Adaptive leadership is the ability to adjust how you lead as conditions change while your rules and structure hold steady. An adaptive leader stays open to new perspectives, turns on a dime when a situation calls for it, and builds time for innovation into the calendar. It lifts morale, sparks new ideas and carries a team through a crisis.
- Every industry keeps changing. Leaders who adapt pull ahead, and rigid leaders get left behind.
- Adaptability lifts team morale, drives innovation, sharpens customer focus and gets you through a crisis.
- Keep the rules and structure steady. Flex on the situations that demand it.
- AI is a major test of a leader's adaptability. Block weekly time to explore it.
What is adaptive leadership?
Adaptive leadership means you take in new information and do something with it. You stay open to different perspectives, read each situation, and change course when it calls for it. The foundation underneath stays the same.
Steady rules, flexible moves.
My co-host Arturo Gomez has led teams for 25 years, and to him flexibility is close to common sense for a leader. You are in an ever-changing environment whatever industry you work in. Entrepreneurs paving their own way feel it most. A leader who can't flex ends up in a really bad spot.
Why is adaptive leadership important?
Arturo sees four places where it shows up.
- Morale A rigid leader who won't budge on other perspectives leaves the team feeling like outsiders.
- Innovation Flexible leaders create a more innovative environment and far more communication across the team.
- Customers In a sales-driven business, adapting to the perspective of your paying customers gives the organization an edge.
- Crisis Something will happen. It's a matter of when. A leader who can't adapt risks derailing the whole organization.
What is the difference between adaptive and rigid leadership?
You can see it in how a leader handles the same moment.
| The moment | Rigid leader | Adaptive leader |
|---|---|---|
| A new perspective | Refuses to budge. | Listens and weighs it. |
| A new idea | "This is how we've always done it." | "Let's test it." |
| A customer need | Sees only the company's side. | Adjusts to how the customer sees it. |
| A crisis | Risks derailing the organization. | Turns on a dime and gets to the other side. |
| New technology | "We'll get to it later." | Blocks time this week to explore it. |
Does being adaptable mean changing the rules every day?
Teams want rigidity in their rules and structure. Doing things one way today and another way tomorrow creates confusion. Adaptability is about the situations that arise and require you to move quickly. The leaders who handle those moments well are the ones people want to follow.
How do you know if you are an adaptive leader?
There are levels to this game. At one end sit leaders who won't flex at all. In the middle is where most people live. At the far end are the forward thinkers. Listen for the phrases that reveal where you sit:
- "This is the way things have always been done."
- "We don't have enough time."
- "We'll get to it later."
Each one is a self-limiting belief that keeps you from exploring a new opportunity. You can say your team is adaptable and still get crushed by a competitor who actually is.
How do you become a more adaptive leader?
- Audit yourself and your organization. Arturo's question is simple: does flexibility really exist in the organization, and does it exist in you?
- Stay open to other ideas. Openness and a willingness to hear other perspectives are how you develop it.
- Block time for innovation. Put one or two hours on your calendar each week labeled adaptability, flexibility or innovation, and protect it.
- Think dynamic. I like the word dynamic. It means adaptable and flexible, ready to act on new information.
- Apply it to your systems. Look at the processes you run and your vision for the business with the same open eyes.
The same habits carry a team through big shifts, which is the heart of leading through change.
Why can small teams adapt faster than big companies?
A big company moves like a slow iceberg. Change needs buy-in from leadership, and any resistance from management above slows everything down. Entrepreneurs and small teams can move much faster. That speed is a real advantage, as long as the leader is willing to use it.
Dynamic is adaptable, dynamic is flexible. It's our ability to get new information and do something with it.
Rob Cressy, Episode 55
What does adaptive leadership look like with AI?
AI is one of the biggest tests of adaptability for leaders and companies. I used ChatGPT the first week it was out in beta. Within one minute I knew it would change the world, so I went all in and started a company teaching leaders to use AI for growth, efficiency and effectiveness. It reminds me of an old TV clip from the early internet days, where the hosts wondered why anyone would ever put a credit card online.
