When Everything Becomes Adaptive: Problem-Solving in Uncertain Times
By Joshua Albert
As my wife and I prepared to have a baby in January, I was expecting that parenting our new child would be a balance of two kinds of work: technical and adaptive. The technical work had best practices and clear definitions of success—things like figuring out the right bottle-washing routine, setting up a childcare schedule, and tracking sleep patterns. The adaptive work, on the other hand, was more ambiguous—deciding how to set boundaries with grandparents, balancing short-term exhaustion with long-term family needs, or navigating the evolving dynamics of co-parenting.
Managing both of these types of issues simultaneously wouldn't be easy, but still, it felt manageable. We could crank through the to-do list most of the week and practice making time and space periodically for the tough conversations. Chaotic but under control.
Until moments of extreme uncertainty hit. When we had to rush our son to the hospital unexpectedly, even the simplest decisions became complex: should we step away to get lunch or stay by his side at all costs? Who should park the car, and who should go in with him? What had once felt like a manageable balance of technical and adaptive challenges shifted dramatically—suddenly, everything felt like a tough adaptive issue with no clear right answer.
This is the experience many of our clients are facing right now. In stable times, their work is a mix of technical and adaptive elements. They execute high-stakes, high-expertise tasks while also managing a handful of strategic challenges. It's sometimes chaotic and overwhelming, but it's also 'part of the job.'
But in times of deep uncertainty, even what used to be largely technical work takes on adaptive dimensions. Here are some examples:
Budgeting. Normally, budgeting is about planning for what’s needed and staying within your means. You might be a financial expert yourself or have trusted advisors who excel at managing resources. But uncertainty may force you to confront the adaptive questions of making tough trade-offs, deciding what to cut and what to protect, and clarifying what truly matters when resources are tight.
Managing a team. Leading a team is always about driving performance and keeping people focused. You likely have strategies and experience that help you get things done with your team. But uncertainty may force you to confront the adaptive questions of redefining success, finding resilience in the face of burnout, and helping people navigate ambiguity.
Negotiating partnerships. Strong partnerships are built on mutual benefits and shared goals. You may have formal training in negotiation and experience managing deal points. But uncertainty may force you to confront the adaptive questions of how to protect your organization's goals in a volatile moment without devolving into unnecessary competition or conflict.
Optimizing workflows. Improving systems and efficiency is often about finding the best tools and processes. You may have invested in new software platforms or developed change management strategies. But uncertainty may force you to confront the adaptive questions of what work really looks like going forward, which workflows need to evolve, and what should remain constant.
When uncertainty transforms technical work into adaptive challenges, progress is no longer about individual execution—it’s about collective learning. Your task is not to find the right answer; it's to engage the key stakeholders to face the difficult adaptive questions together. That means:
Engage the Holding Environment – As a leader, you don’t have to carry uncertainty alone. The key is shifting the conversation from “What should I do?” to “How can we tackle this together?” This starts with acknowledging, “I don’t have the answer,” and creating spaces where people can collectively wrestle with complex challenges. Ask yourself:
How could you structure conversations or interactions that foster real engagement on the challenges that are arising with uncertainty?
What expectations might you have to disappoint to bring people into holding the problem with you?
Orchestrate Productive Disequilibrium – Uncertainty often challenges us to determine which priorities matter most, and what has to be set aside. This is hard work for people to do, and it requires sustaining tension just long enough that your stakeholders make tough choices about what to say yes to and what to say no to. Ask youself:
What tensions or competing priorities need to be surfaced rather than ignored in this uncertain context?
How can you hold space for tough choices to be made?
Anchor in What Matters Most – Adaptive challenges involve change, but they also involve safeguarding what can (must) stay the same. In addition to orchestrating difficult trade-offs, you must also celebrate what remains stable amidst change and encourage people to find new ways to express core values in an evolving landscape. Ask youself:
How might you help people find shared purpose in this moment of transition?
What commitments must be preserved, and how can they take shape in new ways?
These were some of the core themes in our open-enrollment workshop this week on problem-solving in uncertainty. If any of this resonates with you, I’d love to hear from you: How has uncertainty reshaped your own approach to problem-solving?