How to Develop Your Adaptability Skills

Want to know how to adapt to change? It’s a skill that takes practice and commitment, but it is within
reach for employees across all industries. Consider adaptability a must-have soft skill if you’re aspiring
for a leadership role at your organization. Here’s how to advance your adaptability skills:

 Learn From Others

Learn From Others:

As is the case with learning a whole range of critical soft skills, learning to better navigate change and
become adaptable is best done from others. Do you admire how Fiona from finance consistently
delivers fiscal results with a positive message for the future, even if targets have been missed? Or
perhaps you like how Sean brings in members of different teams to brainstorm solutions to the IT
team’s challenges? Take notes when these people exhibit the adaptability skills you’re keen to learn, or
ask them directly for tips and guidance. While you can learn from people both inside and external to
your organization, if you’re learning from those internally, you’ll get the added benefit of learning how
the skills are applied best to the organization, its values and its people.

Ask Questions:

Just as they must embrace change to grow, the best leaders and organizations among us usually haven’t
achieved success by working alone. They have inspiring mentors, innovative colleagues and gifted
networks they can lean on for support, ask question of and debate ideas with. Asking questions is a great
way to learn more and challenge established ways of doing things, a key component of being adaptable.
Just make sure that your questions are well researched and delivered professionally, to ensure you
receive the most valuable answers.

Leaving Your Comfort Zone:

Change is difficult because we want to stay inside our comfort zone and will resist anything that requires
us to step out of it. Therefore, a conscious effort is needed to do this for those of us less open to change,
and even for those of us who are.

The best way to develop adaptability, or any behavioral change for that matter, is by practicing it in
everyday ‘low stake’ situations.
Our comfort zones are basically as small or as big as we make them. The comfort zone is where
everything is easy and nothing risky ever happens. Equally, nothing great or exciting happens there
either.
Just outside your comfort zone is the ‘stretch zone’, where learning and growth happen. This is the place
that can feel a little uncomfortable because you might be stretching yourself in new and different ways,
but you’re still able to manage. It’s not easy but not impossibly hard either. The stretch zone is the best
place to be. One of the most effective ways to increase your ability to be adaptable is to ensure you are
spending plenty of time there.

Redefine Your Motivation:

Adaptability begins with a willingness to adapt; a mindset that is open and ready to accept—and
therefore overcome—uncertainty at anytime. You can do this by redefining what motivates you. For
instance, if personal growth is a primary motivator then try to see adaptability through the lens of self-
improvement; if relationships are a key driver for you, then think about how rich and meaningful your
relations with others will be after you adapt. How you frame the problem through your mind’s eye is
what determines your reaction, so if you redefine how you see the problem then you can set yourself
up for success. Being ready and willing to adapt is half the battle.
Set Small Goals:

In Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training, there is a one week long stint of training known as Hell
Week, which is five and half days of being cold, wet, tired and miserable while operating on only four
hours of sleep the entire week. Participation is voluntary, which means students can quit at anytime but
if they do then they will not become SEALs. If I had thought about Hell Week in its entirety from its
inception on Sunday night, my willingness to endure—to adapt to each new day—would’ve probably
gone out the window. Instead, I focused on small goals such as making it to the next meal. By breaking
down a seemingly overwhelming task into smaller, more attainable objectives, it's easier to turn the
unfathomable into something manageable.

To adapt to the unpredictable opportunities of the moment, people and businesses must embrace the
mindset that change fosters improvement, and it begins with the mental preparation to adapt.

There’s no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’:

Eliminate ‘wrong’ beliefs from your life. We used to believe that many things are ‘wrong’ and must be
avoided, but it’s not the case if you want to be successful.

Be bold enough to try things that others run away from. This trait has helped many successful people
build companies, corporations, and fortune.
References:

https://www.roberthalf.co.nz/career-advice/career-development/adaptability-skills

https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/deliver/coaching/personal-development-how-to-increase-your-
adaptability

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffboss/2014/07/21/5-ways-to-embrace-adaptability/

https://www.dumblittleman.com/how-to-be-adaptable/