People who lead with Adaptability are like surfers. While others may panic at the sight of an incoming wave, the person with Adaptability rides it with ease, trusting their instincts and responding in the moment. In the workplace, when a project suddenly shifts direction, a team member with Adaptability can adjust seamlessly, maintaining momentum rather than resisting change.
People high in Adaptability are skilled at adjusting to what the moment requires. They are present, responsive and able to provide stability during change.
Providing spontaneous opportunities helps individuals with Adaptability perform at their highest level. Whether handling last-minute requests or jumping into unexpected situations, they find energy in the ability to adjust quickly.
Adaptability can be fueled by responding to situations and being present to the needs of the moment. Strengths that are catalysts in this effort include:
Adaptability benefits from complementary strengths that provide grounding and direction.
Adaptability is most powerful when used in service of others. Whether supporting colleagues through change or helping teams stay flexible, this strength fosters an environment where people feel empowered to navigate uncertainty with confidence. By embracing the power of Adaptability, individuals and teams can turn unpredictability into an opportunity for growth and success.
Jim Collison:
[0:01] Welcome to Season 4 of the CliftonStrengths Podcast, where we'll dive deep into how CliftonStrengths themes build powerful partnerships and help teams thrive. I'm Jim Collison, Gallup's CliftonStrengths Community Manager.
Jillian White:
[0:11] And I'm Jillian White, Gallup's Subject Matter Expert on Culture and Leadership and our Lead Subject Matter Expert for CliftonStrengths.
Jim Collison:
[0:17] Today's theme is Adaptability, if I can say it. We'll explore this theme, what it brings, what it needs, and how it fosters collaboration. And Jillian, welcome!
Jillian White:
[0:27] Thank you, Jim. This will be a fun strength to get into today.
Jim Collison:
[0:30] Let's kick it off with a refresh. Just give us an idea of what this strength looks like.
Jillian White:
[0:34] Yeah, Jim, I was just sharing with some of our group that's on live today, I love looking at strengths that are actually not in my Top 10, because I have some admiration and appreciation for them. And this is one of those for me. When I look at this strength, just refresher for all of us, this is a strength that is very able to be present and in the moment. It thrives with actually responding to things that come at it. It's very able to go with the flow. The image that I have in my head when I think about somebody who's high in Adaptability is a surfer. I imagine someone, you know, imagine you're out there, you've got the waves coming at you. And for some of us, we might go, "Oh my goodness, a big wave is coming! What do I do?" And that person with high Adaptability actually thrives in that moment where they're waiting. And that wave comes at them, and they get that rush to ride the wave calmly. And they ride it, and you see that, that result that comes from just enjoying the wave and responding to the wave. So that ability to be present, to respond, to go with the flow, that's a beautiful picture of Adaptability.
Jim Collison:
[1:38] I think of a first responder oftentimes, when I'm thinking about Adaptability. Every situation's different, everything, you never know what you're up against. And yet, Adaptability doesn't always live in a state of all, of always change. Even the surfer needs to know the rules of the waves, and a first responder needs to know the rules of the, of what they have to do. They have to be prepared, like, they're going into a situation that they know how to respond to. Oftentimes, Adaptability gets a little labeled as wishy-washy because we see it, you know, we say, "Oh, they're, they're always changing." How do we think, as we think about Adaptability, how can we turn that to a positive for productivity, saying, What does it bring, what's Adaptability bring to a more productive environment, do you think?
Jillian White:
[2:27] Yeah. And Jim, it's a helpful reminder for anyone who's listening in to just go to the, go back to the basics behind StrengthsFinder. Look at the initial research behind this. I love remembering that all of this research came from studying excellence and productivity. So when you think about somebody who is highly adaptable, there is a productive element to that. Think about how that shines, right? Those are those individuals -- I love your image of a first responder. Think about when that bell goes off, and there's a fire that you need to get to. Some people might be really rattled in that situation. They're the person who can step up, even be energized in that situation, and say, "Let's go! What do we need to do? Team, come with!" right? And so, there's a productivity that comes in that ability to be fully engaged in the present and able to respond to what's in front of you. Now, to your point, when we get into some of the ways to partner with an Adaptability, certainly there's ways to think about with every strength, partnering and pairing with people that can complement where there might be either perceptions of that strength or things that, that that strength needs to be aware of in how it shows up.
