How To Be a More Adaptable Leader

During the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, business leaders were pushed to the edge of their ability to adapt to change. But the pressure isn’t over. Ongoing financial, social, and environmental instability may test your ability to work around, above, and through turmoil.

The greater your adaptable leadership skills, the better you can keep business progressing because you’ll remain calm amid chaos. You’ll see solutions that produce the optimal outcomes for your team and business and you’ll motivate your team to deliver their best work.

What does it mean to be adaptable?

Many job descriptions ask for a person who is both adaptable and flexible. Sometimes, people use the words interchangeably—but there is a difference. Adaptability refers to how you adjust or modify yourself to fit a new situation. Flexibility is your willingness to do so.

To illustrate, let’s say you lead a successful team whom you see in the office daily. Then the business merges with another company, which blends your team with a group of people who work remotely. Your team may work from different locations, but you still want everyone to be highly collaborative, innovative, and eager to do their best work, right? So you adapt by changing your processes, values, and leadership style to meet the needs of a hybrid workforce.

Why is adaptability so important for leaders?

Adaptability is important for leaders because rigidity cripples careers and business growth. The Center for Creative Leadership has studied career derailments of global executives since 1983. These were formerly successful women and men who got fired, demoted, or whose career stalled. Research shows, “Many executives who derail do so because they are unable or unwilling to adapt.”

They’re not the only casualty. The study also states, “If leaders don't consider their own adaptability and the adaptability of their subordinates, new initiatives can be halted or stifled before they're given a chance, or simply left to die on the vine.”

So, what does an adaptable leader look like? According to the study, in North America, bosses, peers, and direct reports describe an adaptable leader as someone who:

• Handles mistakes with poise, and learns from them
• Is open to feedback, and learns from it
• Is self-assured, and stays composed under pressure

A leader who lacks an adaptable leadership style is described as someone who:

• Avoids risk
• Dislikes authority figures
• Is defensive
• Is not open to diversity
• Resists learning from mistakes
• Is closed to feedback
• Does not handle pressure well
• Has narrow interests

Ways an adaptive leadership style can boost your career

Being more adaptive improves your ability to lead more effectively during change and stressful situations. A few critical skills adaptability helps you sharpen include:

• Finding creative solutions
• Benefiting from challenge
• Maintaining calm
• Staying on plan

Finding creative solutions

You’re able to consider all the factors and come up with a practical solution. You learn from experiences and aren’t held back by thinking and doing things according to “how it’s always been done.” As a situation shifts, you nimbly adjust your response to meet the needs of the team and the business.

Adaptable leadership skills are so critical for business success that tech investor Natalie Fratto only considers founders with a high adaptability quotient (AQ). This video of Natalie Fratto’s TED Talk explains why.

‍

Benefiting from challenge

Instead of resisting challenges, you see inherent potential learning opportunities and put them to good use. When you make mistakes, you reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Then you can use those insights to take clear and decisive action—and to avoid repeating mistakes.

Your willingness to learn also shows teams that it’s safe to make mistakes and take risks. This modeling can increase the creativity others bring to work and their level of engagement.

Maintaining calm

You aren’t as easily side-tracked or overwhelmed by change. You’re able to remain open-minded to what’s new, feel grounded when pulled out of your comfort zone, and willing to accept a new situation with optimism. From this balanced place, you’re able to consider several scenarios and apply multiple strategies to create an ideal solution.

Since team members take direction from what you model, they remain more grounded and positive amid uncertainty and ambiguity. They find opportunities to grow from change, instead of resisting it. They may use more creativity when solving problems.

Staying on plan

You don’t let surprises throw you off course. When the unexpected happens, you’re mentally and emotionally able to respond quickly. And you’re receptive to considering new strategies to achieve optimal outcomes, such as how Samsung NEXT and Whisk adopted skill sourcing. By sourcing skills on-demand, the company rapidly and cost-effectively gained the specialized talent required to meet their goal of scaling growth by four times in one year.

‍

7 habits to become a more adaptable leader

As a leader, you respond to change by guiding it. Your ability to adapt facilitates how decisively you respond to urgent issues, anticipate problems then make contingency plans, and remain optimistic as you steer change.

