When projects are not proceeding as planned, we often look for (and find) technical challenges generating “bumps in the road.” We believe the course can be corrected with a few simple changes. More often than not, we are wrong.
Adaptive challenges are difficult to identify (and easy to deny) and require changes in values, beliefs, roles, relationships, and approaches to work. Each person experiences adaptive challenges differently, and it is the individual that must do the work of finding solutions by using a process of hypothesis testing, and time to make fundamental discoveries that will transform the way they work.
In this session you will:
- Identify differences between technical and adaptive challenges
- Review the neuroscience of social cognition and behavioral change
- Discuss the consequences of approaching an adaptive challenge as if it were a technical challenges
- Explore methods to identify and work through adaptive challenges
About the Speaker:
Dr. Cheryl Vaughan is the Director of Custom Innovation Training Programs at Harvard Catalyst, where she combines scientific and educational expertise to create and deliver learning and development programs for science and technical professionals. She is an active member of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS). She co-founded and facilitated the MASS AWIS Leadership Program, and is currently in the process of founding a new AWIS chapter in Rhode Island.
