Adaptable to changing Conditions
We live in an era of risk and instability. Globalization, new technologies, and greater transparency have combined to upend the business environment and give many CEOs a deep sense of unease. Just look at the numbers. Since 1980 the volatility of business operating margins, largely static since the 1950s, has more than doubled, as has the size of the gap between winners (companies with high operating margins) and losers (those with low ones).
Market leadership is even more precarious. The percentage of companies falling out of the top three rankings in their industry increased from 2% in 1960 to 14% in 2008. What’s more, market leadership is proving to be an increasingly dubious prize: The once strong correlation between profitability and industry share is now almost non-existent in some sectors. According to our calculation, the probability that the market share leader is also the profitability leader declined from 34% in 1950 to just 7% in 2007. And it has become virtually impossible for some executives even to clearly identify in what industry and with which companies they’re competing.
All this uncertainty poses a tremendous challenge for strategy making. That’s because traditional approaches to strategy—though often seen as the answer to change and uncertainty actually assume a relatively stable and predictable world.
The goal of most strategies is to build an enduring (and implicitly static) competitive advantage by establishing clever market positioning (dominant scale or an attractive niche) or assembling the right capabilities and competencies for making or delivering an offering (doing what the company does well). Companies undertake periodic strategy reviews and set direction and organizational structure on the basis of an analysis of their industry and some forecast of how it will evolve.
8.1. Success Factor for The Ability to Develop or Adapt
Like it or not, leaders all over the world are facing change and complexity new cultures, new jobs, new markets, new everything. Because change is constant and inevitable, leaders must adapt to succeed.
According to a research, the most frequently cited success factor for the ability to develop or adapt. Successful executives:
- Adapt to the changing external pressures facing the organization.
- Adjust their management style to changing situations.
- Accept changes as positive.
- Revise plans as necessary.
- Consider other people’s concerns during change.
Conversely, the inability to develop or adapt was the most frequently cited reason for career derailment among North American managers.
That’s because inflexible leaders limit the adaptability of others. New initiatives may be halted or stifled. Resistance to change may undermine critical projects or system-wide implementation. Employee enthusiasm, cooperation, morale, and creativity are jeopardized, making it all the more difficult to run the business or organization.
8.2. The 3 Types of Flexibility That Help You Adapt to Change
Adaptability is about having ready access to a range of behaviours that enable leaders to shift and experiment as things change.
“To survive change in your organization or industry or profession, you must first lead yourself through the process of transition. This includes finding ways to help yourself feel more grounded, understanding the impact that change is having on you, and understanding the impact of your behaviour on others.” notes one of the co-author of Adaptability.
Adaptable people show 3 kinds of flexibility:
Cognitive flexibility: The ability to use different thinking strategies and mental frameworks.
Leaders who have cognitive flexibility are able to incorporate different thinking strategies and mental frameworks into their planning, decision-making, and management of day-to-day work. They can simultaneously hold multiple scenarios in mind and can see when to shift and inject a change. Cognitive flexibility indicates nimble, divergent thinking, an interest in developing new approaches, the ability to see and leverage new connections, and the propensity to work well across the organization. These leaders readily learn from experience and recognize when old approaches don’t work.
Emotional flexibility: The ability to vary one’s approach to dealing with emotions and those of others.
Leaders with emotional flexibility vary their approach to dealing with their own and others’ emotions an area that many leaders often fail to consider. An emotionally flexible leader is comfortable with the process of transition, including grieving, complaining, and resistance. Adapting to change requires give and take between the leader and those experiencing the change. A leader without emotional flexibility is dismissive of others’ concerns and emotions and shuts down discussion. At the same time, an emotionally adaptive leader moves the change or agenda forward.
Dispositional flexibility: The ability to remain optimistic and, at the same time, realistic.
Leaders who display dispositional flexibility (or personality-related flexibility) operate from a place of optimism grounded in realism and openness. They will acknowledge a bad situation but simultaneously visualize a better future. They are neither blindly positive nor pessimistic and defeatist. Ambiguity is well-tolerated. Flexible leaders see change as an opportunity rather than as a threat or danger.
By learning and practicing behaviours that boost your cognitive, emotional, and dispositional flexibility, you can become more adaptable and, in turn, help others to adapt.
As a leader, you not only have to respond to change, but you also have to steer change. Use these 5 tips as you adapt to change and guide your team through change:
- Be curious. Ask lots of questions. Wonder, explore, and consider before you judge and decide.
- Don’t get too attached to a single plan or strategy. Have Plan B (and C) at the ready.
- Create support systems. Don’t go it alone. Look to mentors, friends, coaches, trusted peers, professional colleagues, family members, and others to serve as your support system in times of change. Encourage employees to do the same.
- Understand your own reaction to change. You have to be clear about your own emotions and thoughts about changes, so you can be straightforward with others.
- Immerse yourself in new environments and situations. Do this when you are confronted by change — but get practice by joining activities, meeting new people, and trying new things on a regular basis.