5 Easy Ways to Improve Your Team’s Adaptability Skills

Although it might not always be at the forefront of a manager’s mind, adaptability skills are essential for a team’s success.

In our overview guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about learning to embrace change, including what it means to be adaptable, core adaptability skills, ways to develop your team’s skills, and examples of what it can look like in the workplace.

What Is Adaptability?

Adaptability is an individual’s ability to learn and respond to changes in their environment. To simplify that even further, it means being open to change. People who aren’t very adaptable shut down when faced with change and are negatively impacted as a result. 

However, adaptability can be learned and many people — especially in the workplace — learn how to become more adaptable. 

What are adaptability skills? 

Adaptability skills can be natural or learned qualities that help you adjust in the face of change. These skills often revolve around communication, interpersonal skills, and problem-solving. Examples of adaptability skills include: 

• Active listening
• Effective communication
• Critical thinking
• Teamwork
• Organizational skills

Why are adaptability skills important? 

Adaptability skills are important in all areas of life, from personal to professional, because they help folks thrive in their environment, no matter what sorts of changes crop up. Not only that, but adaptability skills help people:  

• Grow and take on new roles and responsibilities at work
• Cope with unexpected changes
• Feel confident making decisions 

5 Core Adaptability Skills to Know

The list of possible skills that make adjusting to change easier is a long one. There are tons of qualities that are worth exploring. With that in mind, here are just a few essential adaptability skills you and your team should aim to employ. 

Problem-solving 

Although it’s an underrated skill, problem-solving is one of the most important aspects of learning to be more adaptable. Your team members need to feel confident and empowered to think critically, especially when assessing a circumstance where they’d need to adapt. 

Feeling comfortable with problem-solving can make it easier for your team to make more informed decisions (even when under considerable pressure) and to come up with creative solutions to problems that crop up.  

Emotional intelligence

Folks with a high level of emotional intelligence are often able to adapt and adjust to change better than people who have a lower degree of emotional intelligence. The self-awareness and social skills that come with more emotional intelligence give folks the tools they need to grow and learn from their mistakes. 

Emotional regulation is a huge part of emotional intelligence, and having team members who know how to regulate their own emotions can completely change the team dynamic. Building and keeping relationships — whether it’s with a coworker, a manager, or a client — is much easier when your team knows how to manage their emotions. 

Empathy, specifically knowing how to listen with empathy, can also be a valuable adaptability skill to hone in on when developing your team’s abilities. 

Flexibility

The ability to be flexible is key for teams looking to sharpen their adaptability skills. Being flexible means being able to not just face change but to embrace it. For example, if your project at work starts taking a new direction, instead of fighting it, explore it. No matter the industry, any team needs to be able to be open when it comes to new perspectives, approaches, and ideas. 

Flexibility also allows teams to adjust their behavior and plans based on the situation. That way, folks can explore new avenues that might better fit the circumstance instead of shutting down when things don’t go to plan. It also makes it a lot easier for teams to succeed in situations that are pending or simply unpredictable. 

Creativity

Creativity is another underrated adaptability skill. The ability to “think outside the box” is sometimes disregarded because it isn’t considered as important as, say, critical thinking. However, creative thinking is arguably just as important. 

That’s because thinking creatively is essential for teams who need to bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the table. 

If you’d like to work on boosting your team’s creativity skills, one way is through experimenting. Allow them to grace and guidance to try new frameworks, approaches, and ideas. Even if the experimentation doesn’t pan out like they thought it would, providing them with a safe space to learn from their mistakes can go a long way in developing those adaptability skills even further. 

Resilience

One of the most important adaptability skills you should aim to focus on with your team is resilience. Resilience, in essence, is the ability to bounce back from failure. Growth — specifically adapting to change — feels nearly impossible when you aren’t very resilient. People who struggle with resilience don’t learn from their mistakes and have trouble growing, even when the opportunity presents itself. 

Encourage your team to learn how to come back from setbacks and keep an optimistic outlook even when things aren’t going to plan. This can help folks on your team better adjust to stressful situations and come through them better for it. 

5 Ways to Develop Your Team’s Adaptability Skills

If you’re looking for surefire ways to improve your team’s ability to adapt, you’re in the right place. There’s a plethora of strategies you can use. To narrow it down a bit, here are five key ways to develop your team’s adaptability skills.

1. Don’t be afraid of failure. 

Nobody wants to make mistakes and nobody wants to fail. However, failure is 100% necessary when it comes to personal and professional growth. Encourage your team members not to be afraid of failure. Instead, frame failure and mistakes as opportunities for growth. 

For example, reassure your team that it’s OK to make mistakes and that they should take a deeper look at what went wrong so they can improve for next time. Make sure as a leader, you’re embodying this perspective, too. Practice asking for feedback and constructive criticism so team members will be comfortable doing the same.

Keep in mind, you’ll need to foster a positive team environment for your employees to feel comfortable and safe making mistakes and learning from them. Otherwise, they’ll be so concerned with not making a mistake that they’ll slip into the trap of becoming stagnant and not seeking out new opportunities at work. 

