From old ways to better ways of working

If there’s too much to do and you can’t get through it all, what do you do? A productivity app won’t magically change an entire team or organisation. There’s a bigger change needed, a fundamental shift in how we think about work.

Many of the things we do in our daily work are old ways of working. They’re leftovers from when the world - and the work - was quite different.

Some of our dated work methods are routines and habits that are hard to break.

We can consider changing the way we work to:
💫 reduce wasted activity and effort
💫 deliver greater value to customers sooner
💫 increase productivity
💫 be more effective in all we do...

Which means we get to remove some of those old ways of working:
🗑 Low value tasks and meetings
🗑 Weeks of work on a project that never gets used
🗑 Changes to documents back and forth up the chain of command
🗑 Talk-fests that don’t lead to decisions or outcomes.

As with all new habits, knowing about them is one thing, using and practically applying them is a whole other thing.

It’s good to start with some knowing, that a shift to better ways is happening.

How adaptable we are

Some of us like to do the same things the same way. It’s easy. It’s familiar. It’s safe.

Others don’t mind a change ... they think it’s as good as a holiday! A little bit of difference or newness keeps things interesting. But then happily slip back to the world of sameness for safety.

Still others welcome difference, newness, change and evolution. All the time. It allows adventure, improvisation and ingenuity. It stretches us and we learn. We have new experiences and the challenge ... of a challenge.


How would you rate yourself?

Are you really up for change and being adaptable for new ways of thinking and doing things?

Or are you hanging on to sameness for security and safety?

This isn’t just little change like a new outfit or restaurant.

How the world is changing is requiring us to change. And some of us don’t want to change.

Rate yourself, again. Where does the arrow point to for you?

What you used to do vs what’s needed now

What did you used to do?
Are you still doing it?
Or has it changed?

Do you do something different now?

What might you be doing next?
What does the world need you to do?

How are you adapting and changing what you can do?

How do leaders adapt

Adaptability isn’t just a switch we flick. It’s an integrated set of thinking, learning and practical behaviors that help us change. It’s a skill and capability. We can break it down and learn it.

To support leaders and their teams, we need to provide them with this capability of adaptability.

12 capabilities of adaptability are:

1. Sensemaking
2. Listening
3. Learning
4. Collaborating
5. Facilitation
6. Visualization
7. Experimentation
8. Improvisation
9. Ingenuity
10. Empathy
11. Creativity
12. Curiosity

These are the more contemporary and impactful ways of thinking and being in today’s world of work.

I’m pleased to offer my new Leadership Adaptability Program: for leadership teams in business, community, not for profit and government.

Take one capability and then take them all. Integrate them into your existing organizational development schedule to refresh and update it. Or let’s launch a new initiative together that delivers leaders the skills, techniques and practices for the new ways of work.

Adaptability is the capability. 

Explore your ingenuity

When we’re faced with a problem or challenge, things may not work the way we’d like them to. We can become frustrated about that; we might complain, wish it were perfect, give up or... we can explore our ingenuity.

Ingenuity is our very own Department of Clever. Ingenuity is when we’re resourceful, using what we have. It’s how we fix or juggle things and make them work.

It could be how we make things fit in a cupboard or shelf, or how we prop up a computer screen on books or boxes so the camera is level with our eyes.

Ingenuity could be how we’re cleverly using space at home, or how we throw a few ingredients together for a kind of meal we’ve never made before.

Some of the best, most practical solutions come about when we explore our own resources of clever. And even if you don’t think you’re clever all the time, your ingenuity is still there ... waiting to go to work the next time you challenge it.

Try the ‘explore’ option next time a struggle or challenge is upon you and see what your mind delivers up to you in order to solve it. Ingenuity is a different resource to creativity, and it’s part of how we learn, survive and adapt in the world.

Clever you!