Jim Collison:
[3:36] Yeah, I have Adaptability [No.] 11. I have realized over the years that actually, the more prepared I am, the more adaptable I can be.
Jillian White:
[3:44] Oh, that's a good way to put it.
Jim Collison:
[3:46] Seems like kind of counterintuitive, but the more ready I am, the more I can respond and be adaptable and be successful in those situations. We have a new section in Gallup Access that we put in last year, where we talk about this idea of an I bring and I need. You can log in, go to the, go to the Community section -- there we go -- go to the Community section. You'll compare yourself to someone else that you've shared your CliftonStrengths with. And we get these I bring and I need statements there to kind of work with. When we think about Adaptability, what does it bring?
Jillian White:
[4:20] Yeah, there's two things that come to mind when I think about what Adaptability brings. The first thing is simply presence. Remember, this is a Relationship Building strength. So when I'm partnering with somebody who's highly adaptable -- Jim, I was just telling you a story of a coach that I was working with that has high Adaptability -- I can feel that ability to be incredibly in the moment and go wherever the conversation leads. So that gift of presence is something that that Adaptability brings. That Adaptability, go back to the first-responder example we were using, they also bring this calm in the middle of chaos or change. They might even get excited by it. And that can have a ripple effect on everyone around them to go, "Oh, there's something happening that we weren't expecting, but it's going to be OK." And they have that ability to respond and have a day go completely differently than what they thought it was going to, and even be energized by that.
Jim Collison:
[5:15] I've said this in previous episodes -- as a child, I would often mess things up so I could fix them. Now, maybe some of that might be Arranger, too, right? I have that No. 1. But it was a need for me; it was how I kind of exercised it. What's Adaptability need?
Jillian White:
[5:31] Yeah, I think of a few things here. So adaptability needs fluidity and freedom. That is at the top of the list. You know, if I were to take somebody who's highly adaptable, let's, let's take you as a child, Jim. And let's imagine that I say, Hey, Jim, I've got your day completely planned out for you. And you're going to do everything exactly like we planned out this day. An adaptability is not going to love that. They need freedom to actually respond to things that come their way. And then take that one step further. What else do they need? Adaptability actually needs things to respond to. So giving them spontaneous moments in their day that they can step up to something, they will rise to the occasion. They will love that ability to respond and adapt to what gets thrown at them.
Jim Collison:
[6:18] How do you think, maybe I'll throw this in a little out of order, but when we think about teams responding to high adaptability, that can be frustrating for some folks who, yes, we know they need that, but they're still living inside the context of a team.
Jim Collison:
[6:33] Someone with high adaptability working environments where maybe adaptability isn't honored or needed. How do you, in your experience, what advice can we give to those folks when maybe they're in a situation where they can't be adaptable?
Jillian White:
[6:48] Yeah, it's a good, it's a good question. I mean, I would encourage, anytime we're looking at strengths, remember, it is a strength for a reason. So, you know, find those situations. And, and I think when we look at partnerships, we're always saying there's two sets of strength. And so it's my strength, it's your strength, or it's my strength and the strengths of the team around me. And I think what's beautiful when we're talking about these strengths in the context of partnership is it's not just what Adaptability brings. But the beautiful part about Adaptability, it can also think about how to adapt to the people around them. And so you need some structure. You've got things that a team is committed to that they have to follow through on, right?
Jillian White:
[7:28] When we get into even who to partner with, you likely want to look for those people or come up with, we talk about this with addressing weaknesses, have another strength you lean into, have a partner you look to, or have a system that helps you. There might be times where an Adaptability says, OK, what's the most important priorities on our team right now? I could easily get derailed by that, right? What do I need to put in place that's going to help me, whether that's a person, whether that's a system? But stay on track and still allow some freedom and some flexibility to respond to things, but know that I'm still on track for the things that are going to serve the team. And even that Adaptability and spontaneity can be around things that are ultimately helping to serve the team.
