$7.$ Becoming More Adaptable

Becoming More Adaptable

Adaptability is the ability and willingness to adapt to changing situations. This activity is important because people who are more adaptable are much better at dealing with organizational changes than people who are less adaptable.

The goal of this activity is to challenge your knowledge of the ways you can increase your level of adaptability.

Read the description of each person's behavior. Then, select the method of increasing adaptability each behavior best describes. Some descriptions represent people doing a good job being adaptable, while other descriptions represent people not doing a good job being adaptable.

$1.$ Ethan let his team down today when he showed up to a client presentation completely unprepared. He apologized to his team members for his mistake and told them he had no excuse. He made a commitment to not let them down again.

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$2.$ Madison and her colleague can$$t seem to agree on anything for their current work project and their disputes are holding up team decisions. Madison asks herself, $$What am I forgetting to consider about my coworker$$s ideas that may help me to see their perspective and understand why they feel so strongly about it$?$

$($Click to select$)$

$3.$ Isla$$s virtual team is researching new software programs that they hope will allow them to work simultaneously on projects. After spending a few days trying one they hoped would work, they$$ve realized it$$s not the right fit for their needs and they$$ve wasted days on it$.$ They spend the rest of the week venting over email about their frustrations.

$($Click to select$)$

$4.$ Morgan is frustrated by his company$$s new performance incentive program because he doesn$$t think it accurately captures his high level of performance. He wants to go back to the old system and has been expressing his displeasure to his coworkers several times a week for the past two months.

$($Click to select$)$

$5.$ Kaitlyn received some constructive criticism from her boss during her annual performance review. She didn$$t hear anything else her boss told her during the review because she was busy explaining the reasons that her coworkers had prevented her from doing a better job.

$($Click to select$)$

$6.$ Thomas just found out he was passed over for a promotion yet again. This is his third time going up for the job. He$$s now asking himself, $$What did I say wrong in my interview?$$

$($Click to select$)$

$7.$ Wren$$s company has instituted a new once$-$per$-$month continuing education requirement for all employees. Wren is a high performer and doesn$$t want to waste her time at training. She$$s confident she already knows everything she needs to know to do her job well.

$($Click to select$)$

$8.$ Avery$$s work team just found out they$$ve gone way over budget while working on a new initiative. Upon this realization, Avery asked the group to conduct a brainstorming session around the causes of exceeding the budget. The group then brainstormed solutions to the top three causes.

$($Click to select$)$

$9.$ Tariq has the chance to absorb some of his coworker$$s job duties while his coworker is on leave. Tariq is excited about the opportunity because it will give him a chance to learn a new role and expand his skill set.

$($Click to select$)$

$10.$ Brianna$$s new supervisor is changing quite a few of her division$$s routines and procedures. Brianna is looking forward to seeing how these changes might positively impact her workgroup and knows that pretty soon, the changes will feel normal.

$($Click to select$)$