In unfamiliar, high-stakes situations, it can be difficult to remain calm and open-minded. Our instinctive reaction is to stick with what has worked for us in the past. That’s normal, and it can work well in familiar situations. But defaulting to old habits in new situations that call for new solutions is usually a recipe for failure. The challenge is that new, high-pressure situations often create a level of anxiety that triggers the very reactions that tend to limit us, stifling innovation. This is the adaptability paradox: When we most need to learn, change, and adapt, we are most likely to react with old approaches that aren’t suited to our new situation, leading to poorer decisions and ineffective solutions.
How to Become More Adaptable in Challenging Situations
We often fall back on old habits when facing tough problems. But that’s when we need new approaches the most.
March 03, 2023
JoZtar/Getty Images
Summary.
In unfamiliar, high-stakes situations, we’re hard-wired to default to the mechanisms that we’ve relied on the past. However, new situations often can’t be met with old solutions. This is the adaptability paradox: When we most need to learn, change, and adapt, we are most likely to react with old approaches that aren’t suited to our new situation, leading to poorer decisions and ineffective solutions. To better overcome the obstacles posed by our old habits, the authors propose the strategy of Deliberate Calm to help leaders take stock of their situation and encourage them to discover new solutions with intention, creativity, and objectivity. The authors outline what Deliberate Calm looks like in practice and how leaders can develop this practice through its three elements: learning agility, emotional self-regulation, and dual awareness.