Jim Collison:
[8:09] I love that. We've, in past seasons, we've talked about moving from me to we, and the Adaptability of me is what's, Hey, this is what's best for me, but that change to the we on the team is, How can I take who I am and then adapt that to what's going on around me? So I love that. I love that. In the new Top 5 report, we've got this idea of Theme Dynamics. We're talking about it both from an individual perspective and from a team perspective, so we'll dig into that a little bit more. But what's a common theme that, that might pair in a Theme Dynamic situation with Adaptability?
Jillian White:
[8:42] This was fun to look at. The most common strength to pair with Adaptability is actually Empathy. Go back to, you know, Adaptability is a Relationship Building strength; Empathy is a Relationship Building strength. When I think about those by themselves, Empathy has incredible emotional awareness. I would say Adaptability has incredible situational awareness. So put those two things together, and how does that combine in someone? It's somebody who's going to be very aware of the situation and the emotions at play in the situation.
Jim Collison:
[9:18] We also, we alluded to this just a second ago, but thinking about it from a team perspective, I love how you're, you're, you're really working out the words that you want to use for this section.
Jillian White:
[9:29] I've been playing around with these.
Jim Collison:
[9:30] No, no, I love it. That's your, a little bit of your Learner kicking in on this. And if folks have high Adaptability, they don't care -- you could use anything you want on this one. But in terms of partnership and collaboration, talk a little bit about that.
Jillian White:
[9:43] Jim, I should have switched it up today just to feed the highly adaptable individuals who are listening to this and have a little fun with it. The words I've landed on for right now is who's a catalyst partner and who's a complementary partner. So I think that catalyst partner is just somebody who really fuels what you love in that strength. What do we know about high Adaptability? It loves to respond to things and be present to the needs of the moment. So what might it partner really well with? Think about an Activator coming into the life of somebody with high Adaptability. They are going to give them some things to respond to and kind of spur that energy. And that Adaptability might be the first follower. I don't know if you've seen that video that's out there, but there's the video of the first follower. And oftentimes, that's what actually creates the movement behind something.
Jillian White:
[10:32] I also think, with somebody who has that high Adaptability, having someone who can help them find meaning in the moment. So imagine Adaptability plus Connectedness, right? And having a partner across from them who's also equally present but helps them even see the bigger picture of what's going on, that could be a beautiful way to catalyze that strength. And then on the flip side, that complementary partnership, Jim, you've already talked about this with just some of the blind spots or perceptions of Adaptability. What would partner well with that? I think there's two things anybody with high Adaptability should look for: that is someone who grounds you and someone who gives you direction.
Jillian White:
[11:12] So think about, What are some of those strengths that ground someone? Those might be strengths like Belief, Responsibility, Discipline. They bring some structure. They bring some grounding to it. It's going to complement that Adaptability. It might be hard, because you have different ways of looking at the world. But it's going to complement it. Think about strengths that might give some direction to that Adaptability. Maybe Focus or Futuristic helps say, OK, I almost think about strengths on a spectrum. And it's like Context looks backwards. Futuristic looks forward. Connectedness sees the whole picture. Adaptability is that most present in the moment. So having people that can help them see that bigger picture is going to be a nice complement to them.
Jim Collison:
[11:59] You didn't plan it this way, but in those, those list of, of themes that you talked about, they're all in my wife's Top 5.
Jillian White:
[12:07] No way! We should invite Sarah to the show just to --
Jim Collison:
[12:10] Yeah, complementary, when we think about complementary. And it took me a while, I think this is one of these things with teams. I think, I was, I was talking to somebody the other day about this, and they were like, yeah, but, and I forget, I forget the theme -- maybe it was Deliberative or something. We were talking about it. They were saying how disruptive that can be to a team. And it, sometimes, it doesn't, it takes time. Like, you need to work on, when, when you're thinking about Theme Dynamics in the context of a team, just because you get a team together and you talk about your Top 5 one time, doesn't mean everybody grasps it right then, right? You got to practice these things. You've got to keep talking about them. You have to have some understanding. It took me 5 years to understand my wife's Belief. I did not, I did not understand it at all, right?
