Should Leaders Teach Employees to be Adaptable?
“Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.” ~Max McKeown
We all know the stress and frustration of having to adapt our personal and professional schedules due to an unexpected occurrence. Your team is no different. In our industry change is inevitable and happens at a moment’s notice. During a typical workday how does your team deal with unexpected change or roadblocks, a.k.a. “zingers?” Did it come with a lot of drama or was it just part of the day? The way a team handles those zingers can be your competitive advantage or your weak spot.
Today, while speaking to a group of frontline team leaders and employees, they told me, not everyone they work with comes in with a mindset to be adaptable in the workplace. “We have to teach it to them,” they told me. So, I asked them, “How do you teach adaptability?” The answer was what you might expect, it was straight to the point. “We tell them to be adaptable.”
Is it that simple? It really may be that simple, but some leaders like to complicate things. Certainly, setting the expectations for how the organization works helps newly hired staff understand how the team culture functions – what to expect and what the expectations are. I asked these same employees, “Have you ever had to work with someone who is not adaptable and what was it like?” Immediately they said yes and gave me list of non-adaptable traits:
- They are a headache to work with because they let interruptions derail progress.
- They feel sorry for themselves. That’s no fun and causes us all more work.
- They have unrealistic expectations and only put out a minimal effort to get by.
- Their poor attitude leads them to make excuses.
It was a great discussion, and the positive culture grew today because of it. Then I asked, “Where does adaptability start in the workplace?” Here were the short answers from the same group.
- It should start in the interview, trying to determine if they are an adaptable person coming in.
- Attitudes can change, but it really starts with how they view life and their attitude toward challenges.
- It starts by how they own their attitudes and behaviors. When a zinger crops up do they accept the challenge, display a “the buck stops here” attitude?
Make adaptability a core value in your organization. Put it in your Company Creed. Talk about it often and have people share stories of doing it. Make adaptability your competitive advantage.
