- 5/28/24
- Speaker: Britt Aylor
This is just an overview, the actual training is more involved.
There have been multiple waves of adaptive leadership, this isn't totally new.
Leading ambidexterously:
- Excel in core business (known challenges)
- Adapt and innovate (unknown challenges)
note: Adaptive Leadership has it's own definition of "technical", which is deeply-ironic
Technical problems are solved well with deep knowledge. Work is efficient and the solution can be clear. Expectation is that the work can be completed easily.
Adaptive problems require learning and experimentation. End goal is not always defined. Expectation is that progress towards the goal state will be gradual and careful.
These are a gradient, and adaptive challenges eventually become technical challenges.
Most projects are a mixed bag of technical and adaptive challenges. Being able to tell the difference is the first skill.
Solving technical challenges is motivating and builds momentum. Organizations are usually built to solve technical challenges rather than adapative challenges.
Authority: The territory of the known, core business.
Leadership: The unknown space of innovation. Leadership starts where authority ends.
note: Adaptive Leadership has it's own definition of "leadership", which is deeply-ironic
Authority is granted based on: protection, direction, and order. (Applies to both formal and informal authority.)
Dancing on the edge of authority: operating on the edge of authority to solve adaptive problems.
Leadership is the practice of learning to dissapoint people at a rate they can tolerate.
When we engage on adaptive problems we need to think about tough choices and subtraction. We cannot do more with less forever. Conflict and difficult conversations are inevitable.
Change is easy to embrace when it's positive. Adaptive work involves accepting loss (non-positive change). We get resistance when the loss is more important than the purpose. Successful adaptive thinking is about reframing the loss into an adaptive outcome.
Zone of productivity (stress level):
- Danger zone (overwhelming)
- Productive/Learning zone (optimal)
- Comfort zone (no learning)
Technical problems spend very little time in the danger zone and quickly fall into productive/comfort. Adaptive problems cycle back and forth like a sine way.
Managing the right level of heat is important to keep people moving and in the right mindset. People want to get out of the danger zone as quickly as possible.
Leading on an adaptive challenge really requires partners and companions. If the heat gets to high then others will tune you out or try to remove you. From Abolade: think about the environment and culture as a system that needs to be actively managed. Rather than thinking about pushback as a barrier, think about it as reality.
Note: I need to go outside my own comfort zone, and dig into ideas I dislike. That will lower the temperature for everyone else and encourage them to do adaptive thinking.
Get to know all of the stakeholders involved in an adaptive challenge.
- Stakeholder: where you live
- Factions: what you fight for
Learn to identify factions over stakeholders by getting to know the people personally. Making assumptions based on the kind of stakeholder will go badly. Stakeholders don't change, but people move between factions during the evolution of the adaptive challenge.
- Britt
- Abolade Gbadegesin
- Lili Cheng
Becoming an adaptive leader:
- ICs are very nimble, big organizations are slow to change.
- Do 1-2 things at a time and don't try to take in everything at once.
An example of a challenge:
- Revitalizing the IC career path: focus on giving the work back to the community.
- Product touches many teams has many integrations: building trust and relationships, key people across key teams have trust.
What failures did you encounter with AI:
- Tay was a lesson in how to stop sooner. Start something and learning, no one was an expert at the beginning. Stay customer focused.
- Probably should have spent more time on AI prior to LLM popularity. We were embracing AI within systems engineering community, they got good feedback but didn't follow up. Now they are restarting.
The heat diagram:
- If you're the one person feeling in the danger zone, you're going to burn out. Find allies outside your org and make it fun for yourself.
- You need to be anchored to and amplify a purpose. Lead with a purpose and a goal rather than a solution.
When do you stop?
- This brings together all of the adaptive leadership tools. The practice of "giving the work back" is important. We're accustomed to having the answer, instead create a framework where we can make a decision as a team.
- It's hard to know when to stop, because you could always do more. Making it ok to stop is good.
- Reserve some of your own time to pursue your ideas and intuition. Make sure you get your job done, but satisfy yourself or else you will burn out.
How do you know when to start?
- Practice in a safe space is important. As you practice, your appetite and capabilities will improve.
Often the adaptive approach is not to use authority to address a challenge, it's to turn it back to the people.
- Add purpose to each area of technical roadmap.