Jillian White:
[12:54] I mean, you might still be unpacking it. Aren't we all, with people who we're close to? You know, it's, but what a gift to have the language to put to it, because I think a lot of times, especially if something is different from what we are, it's very easy to start to see the difference instead of the gift that it is. And strengths lets us start to see the gift.
Jim Collison:
[13:13] Love that. In the final section here, we're talking about tips for leaders and teams and individuals. Let's talk about leaders. How can leaders recognize and harness this Adaptability theme in their teams and organization?
Jillian White:
[13:23] Yeah, Jim, I like thinking about how to spot these talents on a team. So how do you spot Adaptability? Look for those people that light up when you throw them a curveball. Those are likely the people who get energized by responding to what's around them. If I'm leading someone who has Adaptability on a team, I want to actually position them to be the person who's got freedom to respond to things. Remember, they don't like feeling constrained. They're more energized when they've got that freedom. Think about even, you know, maybe it's somebody handling customer complaints or things like that, that has that ability to just respond to things about -- around them, show up in those emergency situations. I also think about how to position them in places where they can be present and go with the flow. I shared that example earlier where I've seen it show up really well in somebody in almost a coaching type of role. So imagine, even on your team, if you have someone, you're needing some mentorship of some people coming in, or you need someone who can be present with people and help them work through a problem or an issue that comes up, this person likely brings that calm and that ability to, you know, coach someone or be with someone through that.
Jim Collison:
[14:33] My Adaptability moved us to the team question, so I'll ask you: As we think, any other thoughts you would add to this idea of working with someone who has Adaptability in a team setting?
Jillian White:
[14:44] Yeah, I like to think about -- maybe this is my Belief in my Top 5, but I like to think about, What does this person value? They value presence. They value spontaneity. So bring those things in your partnership. Honor that, right? Protect presence with that person. I even think, schedule time to connect with them and allow for spontaneity and freedom. They're not going to love when you get together that you've got it all mapped out. You know, maybe it's even you get together, and you ask a question of, "Hey, what's on your plate today?" Or you bring up something that you say, "Hey, I need your thoughts on this," or "This is something that just popped up." They're going to shine in those moments. And they're going to love when you bring something a little spontaneous, too.
Jim Collison:
[15:22] Yeah. That's always, that can always be a, that can start fires on teams that are positive and negative.
Jillian White:
[15:29] That's true. That's true. Both directions.
Jim Collison:
[15:30] Yeah, no, no, right on. As we think, as we wrap this up with the individual, then, idea, final thoughts on amplifying this theme for those who have Adaptability?
Jillian White:
[15:39] Jim, I love the way that you've been saying, "Moving from me to we," and that's what this series is all about. So if you have high Adaptability, think about not just the me portion, but the we portion. How do you position yourself to be very present with the people who mean the most to you in life, at work? How do you also think about prioritizing? Remember, it's a Relationship Building strength. Prioritize the people who are most important to you, and have them at the top of your list for people who you are responding to their needs or things that they bring up. That will help give you some direction with this strength as well. But look for those moments to be present, to be positioned to respond to the people who matter most.
Jim Collison:
[16:20] Love it. I love it. Well, with that, we'll remind everyone to take full advantage of all the resources we do have available in Gallup Access. If you haven't logged in in a while, head over to the Resources tab. Put in "Adaptability," and you will see all the resources we have -- all that we've, you and I have referenced past podcasts, so they're all there as well -- CliftonStrengths, Theme Thursday -- there for you to continue to learn more. We'll be excited to, in a week or two, we'll actually have a, I'll have a link for this. We have a brand-new Powerful Partnerships page coming out, based on some of this stuff that we're doing here. Yeah, pretty cool. Right? So we'll have a resource for you. Hang tight. I'll get you that, I get that, that you are, I'd say it today, but then people would go try to find it, and it's not quite ready yet. So we'll have it available for you next week. If you're, if you're listening live, stay around a little bit for a midshow. If you're listening to the podcast, we might have another one ready for you. Regardless, thanks for listening. And with that, we'll say, Goodbye, everybody.
Jillian White's Top 5 CliftonStrengths are Achiever, Input, Learner, Belief and Responsibility.