You Can Be An Adaptable Leader. Here's How.

We're quickly learning how important adaptability is, aren't we? Organizations, teams, and individuals who are adaptable are having a bit of a better go during this current crisis, at least as it relates to navigating the business portion of it. It seems that some are perhaps more naturally inclined that way than others, but the truth is that you can learn to be a more adaptable leader or individual.

BE AN ADAPTABLE LEADER BY BECOMING A MORE INTENTIONAL ONE

Know what else we've quickly learned? Working from home isn't as easy as perhaps some of us might have thought it would be.

That's not to say it can't be done; but with distractions galore, it's easy to see how leaders could quickly get spun up into dozens of different directions.

Being intentional has never been more critical.

[bctt tweet="With distractions galore, it's easy for anyone to get spun into a dozen different directions. That's why being intentional has never been more critical. #leadership #wfh #futureofwork #companyculture #creditunions " username="mattmonge"]

BE AN ADAPTABLE LEADER BY HONING YOUR MINDSET

Whether you're naturally more adaptable and flexible, or a bit more...shall we say...conservative, one of the ways you can increase your adaptability is to work on your mindset.

You can be intentional with your mindset — intentional with how you think, how you refuse to think, and where you focus your mental energy.

[bctt tweet="You can be intentional with your mindset — intentional with how you think, how you refuse to think, and where you focus your mental energy. #leadership #mindset #intentional" username="mattmonge"]

BE AN ADAPTABLE LEADER BY CHOOSING YOUR FOCUS

Adaptable leaders are also intentional with their focus.

As my teammate and CEO Mark Arnold recently said, focus on solutions, not stress.

Choosing your focus isn't always easy, but it's definitely something that will aid in your quest to be more adaptable.

Focus on doing things that allow you, your team, and the organization to be more flexible, nimble, and adaptable. This could also involve figuring out what's preventing you from being those things.

Do you have mindsets that are preventing you?

What about processes, structures, beliefs, and attitudes?

Be intentionally focused on what makes relevant, focused on your people, and focused on remaining connected with your purpose.

STAY CONNECTED WITH THE PULSE OF YOUR TEAM

This is so critical.

People everywhere are experiencing all sorts of firsts. Heck, all of us are, teammates and members/consumers alike.

As leaders, it's incumbent upon us to be consistently trying to gain a better and more thorough understanding of how our teams are actually doing, not just how they say they're doing. (You know those can be two entirely different things, yes?)

BE AN ADAPTABLE LEADER BY STAYING INFORMED

If you want to be adaptable, it makes sense that you'll need to know how to adapt.

That will only come if you're consistently carving out time to ingest requisite amounts of information and research. There are myriad ways to do that, and you'll want to find a mix of methods that works best for you.

For example, one way might be to...

STAY CONNECTED WITH OTHERS IN YOUR FIELD VIA SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is a fantastic tool to connect with folks in your field, check out the latest and greatest news and information, and — as you get the hang of it — use the various tools at your disposal to research current, trending topics of interest in pretty much any field you can imagine.

By both following relevant people and hashtags, you can curate a potentially content-rich stream of information.

And the occasionally, much-needed meme.

BE AN ADAPTABLE LEADER BY EMBRACING HUMILITY

You're going to need that humility in order to admit to yourself and others if something isn't working so that you can quickly change direction when and where necessary.

You can see the consequences of not being able to put aside ego in our current political climate, no?

Additionally, that humility will enable you to...

BE INCREASINGLY SELF-AWARE

It's only when you're truly and increasingly self-aware that you're able to look yourself in the mirror, ask hard questions and give honest answers about yourself, your leadership, your current strategies and tactics, and so on.

That humility, coupled with self-awareness, enable a leader to push ego to the side and make appropriate pivots quickly and nimbly without having to spend time worrying about how it makes them look.

They're able to adapt far more quickly in crisis situations than leaders who are worried about their image, who's going to get the blame, and so on.

[bctt tweet="Humble, self-aware leaders adapt far more quickly than those who are worried about image, ego, and assigning blame. #leadership #management #mindset #futureofwork" username="mattmonge"]

BE AN ADAPTABLE LEADER BY BEING ANCHORED TO YOUR PURPOSE

I know, I know. Being "anchored" seems a little antithetical to being adaptable, but stick with me here for a second.

We'd all agree (I think, anyway) that being adaptable is a good thing. Flexibility and agility are good things, especially now.

But what we don't want is to be tossed around like a kite in a thunderstorm. What we don't want is to be like some little kid who is just dazzled by any, shiny thing they see.

We want to be leaders who know who we are, what we're about, and why we're doing what we're doing. If we understand where we're headed — if we have that fixed point in the distance by which we're guiding our teams — it will do wonders for our ability to pivot more fearlessly because we're far less likely to "lose ourselves" out there.

No, we're not just going to go run willy-nilly after any old (or new) thing, because we know what we're doing, and more importantly, why we're doing it. Being anchored in that way provides us the freedom, then, to be bold in our pivots.

HOW DO YOU STAY ADAPTABLE?

How do you stay adaptable as a leader? What have you seen others do well? Got a go-to podcast, blog, or social media account?

Let us know in the comments and tag that go-to person, podcast, blog, or account!

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