be identified as patterns. When you change the behavior, you change the pattern. When you change the pattern, you change the behavior. Adaptive Action makes the most of this powerful process by shining a light on assumptions and current actions that are no longer a fit and refocusing energy on identifying patterns and actions that are a best fit.


A breakthrough change process that focuses on 3 questions – What? So What? Now What? – that enable you to see your patterns differently and take right action effectively and quickly.

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Adaptive Action is a breakthrough change process that aligns patterns with actions. Adaptive Action focuses on three questions - What? So What? Now What? - that enable you to see your patterns differently so you can decide which patterns to keep, change or amplify.

Always start with a business or organizational goal such as expanding existing market share or entering new markets, implementing emerging technology, bringing new products or services to market or acquisition. You can also start with an issue or challenge or problem – something that is in the way, that’s important, that you’ve tried many times to solve and haven’t been successful.

A global client wanted to develop a three-year strategy and roadmap. The primary goals were to provide security around the globe, develop their people to meet the anticipated skillsets and communicate more effectively internally and externally.

Start with What? What are the current patterns? It is best to begin with an organizational or adaptive capacity assessment to discover key underlying patterns. Key patterns for this client included providing security to all business units globally on an inconsistent basis, being under resourced yet heaping more work onto an already strained workforce, providing innovative solutions around sustainability, starting projects and programs but not always completing them on time and not having the right mix of people and talent skills for anticipated future needs.

So what is Adaptive

Action?

(continued)


Sticky or Wicked Issues don’t come from

processes, people or policies. They come

from patterns, and only pattern-based

approaches like Adaptive Action can

solve them.

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Next ask So What? do these patterns mean, what are the implications to us, to our clients? One implication was that the global security team’s pattern included handing over projects to roll out worldwide but there were too few resources to manage projects and this caused a bottleneck. Another implication was the attempt to provide security to all business units. The fastest growing business unit had priority needs yet was being treated like all other clients so there was no adjusting for need. This was an ongoing pattern that no longer worked or fit given the shift in business conditions.

The senior leader team said yes to all projects (another pattern) and the implication was that the team was under resourced, over taxed and not finishing projects on time. There was no clear prioritization.

Then ask Now What? do we do? What solutions do we desire? What actions do we take? One big ‘aha’ occurred when the group realized the pattern of saying yes meant they weren’t focusing on serving the business unit’s high growth. So the Now What? meant they couldn’t be all things to all people and instead they focused on rolling out initiatives and resources to the high growth business unit as a priority.

Another action was to create a workforce planning team to inventory employee skills

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and recommend key competencies required for future work. This included individual development plans for each employee.

They also defined a global program and accountability for program rollout to ensure they had global coverage, and the client groups could absorb each program. The group also agreed to communicate progress toward goals each quarter.

This process of Adaptive Action—from pattern recognition to action plan--took about two days. They developed their strategy and three year roadmap effectively and quickly with better results than previous attempts at planning. Adaptive Action made it possible for the group to make significant progress because they focused on the patterns, rather than a process, to solve problems.

Working with Sticky or Wicked Issues

This client’s issues were what are called “sticky” issues. These are problems that just don’t seem to go away. Either they are totally new, or too big to understand, or keep coming unsolved or they persist no matter what you do.

Such wicked problems don’t come from processes, people or policies. They come from patterns, and only pattern-based approaches like Adaptive Action can solve them.

Adaptive Action made it possible for the group to make significant progress and shorten their cycle because they focused on the patterns, rather than a process, to solve problems.


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Accountability, quality, engagement, innovation, execution, conflict, customer service - these are sticky issues for many organizations. Adaptive Action helps you see, understand and shift those patterns so the sticky issues get unstuck.

How does Adaptive Action fit with other change models?

Most change models are phased processes, such as Kotter’s Change Model or Change Management models and can be effective initially. They focus on completing each phase or step in the process. Change is messy and people and organizations get bogged down as they work through a many-stepped process for change and transition.

These models are less effective when sticky issues appear or the organization or team has to act fast. Seeing, identifying and changing patterns is the only way through the complexity and messiness of change. Adaptive Action gives your team and organization a chance to break through with much less pain, so it positions you for much better results.

Adaptive Action works effectively with other change models or it can be the change model of choice. For example, if your organization is following the Kotter model,

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you can leverage Adaptive Action when you run into sticky issues or when you move from readiness to initial implementation. The patterns present in the “preparation and planning” stages are vastly different when you start “initial implementation.” This is where most change models break down. With Adaptive Action, you can break through!

How can you use Adaptive Action?

You can use Adaptive Action in multiple ways.

ü Plan and engage in planning and strategy development (Boards, Executive Teams, Senior Leader Teams)

ü Execute or implement strategic initiatives (Enterprise, Global, Division, Products, Projects, Programs)

ü Make disruptive change happen– from innovation and

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concept to readiness and implementation

ü Integrate processes and cultures in Mergers & Acquisitions culture integration

ü Resolve Sticky or Wicked issues that must be solved, but seem unsolvable

ü Get teams and groups Unstuck

ü Coach leaders and managers to lead complex change and transitions

Adaptive Action makes it possible for you to respond to change and uncertainty by:

• building adaptive capacity in your organization

• considering innovative ideas and concepts

• choosing your options for action with good data

• focusing on employees, customers and partner relationships

• implementing to leapfrog rather than just keep up.

By leveraging Adaptive Action, you can be successful, even in the most challenging and complex environments!

Learn how to build your own adaptive

capacity so you can attain and sustain

success!

To learn more go to: www.adaptiveactiongroup.com

To find out about the theory behind Adaptive Action go to:

www.adaptiveaction.org

About Adaptive Action Group

Think of us as the DIY (do it yourself) people for flawless organization change. We teach you to adapt your actions by focusing on the patterns and behaviors that ignite and drive change.

Working with us, you learn how to build your own adaptive capacity so you can attain and sustain success. We do this by facilitating and teaching people and organizations how to adapt to complex changes in their environment quickly and effectively.

Christi Olson, Ph.D., SPHR CEO, Adaptive Action Group [email protected]

Christi’s work focuses on business, education and non-profits leading and accelerating strategic and operational change efforts worldwide. She has held senior leader positions in strategy, sales, marketing, product development, product strategy, IT, operations, leadership and organizational development and HROD. She is known for her ability to partner effectively with clients to get the job done, solve sticky issues, think strategically and act tactically to achieve results. She consults and coaches people and organizations to make successful transitions and change.

Adapted from Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty in Your Organization, by Glenda Eoyang and Royce Holladay.

Glenda Eoyang, Ph.D. Executive Director, HSD Institute [email protected]

Glenda discovered the roots of complexity in human systems and gives them away every day. Her research revealed the underlying dynamics of chaos, and her practice invented models to explain it and methods to influence it. In 1986, Glenda began to use these principles herself and to help others use them, too. In 2000, she named this field of study and action as human systems dynamics (HSD). She consults, facilitates, coaches, and teaches in public and private organizations around the world.

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