Adapting doesn't require rebuilding your whole business around AI. Go first as the leader, give yourself about 20 hours of hands-on practice, and keep your team in the loop about where you use it. Many of my clients wanted to double or triple their revenue without adding people. Start with AI for leaders.
Do this today
- Block the time. Put a weekly one-hour block on your calendar for innovation and use it to explore one new idea or tool.
- Run the audit. Ask honestly whether flexibility exists in you and in your organization, and where it is missing.
Listen to the episode
Being Adaptable and Flexible as a Leader
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Questions people ask
What are the traits of an adaptive leader?
Openness to other perspectives, a willingness to change course quickly, and a habit of acting on new information. Adaptive leaders also make regular time for innovation.
Is adaptive leadership the same as having no structure?
Structure stays. Teams want clear rules and consistency. Adaptive leaders keep that foundation and flex on the situations that demand a fast response.
Why is adaptability important in a crisis?
Crises are destructive by nature. Arturo Gomez points out that a leader who can't adapt can derail the organization or even put it out of business.
How can a leader become more adaptable?
Start with an honest self-audit, listen for phrases like "we'll get to it later," and block weekly time to explore new ideas and tools.
Full transcript
Episode 55: Being Adaptable and Flexible as a Leader
Welcome to Leadership DNA, a podcast for those who aspire to be a better leader. Alongside Arturo Gomez, I'm Rob Cressy. Today's topic, the importance of being adaptable and flexible as a leader in Arturo we're living an always changing world and those who don't adapt and those who aren't flexible and those who aren't innovating are going to be left behind.
Why is this so important for leaders as well as our culture? I mean it's funny, some of these topics that you and I have kind of flushed out. Some of the stuff we love talking about it because we want to educate and we want to give our perspective, some of them feel like they're common sense right? It's just like as a leader, I think flexibility is probably one of the aspects or attributes that actually fit into that definition at least in my mind.
But to your point, it's like right now we are in an, I don't care what industry you're in, you're in an ever changing environment. Especially for people that have decided that they want to be entrepreneurs and they're kind of trying to pave their own way. If you're not flexible and adaptive, you're going to be in a bad spot.
You're going to be in a really bad spot. For the people that are not necessarily traveling through time right now as a loan or sole entrepreneur or small team or whatever, people that have larger teams, adaptability and flexibility within leadership I think speaks to the morale. If you have a leader that is really rigid and unwilling to budge in trying to understand different perspectives and different situations, you're going to have a team that's really willing like they're being left on the outside and that's not a good place to be.
I think it's going to really affect, I think it really affects team morale. I think the flexibility and adaptive nature of leadership also speaks to innovation. I think you're going to create an environment, a much more innovative environment and a much way more communication amongst your team. If again, if your team and the individuals in the organization are seeing you as somebody that has real adaptive flexibility in terms of how things move and how things traverse.
Now, I think that to some extent people want rigidity in rules and structure and we're not talking about that, we're not talking about hey today we're going to do things this way and tomorrow we're going to do them that way but certain situations arise that require people to be flexible and you've got to turn on a dime sometimes.
The people that are able to do that I think are the leaders that people want to follow. Another thing that comes to mind is obviously from a business that is, for my businesses that are highly sales driven, it gives you another dimension of customer centric thought in terms of if you are adaptive and really trying to understand the perspective of your paying customers then it brings a little bit more advantage to the table for the organization.
So for me, those are probably some of the things that really stick out on top and then maybe the last thing I would say is just crisis management. To speaking to the hey things change you know we're in an ever changing world in an environment. If you're incapable of being flexible and adaptive, the second something happens and it will happen. It's not if it's when. It has the potential to derail the entire organization, it has the ability to put you out of business. It has, it has, it's a destructive crisis are destructive by nature and so you've got to be willing and flexible to make sure that you get to the other side.
Yeah and you said so many good things there on this seems like a non-negotiable like of course everybody does this but we both know that that is certainly not the case and I would actually think about this from a there's levels to this game from no we're not flexible at all all the way to alright. This is what everybody is likely at from an adaptability and a flexibility all the way to certainly where I know that I live in terms of being a forward thinker and for me seeing ChatGPT and AI, this is one of those things where adaptability and flexibility is really being tested for a lot of people and a lot of leaders in a lot of companies right now because you know what the conversation is likely being this is the way that things have always been done or this is how we always do things right.
