The One Trait Every Human Being Must Have

Recently, I delivered a workshop to 400 university students. There were two sessions and each session was attended by approximately 400 students. The duration of each session was for 2 hours.

Since the number in the audience was large, this workshop would be different in that it would involve least amount of interaction or group activities. In the first session, I had planned on some interaction by way of asking questions, or having them discuss some of the questions asked or doing the activity with the person sitting next to them. I realized that even this limited interaction was not yielding the desired results. I still attempted different ways in order to get the students to interact but overall participation was at a bare minimum.

In session 2, the topic was the same as session 1 and thus the content was the same. Based on what I observed in Session 1, I realized that I have to change my structure, examples and make the presentation as a lecture but in a conversational style, to achieve the desired impact. I had to adapt to the requirements on the fly, had to think on my feet, yet remain calm and impactful.

Yet, there are many situations in life where we see oneself or others having limited adaptability.

What does Adaptability mean and look like?

1.Emotionally Intelligent

You keep calm in the face of challenges and persist to overcome them without losing your composure.

Knowing yourself, you choose yourself in terms of your behaviors because you remind yourself of, why you do, what you do. You remind yourself of the purpose at hand, to be emotionally intelligent. You also realize why you need to be adaptable and how. If you don’t how to do it, you are willing to seek assistance or reflect to determine what skills in you could you use better.

2.Reviewing Your Goals

Setting your vision which is motivating is important. When the overall vision is meaningful, you set goals to keep achieving your vision. However, goals are of no use if they are outdated, not in line with the market dynamics and you are not willing to see this and make the necessary shifts. You and your organization can thrive only if you are constantly reinventing yourself and adapt to the changes. Case in point being, in the automotive industry with the breakthroughs in the introduction of the electric car, and the onset of driverless technology, innovation is the name of the game.  Another example is in the mobile industry, where those who refused to innovate, are now part of history.

Goals and the ways to achieve your vision has to be in sync with the market dynamics. You need to constantly evaluate what can be done different and what will make sense and yet yield returns.

3.Versatile

How commercially agile are you in understanding your client needs, the changing dynamics of their demands, the market competition, your own challenges and those of others? What skills sets (technical and soft skills) are you willing to change and keep yourself abreast of changes? Versatility also means you believe in yourself and your ability to handle the different challenges and situations.

Adaptability requires you to unlearn things you know, things you are used to and relearn new skills, with a positive attitude. It is about embracing new ways of doing things and having the humility to accept that you have to grow and develop.

4.Resilience

Adaptability is about your ability to bounce back from a challenging situation or an adversity. It is about how you cope with these challenges and yet thrive. Each of us are more resilient in some aspects of our life than others. Ask yourself how can you apply the learnings from the resilient part of your life and apply that to other parts of your life?

Flexibility is not about compromising one’s values or standards but continuing to grow, make shifts to develop yourself and seeing things from the other person’s point of view.

Some of us seek a continued path of growth and development which is necessary many times. And many other times that journey of seeking more could become so insatiable that you could be disappointed in yourself. Have you ever thought of looking within yourself and becoming more aware of what you have and what parts of what you have are you using effectively? In that way what we do, what we think, how we act and who we are comes from increased self-awareness and being awake to that self-awareness.

How are you being adaptable?

For one-on-one coaching, group coaching, facilitation of workshops or training or key note speaker, please consult me. 

 

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