?? Adaptability Powers Resilience ????♀?

If there’s one thing this pandemic has taught us HR Leaders, it’s the building of a resilient workforce as one of the most important things we can do. Not just right now, but for the future. As my friend Lars Schmidt recently shared in his new book, “Redefining HR” (already sold out once on Amazon, so get your copy today!), forget those “best practices” in HR anymore. We’ve embarked on a whole new journey and now is our moment to create.  

Yesterday, I was speaking with a VP of People at a fast-growing tech company about throwing their playbook out the window on employee development, as it goes beyond sole skill development, instead, it’s emotional. She was telling me how her employees are struggling, how they were trying to figure out how to best collaborate, and during the famous January OKR kick-off, how the business needs to focus on continually evolving. We agreed resilience is supercritical, but how can companies truly become resilient? 

Let’s pause for a moment before jumping into action. We hear the word “Resilience” so often (it might just be the new workplace word of 2021??), but what does it mean? 

Resilience is the ability to quickly recover from any difficulties. 

But how?

Enter Adaptability. 

Adaptability is adjusting to those difficulties to create a positive outcome.  

When faced with difficulties or changes, a person has three choices: Fight it, complain about it, or accept and do something about it. This is where developing adaptability is crucial. It’s about helping people create the mindset to both accept and create the best possible solution to move forward.

So, isn’t the way in which we adapt to difficult situations essential to our growth and therefore, actually enabling resilience? 

At bestselfy, we’ve been creating bite-sized coaching sessions on developing one’s adaptability to truly become more resilient. Here’s a short framework of how companies can help their people embark on the journey of full adaptability:

1. Accept the Situation (change mindset from “it won’t work, it’s the way it’s been” towards, “what would happen if we…?” 
2. Be Open-Minded (ask open questions like “how can we make this better than before?”
3. Take More Risks (test comfort zones, act and then analyze)
4. Continuously Learn (commit to learning one thing each day)

Or, if one has an Adaptability superpower (yes, some people are naturally more likely to go-with-the-flow), find out who they are and begin to pair people or create small groups in order to initiate different perspectives, moving that needle within becoming more adaptable to be more resilient. 

Not sure how to identify these adaptable people? Have them take our bestselfy personality assessment (scientifically validated) as a great way to short-cut understanding your individuals. 

You can also sign up for the ??bestselfy newsletter?? to receive our bite-sized coaching sessions directly to your inbox or reach out and let’s chat. 

Onwards and upwards!

Best(selfy),

Hilary