You may often identify an Adaptive Challenge by listening to people's stories. When confronted with Adaptive Challenges, people frequently come up with alternative (and protective) explanations. As you listen to people's stories, pay attention to the following "hints" of Adaptive Challenges:
Blame game People will blame everyone else for the problems faced by the organization. If it weren't for so and so's incompetence this would have been solved ages ago!
- It's not about me! People fail to identify their own interests in the situation. They may fail to see themselves as active players, with wants, needs, problems, and potential losses.
- Impossible problem! The problem is huge, all encompassing, complex, and impossible to solve . Impossible problems are protective - they can't be solved, no one can move towards a solution... and therefore no one needs to confront the problem!
- What problem? Maybe the problem has already been solved... maybe the problem was in the past (then how come symptoms of the problem are still present?)
