Adaptability: The #1 Skill Needed for Innovation & Change

Source: Linkedin Learning Workplace Learning 2021

  • With Adaptability being the #1 most in-demand skill today, & globally increasing cases of burnout, the courses below are for Leaders and teams who want to get real and practical support with remaining grounded in a world of accelerating change.

  • By using Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI) tools to improve our mindsets, and develop our inner grit, resilience, and mental flexibility, people will more easily be able to align with and adapt to the worldwide shifts we are experiencing today.

Online Adaptability Courses

Adaptability is measurable & improvable

AQ ABILITY
Your learnable & improvable Adaptability skills

  • Grit, a key aspect of adaptability, measures your ability to stay committed to long-term objectives, driven by consistent interest and persistent effort. This distinct skill involves a blend of passion and perseverance. It is distinct from resilience, resilience (recovering from setbacks) and is considered a learnable skill.

  • Mental Flexibility is the ability to observe the current situation and create new pathways, adapting effectively as needed. It involves embracing competing demands and seeing tensions as opportunities for learning and growth. This skill is vital for individual and organizational adaptability, allowing exploration, experimentation, efficiency, and refinement. It goes beyond open-mindedness to actively pursue opposing behaviors and thoughts for greater success through adaptive experiments.

  • The sub-dimension Mindset, under AQ Ability, refers to your beliefs and outlook on change. It captures your optimism, and ability to visualize positive outcomes. A growth mindset, crucial for thriving in a changing world, embraces the idea that human attributes can be developed through effort and hard work. Your AQ Mindset score offers insight into your attitudes towards change and helps identify areas for growth, determining whether you have a fixed, pessimistic mindset or a flexible, optimistic one.

  • It's essential to differentiate resilience from grit: grit focuses on the consistency of interests and goals over time, while resilience remains neutral concerning the stability of one's interests. interest and persistent effort. This distinct skill involves a blend of passion and perseverance. It is distinct from resilience, resilience (recovering from setbacks) and is considered a learnable skill.

  • Unlearning refers to the ability to intentionally let go of outdated information, beliefs, and practices, paving the way for new ideas and approaches. In an ever-changing world, unlearning is a vital component of adaptability, enabling individuals and organizations to remain agile and competitive. This conscious process involves re-evaluating based on new data and environmental factors, often causing discomfort as it requires parting with past experiences and beliefs. Highly adaptable individuals can identify areas of struggle and uncertainty, updating perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors as needed.

AQ Ability skills (adaptability focussed) can be learned and improved. Your ability to adapt can change over time as you learn and grow your skillset.

AQ CHARACTER
Identifies more stable aspects of your character

  • Emotional Range, derived from the concept of 'neuroticism', measures one's predisposition to psychological stress. It examines how individuals experience emotions due to situations in their environment, particularly in the workplace. High neuroticism is typically seen as a predictor of depression, anxiety, and strong reactions to uncertanty.

    This dimension is crucial during times of significant change and uncertainty. Emotional Range, scored on a sliding scale between Reactive and Collected, isn't about good or bad but rather understanding the appropriate response to different situations.

  • Extraversion preference is an aspect of adaptability that influences your enthusiasm and energy in social situations, affecting decision-making and adaptability. High extraversion scorers thrive in social interactions, while low scorers are more reserved.

    This dimension relates to the Big Five personality traits, with both introverts and extroverts capable of adapting successfully in the right environments and with the right support.

  • Hope, a measurable psychological state, is the mindset to pursue goals and the ability to create alternative ways to reach them when challenged. Rooted in positive psychology, hope consists of agency (goal-directed energy) and pathways (planning to meet goals).

    It resembles self-efficacy and optimism but uniquely emphasizes generating strategies to overcome obstacles. In the AQ model, hope is a powerful dimension associated with self-esteem, positive affect, and self-efficacy, while negatively correlated with negative emotions and burnout.

  • Motivation Style explores what drives you to achieve goals and adapt to change. It's based on regulatory focus theory, which has two main systems: "promotion" (maximizing opportunities) and "prevention" (fulfilling duties and minimizing errors).

    AQme assessment measures your preference on a continuum from "play to protect" (motivated by preserving what you have) to "play to win" (motivated by potential gains). Knowing your motivation style helps you better understand how to adapt and succeed in changing environments.

  • The Thinking Style sub-dimension within AQ Character explores how you process information, categorize, and make sense of the world in your work environment. It is influenced by theories from Dr. Robert J. Sternberg and Dr. Fiona Beddoes-Jones, focusing on the balance between big-picture and detailed thinking.

    As you progress in your career, you may develop a more ambidextrous thinking style, allowing you to better adapt to change and seize opportunities by effectively combining broader perspectives with attention to detail.

Your AQ Character reflects how you might approach adapting & offers predictors of your behaviour in this context, to help you see what situations you are likely to respond adaptably to, and what situations may challenge your ability to adapt.

AQ ENVIRONMENT
The adaptability temperature of your environment

  • The Company Support sub-dimension of AQ Environment focuses on employee perceptions of how their organization values their contributions and cares for their well-being. Research has shown high levels of company support correlate with job performance, satisfaction, and lower staff turnover.

    When employees perceive their organization as supportive and caring, they're more likely to adapt to changes and align their goals with the company's.

  • Emotional Health measures your ability to thrive at work by experiencing positive emotions while limiting negative ones. It's crucial for adaptability since it influences your energy and engagement in continuous change.

    An environment with poor emotional health impacts work performance and adaptability, leading to sustained anxiety, worry, and nervousness. Thriving individuals experience vitality and learning, which is essential for adaptability. A low Emotional Health score risks struggling with changes, while a high score indicates better adaptation in the organization.

  • Team Support in the AQ model represents the extent to which employees feel comfortable sharing knowledge, addressing challenges, and expressing their opinions within their team. A supportive team environment is crucial for building psychological safety, trust, and connection among team members.

    An absence of team support can hinder adaptation and innovation within an organization and might indicate diversity and inclusion issues. As a dynamic aspect of adaptability, team support should be reassessed regularly to maintain its positive impact on organizational adaptability.

  • Work Environment assesses the systems, processes, and methodologies in your organization that influence adaptability. It evaluates whether your organization fosters self-disruption, experimentation, and adaptation or hinders them. This sub-dimension considers rewards, observable acts, punishment, space, process and forums, and public celebration.

    A beneficial Work Environment for adaptability is one where failures are viewed as learning opportunities, openly discussed and celebrated company-wide. A closed and pragmatic environment hampers adaptability, whereas an open and experimental environment nurtures it.

  • Work Stress in the AQme assessment gauges the sense of task overwhelm. Managing work stress effectively is crucial for adaptability. High levels of stress can limit adaptability, while low levels may reduce the motivation to adapt.

    A balance of healthy stress, or "eustress," is vital for growth, adaptation, and change. Long-term high work stress can lead to negative consequences such as high employee turnover, poor sleep, sickness, and burnout. Understanding and optimizing work stress is essential to maintain a productive and adaptive workforce.

Your AQ environment (at work) can either help or inhibit your adaptability. This is rarely measured and a highly critical third dimension of your AQ. Without this context, you organisation is operating in the dark and reducing the effectiveness of any data and insights gained.