And one of the advantages we as leaders are entrepreneurs have versus major companies it takes a lot of time for that slow moving iceberg to make changes right. So when it comes to here comes AI and ChatGPT well the leader of the company is the one who has to get the buy or the one who's going to direct it there so if there's resistance for management above it that iceberg is going to be nice and slow moving whereas for me I use ChatGPT the first week is out in beta within one minute of using it I was like oh this is going to change the world I'm all in start a brand new company around teaching leaders and companies all around leveraging AI and ChatGPT for business growth efficiency and effectiveness in this doesn't mean you have to change everything in your business to be AI first but it makes me think back to you can see this on YouTube there's a video of I believe Katie Couric on the today show or something way back when the internet first came out and they're like why would people ever put their credit cards on the internet this is stranger danger and this is major news media saying this so of course we can chocolate this right now saying look at them talking about why would people ever do this well that's where we are right now in the world of ChatGPT and AI so you can now audit yourself and say where are we on the adaptability and the flexibility side of things because this is the way that things have always been done another way that this self limiting belief can be phrased is we don't have enough time or we'll get to it later right so we can allow the way that we're currently doing things in the way that there's so much going on right now to stop us from exploring a new opportunity or having a relationship to time that allows us to build adaptability and flexibility into it so a very simple thing would be imagine if once a week for one hour or two hours you just had a counterblock that said adaptability flexibility or innovation where you take everything else and you've just created that space because you can be the person with good intentions that says we are adaptable we are flexible and you can also get crushed by your competition who's going to be more adaptable or flexible and of course I'm coming from this from an AI perspective but this applies to everything that we talk about Arturo, from the systems and the processes that we integrate in our business and where is our vision in our purview for what we are doing to be the best leaders to put our teams in a position to succeed and if you don't have that adaptability and flexibility you have either a hole in your boat or a massive advantage.
Yeah, 100 percent. I mean I think that's well said. I mean it's those are just facts. So I mean in terms of wrapping this thing up I mean I think again and like I said at the very beginning that I think it's one of those things that just to me it's a common sense thing in terms of real leadership that you have to be flexible and you have to be agile to be able to move you progress your businesses and your team to the next level so it's a mandatory aspect.
Yeah in the term that I've started to adopt in the last year is dynamic. So I'm seeing much because a lot of people talk about balance but I like being dynamic in how we do things because dynamic is adaptable dynamic is flexible it's our ability to get new information and do something with it. And this is part leadership, part culture so our turn on now time for action item or our takeaway and on my end I've got another big call to action because if you are a leader looking to explore or integrate AI and ChatGPT into your business for business growth efficiency effectiveness better workflows how can we do more or less a lot of our clients right now are saying we want to double or triple our revenue without increasing employees or only increasing them by 15% and you say how do we do that hit me up rob at robcressy.com I would love to have a conversation for the last 39 weeks we've been coaching entrepreneurs and leaders on leveraging it and then we're also doing what I'm one coaching with teams on how to integrate that into their culture Rob robcressy.com Arturo, what about you what's your action item or takeaway I think it's just to take way you know it's you know you and I have had a ton of exposure in this specific subject and you know I think over the last you know certainly over our career span you know seeing you know the requirement and the need to be adaptive flexible and versatile and in space and so I think that you know it's these are again these are just facts there's there's nobody out there that's coaching you and telling you that you need to be rigid in your in your construct that you you know so you have to be you have to be open you have to be flexible and that's it and that you know I think that the audit or the self evaluation is if does that really exist in the organization does it exist in you and that's that's the takeaway it's how do you develop it more I think it's you know the openness and the willingness to hear other ideas and perspectives is important and and so that's that's that's really all I would say on that on that specific subject.
And Arturo, one thing that we love is hearing from everybody who get inspired who have thoughts on the conversations we're having on this show we created a LinkedIn page you can search for us leadership DNA. Arturo, where can everybody connect with you. Best place is going to be LinkedIn, Arturo Gomez and you can hit me up on LinkedIn or Instagram at Rob Cressy.
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