Practicing these habits may make you a more adaptable leader by shifting how you automatically react to situations and your environment.

1. Push yourself to experience new environments and perspectives
2. Deepen your self-awareness
3. Stay open-minded and opportunity-seeking
4. Improve your decision-making skills
5. Keep your plans flexible and dynamic
6. Think about how you react to situations
7. Stay curious

1. Push yourself to experience new environments and perspectives

Adaptive ideas can’t spring up from recycling the same old knowledge. According to research, leaders improve their adaptability by creating a continuous learning culture. One where they receive challenging assignments, then get candid and constructive feedback, coaching, and ongoing support. They can then reflect on their strengths and areas to develop and have the tools and encouragement to practice new skills.

You don’t need a formal learning program to learn new things. Investigate emerging technologies, read thought leadership, and explore subjects outside of your specialty or industry. You never know where inspiration may come from. When Steve Jobs set out to provide the best customer service in Apple Stores, he didn’t copy ideas from top retailers; he took cues from the concierge desks at 5-star hotels.

2. Deepen your self-awareness

Research from psychologist Tasha Eurich shows true self-awareness is so rare that only 10%–15% of people have the trait. People tend to focus on internal awareness, such as their feelings, values, and strengths. They don’t spend enough time on their external awareness—how other people see them.

Her research shows the most self-aware people have a balance between internal and external awareness. “Leaders must actively work on both seeing themselves clearly and getting feedback to understand how others see them.”

Another reason people lack self-awareness is because they’re not asking the right questions. Most people naturally reflect on a situation by asking “why.” “As it turns out, ‘why’ is a surprisingly ineffective self-awareness question,” said Eurich. Unconscious thoughts and feelings skew people to invent answers that may feel true, but are often wrong.

Instead of asking “why?” ask “what?” For example, don’t ask, “Why did that person rate my approachability so low?” Instead ask “What steps should I take to create a culture where people feel safe to share ideas and take risks?” Asking “what” moves you toward focusing on solutions rather than stewing in unproductive thoughts.

See Eurich’s three strategies for becoming truly self-aware.

‍

3. Stay open-minded and opportunity-seeking

Adaptable leaders know they don’t have all the answers. They remain open to different perspectives and seek learning opportunities from “good” and “bad” situations.

“Bring a diverse group of people together to brainstorm ideas and come up with feasible solutions,” suggests leadership specialist Carl Lindberg. Team members learn from each other, which may lead to professional and personal growth. “In this way, adaptive leaders don’t emphasize hierarchy but rather use a democratic leadership style.”

4. Improve your decision-making skills

Practice avoiding rigid ways of thinking. Reconsider why existing practices exist and if they still benefit the team and organization. Check if your reactions are based on assumptions, habitual ways of working, and unconscious habits.

Seek other people’s opinions. Tap people with the expertise and experience who can provide insights that will aid you in making the best decisions. Remember that you want to broaden your perspective, not look for people who agree with you.

The most valuable opinions may not come from the people in the room making a decision. “Seek input and guidance from team members who are closest to the action—and give them credit for actually making your decision a better one,” suggested Martin Moore in a Harvard Business Review article. People closest to the action may also reveal a problem’s root cause, so you can address it at the source and not have to deal with the same issue again.

5. Keep your plans flexible and dynamic

“Adaptable leaders understand that while an end goal and a vision are necessary, the path that takes them there needs to be flexible,” wrote Keith Keating, Chief Talent and Learning Officer at Archwell. While you may have a solid plan for reaching a specific goal, it’s wise to have several contingency plans in your back pocket in case something unexpected happens.

For instance, imagine your Plan A is designed around a specific group of people contributing their skills and turning in deliverables at specific times. What if the project manager leaves during the execution phase? What if the deadline shortens and workload increases? Perhaps your Plan B could address how you’ll use on-demand professionals through Upwork to quickly fill skills gaps.

Read: What is a Contingency Plan (and How Can You Make One?)

6. Think about how you react to situations

Great leaders can remain calm and make good decisions in high-stress scenarios. They’ve learned to be so self-aware and adept at leading with empathy that they can adapt their emotions and approach to a given situation, environment, and person.

