Points for Adaptability

What is adaptability?

Adaptability means being flexible when things change. An adaptable person is one who is open to new ideas and concepts, to working independently or as part of a team, and to carrying out multiple tasks or projects. Someone is regarded as adaptable if they are able to manage multiple assignments and tasks, set priorities, and adapt to changing conditions and/or work assignments.


What is flexibility?

An agile mindset allows us to evaluate and then adjust to the different roles, responsibilities and jobs that we have each day. Adopting a flexible approach to study, work and life is more likely to enable us to achieve success than maintaining a rigid outlook or set of beliefs.  People who are flexible are open to change and are able to adapt and adjust continuously to changing circumstances. Mental agility of this kind enables us to be more effective as problem solvers and problem finders - flexibility and creativity often go hand in hand. 

Flexibility is extremely important for negotiating and communicating. The ability to acknowledge another’s point of view, and perhaps modify one’s own accordingly, is essential for effective teamwork. As the term suggests, the ability to adopt a flexible approach is not static, it fluctuates according to mood and the circumstances that we find ourselves in. We can enhance our flexibility by deliberately adopting some of the following strategies:

• Changing the context;
• Trying something new;
• Questioning our thoughts and words;
• Planning to be spontaneous;
• Deliberately trying to think in different ways.

Limited flexibility may cause difficulties with the following: 

• Solving problems creatively and adapting to novel situations or dynamic/changing situations; 
• Dealing with uncertain, unanticipated or unpredictable work situations;
• Learning new tasks, technologies, and procedures;
• Interpersonal adaptability: for example adapting interpersonal behaviour to work effectively with a new team;
• Cultural adaptability which requires the ability to perform effectively in different cultures and environments; 
• Demonstrating physically oriented adaptability which involves adapting to various physical factors such heat, noise, uncomfortable climates, and difficult environments