How can you develop adaptability in your career for long-term success?

To me adaptability begins with being open to new experiences and changes at workplace, being open to learning, and staying curious. These qualities ensure long term success in our career. Which means one must be brave enough to dabble with diverse roles and industries, experiment new domains, and be comfortable working with people.

Develop adaptability in your career by embracing change, seeking diverse experiences, continuously learning, staying open-minded, and proactively adapting to evolving industry trends.

Adaptability is all about building muscle, one fiber at a time. Muscle strength can be physical, psychological, emotional, financial, professional - any capability in general. Exercise is the best way to build muscle strength. However, too much of it will result in burnout and too little will lead to muscular atrophy. This is where striking the right balance for defining exercise goals is critical. In doing so, 1. Assess your own capability and the environmental context 2. Create multiple exercise goals that are small and incremental 3. Exercise, review, learn in small time frames.

Setting goals that are realistic, measurable, and flexible is the second step in developing adaptability. Goals aligned with personal skills, interests, and values keep motivation high. Measurable goals provide a clear track for progress and achievements, while flexible goals allow for adjustments in response to changes and uncertainties. Building adaptability is like strengthening a muscle, requiring a balance in setting and pursuing goals. It involves assessing capabilities, setting incremental goals, and learning from each step. This approach fosters a robust adaptability muscle, crucial for professional growth.

Be open and agile in what you learn. Learning is growing and that enables you to adapt and provide the diversity of skills needed today. Allow yourself the grace to acknowledge that career mobility can let you grow in MANY directions - not just up. When I switched from Marketing to Sales, taking a "demotion" from leadership to IC, I learned SO much about Marketing! My skills and awareness doubled, as did my value. Each time I have taken a step aside or down or over, I have increased my value. Give yourself permission to really grow in your skills and shine!

I’ve found that pushing yourself to constantly being exploring new things and ways of doing existing things is a fantastic way to grow your adaptability and resiliency skills, and not just because I’ve spent my career in learning. From a practical standpoint, it’s exponentially more difficult to adapt when you aren’t familiar with different ways to do things. Over the years, one if the biggest barriers I’ve observed to people changing is a lack of understanding or fear over what goes into doing things differently. When you are proactive in exploring the possibilities, it becomes that much easier to change and adapt because making the change isn’t new. Instead, you are in the drivers seat of seeing an opportunity and making the shift.

Experiments with learning approach will result into enhanced understanding and help explore new ways. So that you can leverage it to think out of the box. Learning with different ways induces neuroplasticity, rewiring the brain's connections, integrating new behaviors with existing patterns, elevating one's capabilities to a higher level.

One of the most interesting part in a career is the way you embrace change. Change will come as you grow and help you pivot your growth path. In such cases always follow the following steps: 1. Speak to a senior mentor who has beautifully embraced changes. 2. Seek support. 3. Create a plan and timeline for yourself. 4. Be alert and updated.

Flow with the flow. Adaptability means it. Those who are just flowing are making career enhancement better with really less stress and more happiness. It's not hard and it makes sense.

The best way to remember to reflect and review is to have structure, systems, and support in place. This could be an accountability buddy, a personal board of directors, or your own coach. You can also set up calendar invites every quarter for dedicated reflection time. Finally, you should create a strong anchor for your career in a long-term vision, your values, and your priorities - and assess how well you're staying on track to them.

I believe that more than the "muscle", adaptability is a mindset that needs to be inculcated as such. We humans are victims of old habits, and our brain - the most power-inefficient organ in our body (for it consumers 20% oxygen and energy but is only 2% by body weight) seeks familiar patterns that it can process rather effortlessly (lest it meltdowns while processing all possible inputs fed to it!) and thus habits are easy to form, and very hard to break. And when habits are formed, we seek familiarity, and adaptability dies! The key is to consciously seek newer opportunities - preferably that push you out of your comfort zone - to "force" the brain to confront new situations so that it begins to see change as the regular normal.

Absolutely agree! Adaptability is indeed a powerful mindset that thrives on consciously embracing change and venturing beyond familiar patterns. It's the key to breaking free from the inertia of old habits and fostering continuous growth. Seeking opportunities outside our comfort zones is where true adaptability shines, fuelling a mindset open to innovation and new perspectives.

Adaptability is more than just a skill; it's a mindset that needs to be cultivated. Breaking free from old habits and familiar patterns is crucial. The brain, while seeking efficiency, often falls into repetitive patterns. To foster adaptability, one must consciously seek new opportunities, especially those that push us out of our comfort zones. This approach forces the brain to confront new situations, seeing change as the new normal, and cultivates a mindset open to innovation and new perspectives.