This is the ‘Age of Accelerations’* where everything is changing at an eye-watering pace.
Technology races ahead, global markets are shifting rapidly, work patterns are moving to transient project teams and a gig economy, and the next generation of workers have hugely different values and expectations of their work life.
Predictability has gone out of the window on a large scale, and questions such as ‘will Bitcoin be the disruptor of world economy and governments, or will it be just another investment bubble?’ have strong advocates on both sides. Who knows where it will end up?
What is clear, is that leaders now have to add to their list of must-have skills. Companies will need to respond more rapidly, decisively and sometimes radically to new events and developments than ever before.
So what is adaptability and how can we develop it?
The ability to learn something consciously and then switch it to automatic is a skill that has allowed humans to dominate this planet. We spend most of our day operating on automatic, which frees our conscious thought process to focus on creative solutions to problems. In this way, we can plan a presentation or speech while driving and still reasonably expect to arrive home safely.
The ‘automatic’ part of our minds are the beliefs we hold and our habits of thought. Many of these are developed in childhood, usually unconsciously, and mostly we don’t question them. Because childhood is a time to learn how the world works and how to survive in it.
In a world where not much changes from one generation to the next, that’s a great evolutionary strategy. But in our current world of accelerating change, it can be a liability. Old or out-dated beliefs and thinking can stop us responding positively to change. Change becomes yet another stress. Adaptability is the ability to re-write our childhood view of how the world works and align ourselves with how the world is right now.
Adaptability takes us a step forward from emotional intelligence, in which self-awareness was the first rule. Now we would do well both to see and to question the beliefs and assumptions we’re working . Does this belief still serve me? And if the answer is ‘no’ then we need to discard that belief and consciously create a new one.
It becomes a skill of mental (and emotional) review and . The ability to do this easily and comfortably requires a growth mindset, and the willingness to redefine excellence. It requires a level of non-attachment to beliefs that would impress a Buddhist monk.
That skill can be developed when you have an inner stability, a sense that letting go of old ways of working and thinking will be good for you, and more importantly, won’t harm you. This centred calm is, then, the secret to developing your adaptability.
In the words of Lao Tzu, 1500 years ago;
‘If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to’.
Tara Halliday – see Bio
*See ‘Thank You for Being Late’ by Thomas L. Friedman, ‘An optimist’s guide to thriving in the Age of Accelerations’.
Main Image: 123rf.com/lightwise
