
164 Mobilize the System
ON THE BALCONY
• Think back over the past few weeks. When have you volunteered to
take adaptive problems off other people’s shoulders? Were these
people subordinates, peers, or your boss? What were the negative
consequences of doing so? What else could you have been doing
with that time? What steps might you have taken to give the work
back to these individuals?
ON THE PRACTICE FIELD
• The next time you are in charge of a meeting and you sense that
others in the room are looking to you to shoulder some aspect of the
adaptive work the group is discussing, try what we call the sit down
technique. Without warning, take a seat at the ...