adaptability – Reimagine. Strategy.

November 11, 2024November 11, 2024

Curated Content on Adaptability

Old narratives about change are themselves slow to change. Although we might rationally acknowledge that change is constant, emotionally we continue to resist and resent it, subconsciously waiting for things to settle down and ‘get back to normal.’

Have a look at Nadya Zhexembayeva’s recent piece in the Harvard Business Review. It describes both the pace of change and workers’ unhappiness with it. A couple of elements jumped off the page at me:

February 26, 2024

Damaged Roots

This past weekend, my husband and I hiked through an area of Kelowna, British Columbia that had been ravaged by wildfires last August.

This experience was new for us, and eerie.

I was expecting the landscape to be more barren than it was. But many trees were still standing. Some were visibly charred at the base but showing new growth at the top. Quite incredible.

January 29, 2024

Safe to Change

I’ve been reminded in multiple ways recently that stress can stand in the way of our ability and willingness to adapt, both personally and organizationally.

When our nervous system is on high alert, our tendency is to self-protect. In that state, it’s very hard for us to be curious, to listen well, or to stay open to new experiences. We can easily get stuck in unhelpful patterns simply because we are so overwhelmed by demands and ongoing volatility that we can’t bear to introduce change in yet another area of our life — even if that change is positive and wanted.

October 2, 2023

Three Things We Don’t Want to Admit We Don’t Want

It’s far easier to sell people something they both need and want.

I offer services I think people need. But even if I’m right about that, they may still not want them. And if people don’t want them, they likely won’t buy them. Need is not the same as demand.

April 17, 2023April 17, 2023

Welcoming the path of least resistance

Are you wired to take the harder or easier path?

It’s an area of contradiction for me. I tend to assume that the more difficult route is the right one — my brain’s distortion of The Road Not Taken alongside an over-developed Protestant work ethic I suspect. Yet at the same time, I love helping my clients find their easier path to success. For instance, when I work on increasing a team’s Adaptability Quotient, I’ll often say, “We all have to adapt. Why not discover your easier, preferred route to doing so and take that path through the woods of uncertainty rather than hacking your way through the brush of an uncleared trail?”