Adaptability
- Eva Luong
- Nov 28, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 5, 2018
Importance of Adaptability
Adapting to change is a leadership imperative because change is constant and inevitable in today's global markets. Leaders who can be flexible and adaptable, steer changes or respond to change in order to succeed, especially with the increasing diversity in the workforce and merging of new technology.
Leaders who are unable to adapt, will meet with career failure or bring their company into financial distress like the current situation Sears is experiencing. Edward Scott Lampert, the chairman and former CEO of Sears resisted to adapt the company to the changing ways of the retail industry, believing that sticking to their standard operation was best, which lead to Sears filing for bankruptcy in 2017 (Peterson, 2017). Another would be Blockbuster, which refuses to change and now they cease to exist.
Learning from these cases of companies unable to adapt to the changing times, leaders of today must recognize the importance of being willing to get out of their comfort zone and keep on learning as a way to fit within new circumstances for their organization to survive and grow. Mastering the skill of adaptability, successful leaders can see opportunties in the dynamic market and quickly respond through innovation that can disrupt the standard processes and amplify changes. This cycle will continue to repeat and the ability to adapt becomes necessary for all leaders.
A 2008 study called Growing Global Executive Talent, showed that the top three leadership qualities that are becoming increasingly crucial are:
35% - the ability to motivate staff
34% - the ability to work well across cultures
32% - the ability to facilitate change
This study reveals that leaders should place importance on understanding people of different cultures, and that cultural adaptability is another change leaders will have to manage in order to succeed in today's global world (Martinuzzi, 2018).
An example of a leader who epitomizes exceptional adaptability is Robert McDonald, the retired Chairman of Procter & Gamble. He has spent much of the past two decades in various overseas postings. His willingness to get out of his comfort zone, and learn from his changing surroundings, marks a key difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders (Martinuzzi, 2018).
TheoryAdaptability allows an individual to have access to a range of their behaviours that lets the individual shift and experiment as things change. Steve Zacarro of George Mason University, developed a Three-part Framework of Adaptability.
Cognitive flexibility: this is the ability to use various thinking strategies and mental frameworks to look at a situation in different perspectives.
Emotional flexibility: this is the ability to develop different approach to dealing with emotions and those of others.
Dispositional flexibility: this is the ability to remain optimistic and be realistic.
Very adaptable people rank high in all three areas. The good thing is that all three types of flexibility can be learned and developed overtime.
As a leader, it is not only necessary to develop one's ability to adapt, but they must adapt proactively if they want to stay ahead of the competition. This is because leaders are expected to know more, learn more and do more than ever before (Newman, 2017). Especially with how fast technology advancement is changing standard processes.
Implementation Developing an adaptable mindset does not come naturally to everyone, but there are methods to increase adaptability for vast improvements.
Be Aware of Your Level of Adaptability: take a self-assessment with StrengthsFinder. Take time to reflect on situations when you are open to new ideas, how you react to unpredictable situations, handle unexpected demands or changing strategies within your personal and work life. If you are aware of your weakness, you will consider your actions more when you are faced with a similar situation again.
Think Outside the Box: do not simply follow standard operating procedure, but be more open to innovation and change since the standard processes can become outdated and inefficient in today's ever-changing market (Murphy, 2015).
Be an Early Adopter: if you are among the first to embrace change, then you can get in ahead of the competitors by using the newly discovered technology, system, process or software that can greatly benefit your organization (Murphy, 2015).
Resist Saying "No": stay positive and open-minded on new initiatives, this will help foster change and improve your ability to handle unexpected situations (Murphy, 2015).
Plan Ahead: take advantage of downtime to plan ahead to pursue long-term objectives, this will improve adaptability (Murphy, 2015).
Everything Begins in the Morning: we all have a morning routine that set patterns throughout our day. Occasionally try to shake up that routine and try something different, that very type of mindset will help you improve your ability to be flexible for the rest of the day (Murphy, 2015).
Leaders can extend this to build adaptable teams. When both the leader and team members embrace change, they will be able to effectively meet the challenges that go with it, especially in an unpredictable work environment.
Ted Talks
References
Center for Creative Leadership. (2018). Adaptability: 1 Idea, 3 Facts, 5 Tips. Retrieved from https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/adaptability-1-idea-3-facts-5-tips/
Martinuzzi, B. (2018). The Agile Leader. Mind Tools. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_49.htm
Murphy, P. (2015, September 2). Adaptability: The Most Valued Leadership Skill. Thin Difference. Retrieved from https://www.thindifference.com/2015/09/adaptability-the-most-valued-leadership-skill/
Newman, D. (2017, August 1). Adaptability: The Key Leadership Trait In The Digital Transformation. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2017/08/01/adaptability-the-key-leadership-trait-in-the-digital-transformation/#5851fba49355
Peterson, H. (2017, May 21). Sears' CEO blames the media for company's decline — but his obsession with Wall Street set it up for failure. Business Insider. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/how-eddie-lampert-set-sears-up-to-fail-2017-5
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