Understanding how you react to situations begins with recognizing your mental models. These are the beliefs and ideas—some are unconscious—that you developed from past experiences. When you’re aware of which mental models are in play, you can consciously decide which to keep and which to update.

Changing mental models may be difficult if you’ve carried them around for a while. Specialists, such as executive coaches, can give you tools to move past them.

‍

7. Stay curious

Adaptability is built upon curiosity. Ask more open-ended questions to understand how team members and customers think and how a change may impact them and the business. Maximize the value from asking questions by listening to understand rather than to respond.

“For leaders, adaptability is about having ready access to different ways of thinking, enabling leaders to shift and experiment as things change,” wrote Keith Keating. As you expose yourself to different perspectives, your mind becomes more flexible and curious, which may deepen your understanding of how other people think.

Keating suggests keeping a flexible and curious mind by:

• Asking others for their opinions and perspectives
• Questioning your biases and assumptions
• Exploring new thoughts and paradigms
• Reflecting on your own emotions and those of others
• Asking questions, listening, and observing before judging and deciding
• Creating space for creativity, experimentation, and continuous learning

Examples of adaptable leadership

Adaptable leaders respond to shifting priorities and conditions to create the ideal outcomes.

Build a brand

Lady M is a global boutique bakery that’s marketed as a lifestyle brand. The small marketing team couldn’t handle all of the offline and online marketing themselves, but they didn’t have the budget to add headcount. They created a way to cost-effectively expand capabilities by contracting independent creative talent through Upwork. The U.S.-based marketing team was no longer limited by their location either. Now they could find someone in Hong Kong to handle an onsite photo shoot as easily as someone in California to design Facebook ads.

“I keep reminding team members that their biggest opportunity to grow and impact the business is by learning how to delegate and manage resources,” said Kaiyi Chu, the company’s then head of growth. “There’s so much to do in a day, we all need to become better project managers instead of the person who gets everything done by themselves.”

Reduce risk

Thumbtack makes it easier for people to complete home improvement tasks by connecting customers with skilled professionals. Their call center volume reached capacity during a period of rapid growth, which slowed response times. Thumbtack needed a solution quickly. They considered moving part of their call volume to live chat, but feared live chat would reduce service quality.

They found a way to move forward with less risk by launching a cost-effective pilot through Upwork. Upwork helped the company contract 130 live chat agents within days. The pilot was so successful that live chat became one of Thumbtack’s primary service channels.

Inspire innovation

The engineers at PGA of America would come up with new ideas when working on projects, but they didn’t have time to build them out. They were caught between innovating and getting their regular work done.

Then the team figured out how to stop sacrificing one for the other. When a team member comes up with a new idea, they engage engineers through Upwork to test proof of concept. Meanwhile, employees remain focused on their work. If an idea shows it will add value to the business, they will dedicate resources to it.

“Independent talent changed how we handle development,” said George Whitaker, now Senior Director of Software Engineering at PGA of America. “They gave us the confidence to test new ideas and opened our minds to what’s possible.”

Get your leadership edge

Every good leader has a combination of traits that enable them to strategize, take action, and get results. Travis Bradberry, author of “Leadership 2.0,” calls these “core leadership” skills.

But adaptive leaders have an additional set of skills that enable them to rally teams around change, spot opportunities in any situation, and seek ways to regularly expand their and their team’s potential.

‍

“Adaptive leadership skills can enable you to see and understand the specific actions the world’s greatest leaders take every day,” said Bradberry. “These things are not innate qualities of brilliant and inspirational people that you should aspire to: They are practical, repeatable skills that any leader can adopt with effort.”

Yes, anyone can adopt these skills, but it’s difficult to do it alone. Because everyone has blindspots caused by ingrained habits and unconscious beliefs and biases. If you don’t overcome these obstacles first, they could create unnecessary struggle on your path to becoming a more adaptable leader.

Don’t go at it alone. Visit the Upwork marketplace to get the exact help you need to be more adaptable, when the need arises. This may range from finding the ideal executive coach to help you strengthen specific skills to assembling a team of subject matter experts to aid you in solving a complex problem. Browse the wide range of skilled talent today.