Photo by NEXT architects, winner of competition for Meixi Lake Bridge
To grow and innovate, we must successfully manage in between short- and long-term planning, fast and slow thinking—certainty and uncertainty; we must adapt between these modes in any situation (when adaptability is needed). To hold our certainty lightly to learn is the ultimate flexible tension.
Ambidexterity is the simultaneous pursuit and balance of execution and exploration. It is the ability to maintain the tension of energy between tending to our current performance, while also trying new things. This quality impacts what values we emphasize and how we make decisions prioritizing everything from our daily tasks to five-year vision statements. Ambidexterity requires adaptability—the ability to adjust to any situation at any given time when it is needed.
AMBIDEXTIRITY
People who can balance their current performance while developing their future potential are resilient. They bounce back from setbacks more quickly and rise to essential challenges because they are continually learning in their direction of their future success. They are also more agile and able to get things done quickly, try a few new ideas, and “failing fast.”
Most of us struggle with tensions driven by the need to optimize for today’s needs—our current performance. Building capacity for tomorrow can sometimes feel frivolous, outside our reach, or not the right time. But if we aren’t always learning, we are unprepared and miss key opportunities. Now more than ever, we need to understand that the shelf-life of skills is three to five years. Artificial intelligence, predictive data, and robotics are impacting every profession, making low-end, repetitive work obsolete. In the past, change happened over maybe a decade or more. Drive-ins, payphones, and DVDs once shifted industries and are now artifacts marking a period of evolution. Today, things are moving exponentially faster.
Iterative change requires us to maintain a loose relationship with our certainty and expertise. We need to be willing to give up what we know today to learn something that will help us tomorrow.
PRACTICE
To answer the following questions, rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 by circling the number that best fits you.
List a few significant times when you were caught flat-footed. What certainty and expertise were you over-relying upon?
What areas do you need to invest in learning to remain more dynamic in your skills and knowledge?
COMMIT
[ ] I commit to myself to holding my certainty loosely, maintaining a practice of ongoing preparation, and remaining open to new possibilities and alternative solutions.
ADAPTABILITY
Great organizations thrive on the right amount of tension. Because it takes significant effort to come up with a strategy, most leaders would like to see their strategic plans fully executed. Variations from the strategic plan are often unwelcome and assumed to be detrimental to overall performance. Yet, conformity to the strategy isn’t necessarily a straight path to outstanding performance either.
In between strategy and the execution of that strategy is a kind of stress. Questions such as “are we doing the right thing?” or “how much should we invest in top-line growth versus equipment?” live in this gap—questions with no right answer. Just the right amount of stress keeps us alert, responsive to emerging developments, and increases our performance up to a point, but not beyond that point. Too little stress and we are bored and too rigidly aligned to the plan, making us blind to emerging risks or opportunities. Too much stress and we burnout, embrace unrealistic goals, follow our own agenda, and resources are wasted. Just like a diamond is the byproduct of constant pressure over time from multiple sides, a successful adaptation of strategy results from balanced pressure.
In life, we can be certain of few things beyond death and taxes. We can also count on change. We need to recognize, learn from, and grow from change. Change is certain, people who are inflexible or stubborn will never rise to their potential and achieve their definition of success. If we are to succeed, we must readily and willingly adapt to circumstances as they unfold, including the things we cannot change and that things that will take time to evolve.
Life itself underscores this dynamic. Consider the seasons we each go through. We crawl until we learn to take our first steps. We teeter until we fall. In our teens, we are adjusting to physical changes. As adults, we go to college, get married, have children and grandchildren, nurture careers, develop hobbies, and retire. Each phase of development brings change, mostly out of our control. Failing to adapt means failing to move forward.
To take advantage of changing circumstances, we must survey the situation and then make the necessary adjustments. Maybe we need to bring in new people. Maybe we need to shake up the routine. Maybe we need to change our actions.
We change what we can. However, if we get too occupied by circumstances we cannot control or can’t change, they are going to negatively impact events and outcomes we can control.
PRACTICE
List a few significant times in which you adapted, even if you did so reluctantly. What criteria do you use to determine when you need to adapt?
How do you respond when you are asked to adjust a habit, attitude or behavioral pattern in your life?
COMMIT
[ ] I commit to myself to being an instrument of change for truth, even in circumstances requiring me to change my thinking.
Alongside technical skills, people who can master a range of subjective skills are better able to influence, deal with ambiguity, bounce back from setbacks, think creatively, and manage themselves successfully in their pursuit of mastery. Learn more about applying craft skills in the modern world.