This is Part One in a series where I explore how a Lead with Learning approach to team development addresses challenges organizations and leaders face. I’m writing my next book, Lead with Learning, and admittedly, using this newsletter to write different chapters. Enjoy the book preview!
How can organizations be more resilient and adaptable?
I was watching the Netflix series Life on Our Planet (2023). Season 1, episode 7 introduced modern-day primates and highlighted a significant change in evolution. Mammals and primates, in particular, have large brains. The episode showed how capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica discovered that rubbing lemons all over their body repelled mosquitos. With their advanced brains, these monkeys solved the problem of biting mosquitos. They faced a challenge, found a solution and adapted. Incredibly, they shared their knowledge with other monkeys in the troop.
Our ability to adapt is one of those critical evolutionary abilities that is core to who we are as humans. As individuals, we adapt, which supports team and organizational adaptability.
The need for organizational adaptability is great. McKinsey1 identified that organizations that exhibited healthy, resilient behaviours were better able to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic. 30% of organizations with resilient behaviours were likely to declare bankruptcy in the two years compared to 73% without resilient behaviours.
The difference between organizational resiliency and adaptability
While both are important, resiliency and adaptability are different. “Resilience refers to the capacity to quickly recover or ‘bounce back’ from difficulties, while adaptability is the ability to adjust to those difficulties and create something positive from them.”2 Resiliency is like having short-term bursts of energy to run a sprint. Adaptability is like developing increased stamina for a marathon race.
We need both.
A recent McKinsey article cites a survey of over 2,500 leaders in organizations across various industries. More than 60% reported that organizational resiliency will be important in the future. And yet half reported their organizations are not well prepared.
Developing organizational resilience and adaptability
The rapid pace of change, the need to achieve results, and, with publically traded companies, pressure to meet shareholder expectations for positive quarterly earnings create a hyper-focus on short-term planning and results. Leaders rely on established processes for efficiency and heuristics to simplify and quicken decision-making3. When leaders are singularly focused on results, they are less focused on creating a culture of learning. Curiosity is squelched, which is a precursor for innovation4. There is less experimentation and risk-taking for fear of making mistakes. And yet, it is by learning from our mistakes that we have the greatest insights and development.5
The alternative is for organizations to support leaders as they prioritize development alongside results. Leaders take ownership of guiding, coaching and developing their employees. The book The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success identifies Learning through Curiosity as the second leadership commitment. This commitment is one of the two foundational commitments for leaders and focuses on self-awareness and learning agility. I call this a learning mindset, which includes curiosity, courage to take risks to try new things, and consistency – developing a lifelong habit of learning.
As leaders, we can extend this learning mindset to our teams by creating a culture of learning. This is rooted in emotional intelligence and developed through personal connections with team members. Leaders take on a coaching role by asking questions of their employees instead of offering advice. This creates the space for employees to identify solutions to challenges, experiment and learn from successes and failures.
A recent McKinsey research article6 makes a strong connection between resiliency and learning. Organizations need to develop a culture of continuous learning by encouraging adaptability among employees. To do this, leaders need to take time to coach team members. More adaptable employees tend to have an edge in managing change and adversity.
One critical approach to building resiliency throughout an organization is to develop a culture that encourages change and welcomes experimentation, failure and learning.7 Leaders have a clear role in nurturing a learning mindset and fostering a team culture. Organizations also have an essential role in supporting their leaders. Organizations must be explicit that a leader’s role is to coach and develop their employees. They need to provide resources to help leaders, which includes policies and perhaps a professional development allowance for employees. Policies need to be clear and broadly communicated. Investment in employees’ development must be universal. In larger organizations, resources may also include training, coaching and mentoring for leaders and their teams.
Finally, organizations need to celebrate when leaders coach and develop their employees. Whether through recognition programs or compensation, leaders must know their efforts are seen, appreciated and rewarded.
The benefits of more resilient and adaptable teams
When organizations adopt a Lead with Learning approach and move away from a hyper-focus on short-term results, they prioritize people development alongside results. The organization’s benefits are many. Organizations that have a dual focus on performance and people:8
- Have more consistent earnings and have greater resilience during crises. They are better at retaining talent, with attrition rates 5% lower than those of peer organizations that don’t prioritize performance and people.
- Deliver top-tier profitability and are more likely to become large-scale superstars with an average of $1B more in economic profit.
- Have a competitive advantage because they challenge and empower employees, which fosters bottom-up innovation. They are 4.2 times more likely than average companies to remain in the top quintile of their sector’s ROIC (return on investment capital).9
There are also benefits to the employees. These dual-focused organizations build capacity in their organizations. Employee skills learned on the job contribute 46% of the average person’s lifetime earnings.8 Companies that build human capital are more likely to propel their employees into higher income brackets.
Do you have a Lead with Learning approach in your organization?
I invite you to complete this free short diagnostic I created to asses the three areas I’ve touched on: Learning Mindset, Team Culture and Organizational Support. Find out where you and your leaders have strengths and where you can improve your resiliency and adaptability.
1 McKinsey: Raising the resilience of your organization, 2022.10 (link)
2 Adaptability and Resilience: Lessons for Post-Pandemic Times, American Management Association 2021.06.21 (link)
3 Building Organizational Resilience: To cope – and thrive – in uncertain times, develop scripted routines, simple rules and the ability to improvise. HBR 2020 Nov-Dec (link)
4 The Business Case for Curiosity by Francesca Gino in HBR Sept-Oct 2018 (link)
5 Masden, Peter M., and Vinti Desai. “Failing to Learn? The Effects of Failure and Success on Organizational Learning in the Global Orbital Launch Vehicle Industry.” The Academy of Management Journal, vol. 53, no. 3 (2010): pp. 451–76, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25684332. Accessed 17 April 2022.
6 McKinsey: The State of Organizations 2023: Ten shifts transforming organizations (link)
7 BCG: Building a Mutually Reinforcing System of Organizational and Personal Resilience (link)
8 McKinsey: The State of Organizations 2023: Ten Shifts Transforming Organizations (link)
9 For nine out of 10 last years – between 2010 and 2019.
In case you missed it
I’ve shared some additional posts online. Here they are, in case you missed them.
- Focusing on performance and people for long-term growth – (video link)
- Show you care this Valentine’s Day – (video link)
- Lead with Learning – Client testimonial – (video link)
