Technical vs Adaptive

Earlier this year, I wrote a few blog posts about the difference between technical problems and adaptive problems. I first learned of these terms at a business seminar. Many business owners try to solve adaptive problems with technical solutions. That means they need to overcome something in order to change, i.e., adapt but instead of adapting, they learn or take on more information, which is a technical solution.

Technical problems have known answers. How to fly a plane, rules of a diet and how to squat are all technical problems. Adaptive problems don’t have known answers, you’re in new territory. Examples include how to treat a rare cancer patient, how to stick to a diet for the long term and how to keep coming to the gym after the honeymoon phase is over.

Many of us try to solve adaptive problems with technical solutions. An example, you want to start eating healthier so you watch the latest Netflix documentary about health and you decide going vegan is the right choice for you to become healthy. You follow all the vegan Instagram accounts, buy the books and slap a bumper sticker on your car. Two weeks later, you’re off your whole food vegan diet and you’re not sure why, you had all the information you needed after all.

This is a classic example of an adaptive problem, how to make a significant lifestyle change to eat healthier and stick with it, trying to be solved with a technical solution. We think that having more information will solve the problem, but more times than not, it isn’t the case. In order to change, we need to learn how to adapt, create new habits, bust down walls of what we thought was possible and preserve when it gets tough.

As we head into 2020 and you start thinking about goals, be careful of trying to solve adaptive problems with technical solutions.

Justin Miner

@portsmouthcoach