Adaptability Quotient: Is Your Team Ready for Massive Change?

Artificial Intelligence is not writing this blog—but maybe it should be. The future is here. Change is upon us. Am I going to be able to adapt enough by the end of the year? By the end of the decade? We made it through Covid. We’re battling another recession. I think I know what our biggest threats are this year—but by 2025? Who knows? How long can we hold on?

Perhaps you’ve had thoughts like these recently.

In their Workplace Learning Report published in 2021, a LinkedIn survey of over 5000 hiring professionals showed that Adaptability had dethroned Creativity as the #1 most in-demand skill. Around the same time, The World Economic Forum released a study indicating that 40% of current jobs would not exist within ten years’ time. Whether your team is ever going to need to use Artificial Intelligence or not, changes will come. Some will surprise you, others won’t, but all of these changes will require an ever-increasingly adaptable workforce. Job descriptions will change. Old ways of doing things will go the way of the buffalo. 

The good news is, adaptability is a skill. Just as learning to play the piano or catch a baseball is a skill, some time and energy may need to be invested to hone that skill. What’s even more exciting is that the Adaptability Quotient can now be assessed and measured, so that one can get a true picture of an individual or a team’s improvement! 

An assessment gives us a picture of which aspects of a person or team’s adaptability might need work—and specific interventions can be developed. A second measurement, six months down the road, gives empirical evidence of growth and change. 

There’s a bright new future ahead for those who embrace the challenge of building their abilities, transforming their character, and constructing environments and cultures which promote and celebrate change. 

To whet your appetite, here are just a few of the 17 facets of Adaptability that the AQ measures:

GRIT

UNLEARNING

MENTAL FLEXIBILITY

THINKING STYLE

HOPE …

A few years ago I was visiting the main office of the local public high school when a teacher wandered in. I overheard her sharing with someone that she had finally turned in her laptop to the tech team for an upgrade. She was the last instructor in the entire school to do so. She had made it through all the threats, resisting the changes that would no doubt throw her for a loop until she could resist no more or face disciplinary action. And she seemed proud of the fact that she was the last holdout! I thought to myself, Well, here’s one of the least adaptable teachers in the school system, at least in terms of technology. I’m terrified of changes to my computer, too, but this is blatant!

I’m sure by now you’re already wondering to yourself, Could we help that certain person on our team become less resistant to change and more adaptable? 

And the answer is … When it comes to change in the world, yes, change is imminent. When it comes to change in humans, it’s possible to learn to adapt.

By Adam G. Fleming, PCC

Let me hear from you.

(This excerpt is taken from the seminar entitled Adaptability Quotient: is Your Team Ready for Massive Change?) I encourage you to click here to register. for this event. Adam Fleming's seminar takes place on Thursday, April 4th, 2024, at Bellomo & Associates, in York, PA from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Eastern Standard Time.

This seminar is also available for live streaming. Livestream details provided after registration.

For content from a similar topic, check out, "The Fine Art Of Pivoting," available exclusively at Romeo Network Online Learning.