2. Encourage a growth mindset.

When improving your team’s conflict resolution skills, make sure they’re well-versed in negotiation. A good place to start is pinpointing both parties’ goals. What do you want to achieve and how does that compare to what they’d like to achieve? This is where empathy can come in, Once both goals are laid out, you can use common negotiation techniques to come to an agreement. Negotiation strategies include things like trading, problem-solving, and bargaining. 

3. Welcome change.

At the heart of adaptability is change, so motivating people on your team to welcome change with open arms is a great strategy. Many enablement leaders call this a growth mindset. 

Part of learning how to welcome change is stepping out of your comfort zone. Trying new things and experimenting is a great way to practice adjusting to different circumstances. Motivate the people on your team to explore new avenues at work and make sure you demonstrate this behavior yourself, too. This is key for developing your team’s adaptability skills. 

4. Encourage mindfulness.

Although it’s not often taught in professional spaces, practicing mindfulness is a great way to work on the team’s adaptability skills. Even though it’s an undervalued strategy for enhancing your ability to adapt, there are plenty of ways you can leverage mindfulness for your team. 

Teaching folks how they can use deep breathing exercises and mindful meditation comes with a whole host of benefits. Mindfulness allows team members to: 

• Boost their focus
• Regulate their emotions better
• Become more flexible
• Increase their level of self-awareness
• Accept the things they can and cannot change

5. Foster a culture of collaboration and networking.

Another helpful way you can boost your team’s adaptability skills is by fostering a culture of collaboration, teamwork, and networking. When your team works well with others, they’ll be able to share perspectives, knowledge, and ideas for problem-solving which makes it easier to adjust to change down the line. 

Plus, connecting with people from other backgrounds can not only help your team build more meaningful relationships but also allows for more creativity and innovation in the workplace.

How to Improve Your Team’s Adaptability Skills With Yoodli 

One of the best ways you can help your team enhance their adaptability skills is by taking advantage of an app like Yoodli. Yoodli is an AI-powered speech coach that provides realistic roleplay scenarios for folks to practice their skills. You can easily leverage Yoodli as a safe space for your team to practice adjusting to unexpected changes during a conversation.

Yoodli works by offering a plethora of AI conversation partners with different personalities so folks can practice efficiently communicating with different kinds of people. They’ll need to adjust their communication based on the scenario and the AI partner. Plus, your team gets actionable feedback for improvement based on how the conversation progressed. For example, you and your team will receive instant insight into how they communicate, with metrics on their filler word usage, inclusive language, and word choice, among other data.

This helps company leaders work on developing their team’s adaptability skills in a meaningful, risk-free way. With Yoodli, you can allow your team to make mistakes and experiment with different approaches in a completely safe space. 

Find out how you can leverage this tool to improve your team’s adaptability skills with Yoodli for free at https://yoodli.ai/.

Examples of Adaptability in the Workplace

There are examples of adaptability everywhere, no matter who you are. For some folks, it might be taking another route in the face of a traffic pileup. For others, adaptability might look like adjusting to life with a disability, for example. Here are some examples of adaptability in the workplace and what that can look like for you and your team. 

Working with new technology

One significant example of adaptability in the workplace is new technology. At some point, most everyone will be tasked with using a new piece of technology they’re unfamiliar with. It can be frustrating and taxing to fiddle with a program or app you’ve never used before. But that’s exactly why adaptability skills are so important. Learning how to use new software and other types of tech can put your team ahead of the competition. 

For example, the emergence of AI and machine learning in workplaces all over the world is a prime example of adaptability in the workplace. Many people are experimenting with apps like Gemini or ChatGPT to see how they can leverage this new tech for their purposes at work. 

Another great example is the concept of remote work. Although not necessarily new, work-from-home opportunities grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many people were forced to adapt to adjust to unexpected global changes. 

Managing organizational changes

Organizational changes can be really difficult, and teams with stellar adaptability skills will be able to face these changes head-on. Whether it’s a new work culture as a result of an acquisition or merger, or an unfamiliar organizational structure, being able to manage these changes is a sign of a strong team. Plus, teams with solid adaptability skills will be able to cope with difficult career transitions like layoffs or job insecurity much better than a team without the ability to adapt. 

Embracing diversity in the workplace

Encouraging and embracing diversity is another great example of adaptability in the workplace. Being able to appreciate and respect cultural differences at work is a must for any team. A diverse workplace translates to more backgrounds, perspectives, and opportunities for learning.

Knowing how to appreciate what makes us different from our coworkers can yield stronger relationships and more effective communication all around. 

The Main Takeaway 

Adaptability skills are often put on the back burner when it comes to personal and professional improvement, but investing in developing your team’s ability to adjust to change is well worth it. Yoodli can facilitate your efforts to improve your team’s abilities to adapt to changes in a safe, risk-free space through AI-driven roleplay. 

Sources

• Yale University: “Learn and Grow: What is adaptability in the workplace?”
• Indeed: “6 Important Workplace Adaptability Skills (With Examples).”
• LinkedIn: “Mindfulness for Product Development: A Guide to Adaptability.”