adaptability – Page 4 – Reimagine. Strategy.

December 20, 2021May 2, 2022

Collected Under Pressure

“Well, at least we have enough toilet paper!”

A classic line from a client this week as we considered how to muster the energy to cope with another hard chapter in pandemic life.

We were actually talking about “Emotional Range” within her Adaptability Quotient assessment at the time. Emotional Range is defined as the extent to which people experience emotions because of situations in their environment. At one end of that range are people who are “reactive” – they have stronger stress responses in the face of the unexpected and are easily overwhelmed by uncertainty. Folks at the “collected” end of the range tend to be calm under pressure and in control of their reactions. They can also be [perceived to be] less sensitive when others are struggling.

December 6, 2021May 2, 2022

The Limits of Adaptability

If you’ve been following along in this space, you’ll know I’m a fan of adaptability. We need it, we can learn it, and it can energize us.

But I’m learning its limits.

Having been playing with the metaphor of elasticity recently to capture dimensions of adaptable leadership, it occurs to me that (unlike elastics!) humans have the ability to warn others, if not to predict, when they are about to snap. And “snapping” does not only look like breaking down or falling apart. It might look more like simply being unable to fulfill your intended purpose as well as you otherwise could have, or even not at all.

November 29, 2021May 2, 2022

Stretching from a fixed point

Elastics stretch from a fixed point.

I don’t understand much about physics, but I know from experience that if all parts of an elastic are in motion simultaneously, stretching isn’t happening. And elastics are made to stretch.

This metaphor might resonate for you when you consider the past 20 months – at times all the parts have been moving at once, so you haven’t been able to respond well.

October 25, 2021May 2, 2022

Collective Adaptability

I am conscious of being in a liminal space recently, somewhere between gatherings happening digitally and in-person and a new “third way” of hybrid that has more variations than I can describe.

Liminal spaces are exciting and uncomfortable and tiring.

This particular transitional time reminds me to be grateful for the fact that adaptability (which we all need) is both an individual and a collective responsibility. The Adaptability Quotient assessment tool measures personal skills such as grit and resilience, but also collective features such as work environment and team support. This means that our shared environments can both contribute to and undermine our ability to adapt, just like our temperament and skillsets can.

September 27, 2021May 2, 2022

Early Adopters Help Early Adapters

Have you ever “ridden the curve?”

If you’ve been in a tough university class, you’ll know what I mean. It’s an expression that refers to benefiting from a bell curve that pulls up your grade in order for the course to attain the average the professor is expecting.

In my daughter’s current law school experience, that same curve is used not only to bring some grades up, but to push some down. Pretty annoying if you are at the right-hand side of that bell.