Agility and Adaptability: either/or OR both/and
The purpose of this post is purely selfish; to help me clarify my own thinking through writing and seeking feedback; but hopefully is of value to others!
The reason I’m dedicating some time to this has come through conversations with a School Principal who I’m currently coaching and our conversations around the leadership team and the individuals within it, alongside my curiosity around the meaning of words. It also links to my ongoing thinking around what is needed to enable us all to become ‘future-fit’ in a VUCA time when the rate of acceleration is accelerating.
Those of you have read any previous posts will know I am a big fan of the following Alvin Toffler quote, and as such I will suggest which fits where in agility and adaptability.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Agility and Adaptability
In my experience the words adaptability and agility are often used interchangeably, and in doing so lose their deeper meaning and therefore become less useful. So, this is my current take on what they are:
Agility
The ability to act with agility is around quick responses to what is happening and is super important in the short-term in being able to react and respond to the day-to-day challenges that arise. The major focus is on succeeding in the here and now. It incorporates the aspects of learning and relearning in rapid responses to what’s occurring in the present time. These changes are likely to be less permanent as are due to short-term reactive changes, and therefore are unlikely to be embedded.
Adaptability
Adaptability takes time as it’s around permanent change over a period of time. These changes are likely to be slower in being implemented but are needed for long-term success and are often driven by an innate sense of curiosity as to how to improve. Whilst this probably included some aspects of learning and relearning, as per the Alvin Toffler quote, the major skill in being adaptable is the ability to unlearn.
Further Thoughts
So, which is more important? The quick answer is both.
As humans we often fall into the polarity trap of binary thinking where we create an unnecessary duality with either/or type thinking. Pascal Finette and his team at Be Radical share the possibilities around Polarity Thinking with a tool to help us practice both/and thinking.
To use COVID-19 as an exemplar, if not already over-used, companies that were just agile have probably done/are doing well during this period of time, whereas those that are just adaptive might not survive as the changes are taking too long to implement.
However, those that will thrive in the VUCA accelerating future will be those companies and individuals who display both agility and adaptability.
Keen to get any feedback to help further refine my thinking 😊
