The components are structures (for example, incentive programs), culture (including norms and meeting protocols), and defaults (routine processes of problem solving and ways of thinking and acting). These subsystems powerfully shape how people respond to and try to deal with adaptive pressures.

To maximize the chances of success, move the members of the group into peer consulting, where they begin systematically to consult to one another on the leadership headache they have just given each other.

In a highly adaptive organization, no issue is too sensitive to be raised at the official meeting, and no questions are off-limits. Someone

resistance means that the status quo is holding its own, which in turn suggests that you are not really exercising adaptive leadership. Some resistance suggests that you are on the edge of your scope of authority. And intense resistance indicates that you have moved way beyond the boundary of what people expect you to do.

An organization will be better equipped to identify and grapple with adaptive challenges if its people do not expect the CEO and other senior authorities to always have the answers.

6. Generate and commit to experiments. Discuss individual experiments for dealing with constituents

Step 3: Identify the Loyalties You Need to Refashion

How do you know what your orienting purpose is at a particular point in time? Again, a useful strategy is to watch what you do, rather than listen to what you say. Think about the choices you’ve made recently, not just big decisions, but also small daily decisions that reveal patterns when seen over time.

In many organizations, dissenters get marginalized, silenced, or even fired, which deprives the organization of their valuable, if unpopular, service.