Every business leader knows that “the only constant is change.” In today’s constantly evolving business landscape, it’s a business’s ability to adapt quickly and efficiently that ensures its longevity in an unstable market.
This is where business culture becomes key. Between emerging trends, rising costs and changing regulations, it’s essential for a business’s team to be flexible and adaptable in order to navigate unexpected challenges.
Fortunately, there are a number of strategies leaders can employ to create an internal culture that embraces adaptability. Below, 19 Forbes Business Council members each share one effective strategy to help leaders build a culture of adaptability within their teams.
1. Prioritize A Growth Mindset And Curiosity
A culture of adaptability requires that every employee embraces a growth mindset and curiosity. A fear of failure or judgment kills curiosity and pushes people to want to remain in the status quo. Leaders must therefore create opportunities for continuous learning, exploration and evolution while also ensuring that failed innovation or projects are a springboard for creativity in the future. – Andreea Vanacker, SPARKX5
2. Encourage Risk-Taking
One smart strategy for building a culture of adaptability is to encourage and reward experimentation and risk-taking. Foster a growth mindset that embraces learning and continuous improvement. Leaders should also communicate the importance of adaptability and model it themselves through agile decision making and open communication. – Daniel Danino, Volta Metals
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3. Communicate
Effective communication between all departments is essential. Frequent updates keeping everyone on the same page pays dividends when you have to quickly move to a new chapter in a company’s growth. – Jason Richmond, Ideal Outcomes, Inc.
4. Create A Safe Environment
By creating a safe environment, people will feel free to learn and try new things. Even if it ends in failure, experimentation should be recognized and encouraged. Remember that no new idea in the history of mankind has ever been proven to be successful in advance, so let people experiment and play. Also, focus on key skills like critical thinking and creativity, which are often forgotten about. – Jason Haddock, Sozo Labs
5. Invest In Employee Training And Development
Invest in continual education and development for all employees, from entry-level staff to executives. By providing opportunities for ongoing training and growth, businesses can ensure that their teams are equipped with the skills and knowledge to navigate whatever challenges come their way. This will increase the organization’s adaptability and help keep employees engaged and motivated. – Michael Shribman, APS Global Partners Inc.
6. Ensure Employees Are Prepared For Change
In today’s economy, the need for adaptability has become more prevalent than ever socially, digitally and globally. To strive in this fast-paced style, teams must be ready to ideate, innovate, execute rapidly and test in real time. To hone a culture that promotes adaptability, ensure your teams are suited for change by empowering them to strive for growth daily, monthly and quarterly. – Christian Brown, Glewee
7. Develop Cross-Functional Teams
In order to develop our team to adapt to the constant change happening in our industry, we believe strongly in developing cross-functional teams that can solve problems and evaluate the changing industry together. We believe the best ideas come from thoughtful collaboration, intentional mentorship and open dialogues. – Stephen West, Shields Health Solutions
8. Make Discomfort A Goal
One of the smartest strategies to ensure a business is building and maintaining a culture of adaptability is to make being uncomfortable routine. Becoming comfortable with change and discomfort is not natural for most people, so leaders must find a way to facilitate this growth in their team. One way is to gamify the process with positive competitions, challenges and awards. – Matthew Davis, GDI Insurance Agency, Inc.
9. Focus On The Future
A smart strategy for building a culture of adaptability is to always focus on the future. This includes the future of the company, the future of the industry and the future of the area you’re in and the areas that your clients are in. By focusing on the future, you’ll be more aware of possible changes that can help or hurt your business. Being aware of changes in trends can then set you up for success. – Chris Clear, Clear Storage Group, LLC
10. Empower Employee Professional Development
I like to empower my employees to stay informed on industry trends, acquire new skills and apply those skills at work. In my experience, this approach has enabled us to remain flexible and drive change, which forces our competitors to adapt. By cultivating a proactive mindset, we consistently stay ahead of the competition, fostering a culture that embraces and leads change. – Tamas Ham-Szabo, SAAS First
11. Provide A Safety Net
Provide a safety net for long-term planning. Maintain a large reserve of capital and promote the idea that people should try new things, even if they aren’t immediately profitable. These new ideas often allow for innovation, and soon your company will be the one that introduces change to your industry. People can only take risks when they know they can afford to fail, so give them that safety net. – Maurice Harary, The Bid Lab
12. Build High-Performing, Flexible Teams
As a leader, I recommend training your team to be high-performing and flexible. The most important thing is to help them to be realistic and part of the change. We encourage our staff to make decisions by themselves, thinking about the needs of our clients and our company. They must answer one question: Will this decision or action help our business and clients? If yes, they should proceed. – Vilma Nunez, Convierte Mas
13. Collaborate
We all see and experience the world differently, so building a culture of collaboration that also supports calculated risk-taking and innovation is essential. When change is constant, it is important to believe and embrace the idea that every member of the team can spot an opportunity or challenge and may have the answer. – Nell Callahan, Frontwood Strategies
14. Designate A Go-To Person
Hire, assign or designate an adaptable communication or coordination person. You need someone or a strategy to navigate the changes because much of adaptability falls in communication. Your people may often not understand why they’re doing something and what their role is in executing change. A person in the company focused on helping team members adapt is vital. – Rocky Romanella, 3SIXTY Management Services, LLC
15. Schedule Periodic Presentations
An effective approach is to schedule periodic presentations once a month or once a quarter where team members can showcase how the latest tools and technologies can be utilized to improve the company or work. This will keep the team informed, engaged and empowered to innovate and adapt to changing circumstances. – Ran Ronen, Equally AI
16. Embrace Technology
Every business needs to be a technologically driven one. That doesn’t always mean adopting the latest emerging trend, especially if development isn’t far along enough to support scalability. Be strategic when adopting new technologies by thinking about the business functions in which the tech can be particularly helpful and whether current and future implementations of it will help or hinder efficiency. – Chris Bryson, New School Foods
17. Encourage Experimentation
To build a culture of adaptability, prioritize experimentation. Encourage testing, learning and iteration in a safe environment. Provide resources and support, reward risk-taking and learn from failure. Teams that prioritize experimentation are better equipped to adapt to change and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving business landscape. – Mark Snell, Polestar Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning
18. Reward Initiative
One smart strategy for building a culture of adaptability is to encourage and reward employees who take initiative and embrace change. Leaders should communicate regularly about the need for flexibility and adaptability, provide opportunities for cross-training and skill development and recognize employees who successfully adapt to new situations. – Tomas Keenan, Step It Up Academy
19. Embed Agility Into The Organization’s Foundation
You must be able to adapt and act for impact. Whether that means being flexible about where and how work happens, becoming more responsive to the ever-changing needs of your customers or staying resilient under pressure, agility must be part of your DNA as an organization. Testing new ideas and acting quickly on your learnings will allow your employees and customers to grow and thrive. – Frank Vella, Constant Contact
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