FWD: One of the recurring themes in your article was the importance of being able to adjust how we think or behave in different situations, staying focused on our ultimate goals but also staying open-minded about how we actually realise them. It makes so much sense, but in practice is far from easy, especially in the face of an unexpected crisis. Why is that?

LB: It’s a great question. There’s actually a biological reason for this. When we come across unexpected situations, we can begin to feel stressed, and our body releases a hormone called cortisol to help us deal with the situation at hand. However, as a bit of a side effect, cortisol actually binds to the part of the brain which helps us to spot a shift in the context (i.e. how it is different) – and so our perspective on the situation can start to become more fixed. The takeaway message being that a stressed brain is less adaptable – and explains why managing our emotions during unexpected situations or crisis is so important to how we deal with them.

FWD: Generally speaking, do you think today’s businesses and senior managers truly understand the value of adaptability?

LB: I think some do, although I don’t think the full value is yet known. The concept is getting more and more attention, particularly due to the current context. How we then create an environment that facilitates the development of adaptability and encourages individuals and teams to leverage their adaptability is perhaps less known. One of the reasons we (Mindflick) turned our attention to the concept was because of the way adaptability seems to underpin so much success, particularly in high level sport. Somewhat counterintuitively, those that were able to maintain consistency in their performances where the ones that were most adaptable. They would tweak their approach depending on the challenge in front of them. When you look at the science of adaptability, there’s so much evidence of its positive impact on a whole range of outcomes, from developing more meaningful relationships, enhancing performance and improving problem solving abilities, to increasing individual wellbeing, managing transitions more successfully, all the way through to more effective leadership.

FWD: In the quest to create a more adaptable workplace, what do you think is more important? Adjusting individual mindsets? Or company structures?

LB: I’m going to sit on the fence here and say the answer is probably both! When it comes to creating an adaptable workplace, you need individuals to realise the importance of their own behaviour and mindset when going about obtaining a collective goal. We need them to remain open to changing the way they do things, and the research within teams actually suggests that when individuals adopt a more optimistic outlook and are encouraged to identify potential problems early, this can actually improve a team’s ability to adapt.

Alongside this, company structures and processes are also crucial to helping us create an adaptable workplace. By providing the space for regular debriefs of both successes and failures it allows people to pick up on shifts in context more easily, and thus adapt even quicker. This is further helped if we can ensure that everyone remains aligned towards a common goal, as without this people may start to make changes that may seem somewhat random and ineffective as they begin to pull in different directions.

FWD: What role does greater employee empowerment play in all this?

LB: It plays a big one. The research suggests if individuals aren’t involved in the process of evaluating the need to change, you can quickly lose their buy-in. By taking into account everyone’s experiences and empowering people to be involved in this process, not only can the team get a more rounded perspective on the current situation, it can help to foster a collective sense of belonging and control – two things which can help alleviate apathy towards change, increase motivation and enhance the effectiveness of the business.

FWD: Inertia is a powerful force in life, and also business. What would you suggest are some of the first practical steps a business or project leader could take towards enhancing the adaptability of their team?

LB: The first step is to focus on becoming more ‘team-aware’. This involves working together to understand the goals we’re currently working towards, and what we’re currently doing as a team to help us achieve them. After all, if we don’t know where we’re starting from, then how do we adapt? After increasing our team’s awareness, we can then begin to evaluate our effectiveness as a team. Is what we’re doing working? What might we need to change? How might we be even more effective? Through asking such questions on a regular basis, we can begin to recognise what’s currently working for us, what could be holding us back, and, importantly, how we might need to adapt to help us consistently perform in the setting we’re in.