As we explore in the AQai book "Decoding AQ," authored by our co-founder Ross Thornley, true adaptability involves embracing the key cycles of change. Understanding and leveraging these cycles will help us remain sane, experience less frustration and with intentionality, feel a little more accomplished as we say good night each day. Enhancing our Adaptability Quotient (AQ) will help us navigate through change more effectively.
The pressure for continual, predictable growth can often feel overwhelming. Layer on restructures, team changes, yet ‘another AI tool’ and it’s easy to drown in the barrage of options, decisions, and solutions. As we explore in the AQai book "Decoding AQ," authored by our co-founder Ross Thornley, true adaptability involves embracing the key cycles of change. Understanding and leveraging these cycles will help us remain sane, experience less frustration and with intentionality, feel a little more accomplished as we say good night each day. Enhancing our Adaptability Quotient (AQ) will help us navigate through change more effectively.
The Perpetual Adaptive Cycle
Adaptability is not about a project, with a completion date, it’s a continuous cycle. Just as businesses cannot simply achieve "employee engagement" with a one-time survey, we do not "become" adaptable and then check it off a list. Intentional adaptability requires ongoing attention and action. It involves recognizing everything moves in cycles—whether in nature, personal lives, or professional settings.
To illustrate this, Ross Thornley introduces the "Four Worlds of Adaption," a cycle comprising four stages: Thriving, Collapse, Survival, and Growth. This cycle reflects the ongoing process of adaptation we experience in all aspects of our lives.
Growth: Often what comes next from a state of ‘Survival’, we move either into ‘Growth’, rebuilding and advancing towards a new phase of Thriving, or back into ‘Collapse’ if we fail to transform and shift mindsets.
Mapping the Cycle
Understanding where we are in the cycle allows us to better navigate our adaptive journey. For example, your career might be in the Thriving stage, while your personal relationships might be in Collapse. Your team and company might also be in different phases too. We often ‘live’ in multiple worlds at the same time. Recognizing these positions, for each aspect of our lives helps us use foresight to inform more realistic outcomes. Prepare for transitions, and be strategic in our choice of interventions.
Leveraging Feedback Loops
Rapid or even real-time feedback loops are crucial for accelerating through the adaptive cycle. By conducting rapid, concentrated experiments we can gather insights without risking significant losses. These insights form the dots, to help connect forward direction with scenario and foresight planning. This approach allows us to iterate and improve ideas swiftly, often bypassing the more severe aspects of Collapse and moving directly from Growth back to Thriving.
Embracing Learning by Doing
Adaptability is best cultivated through lived experience and action. Like learning a new board game, reading the rules is helpful, but true understanding and growth comes from playing the game. In the business context, this means embracing new challenges and learning through continual experimentation. Enhancing our skills and response to uncertainty.
Practical Exercises to Combat Overwhelm
To help you navigate your adaptive cycle, bring clarity to life's complexity and ever-expanding list of choices - try this exercise:
Map out your current position in the cycle across three areas of your life—team work, relationships, and personal development. Identify which phase each area is in and consider the following questions:
Even if some areas are in a state of Collapse, take confidence in knowing you can instigate a cycle shift. New opportunities for Growth and Thriving are ahead. Identify one simple action you can take today for each of the three areas to maintain Thriving, or move forward to a more positive phase of the cycle.
Embracing the adaptive cycle allows us to combat overwhelm and harness our AQ potential. By recognizing and engaging with these cycles, we can navigate change more effectively.
At AQai, we're dedicated to helping you develop these crucial skills.
Read Decoding AQ for more insights and strategies for enhancing your adaptability.
Or Book a call with us to achieve long-term success.
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