How to Encourage Adaptability in Employees
Adaptability is the ability to handle change with little disruption or loss of focus. Post-pandemic, this skill is more important than ever for employees. When employees are adaptable, the workplace is able to continue running smoothly through location changes, staffing adjustments, and variable workloads.
We have curated a guide of four actions employers can take to encourage their employees to become more adaptable, improving the overall business performance.
Keep Employees Informed
When changes are being made in the office, keep your employees in the loop. Preventing confusion around the office when new situations arise will encourage employees to trust you. This trust will ultimately create a more flexible and adaptable employee, as they can be less stressed about the unknown situations happening around them.
For example, hold weekly meetings to inform your employees about hirings, firings, and other changes happening around the workplace.
Encourage Communication Among Employees
Nothing is worse than having to go through a big change alone. Encourage employees to be-friend each other in order to better adapt to changes around the office. As an employer, you can help with this by creating a fun Slack channel or having group lunch breaks.
Having employees willing to communicate with each other will also improve business overall as ineffective communication is often to blame for workplace failures.
Be Positive
Positivity is contagious. It can be easy to develop a negative mindset during times of big changes, for both you and your employees. If you develop a positive mindset and share this with your employees, it will catch on. This is a huge part of the adaptability skill. The ability to have a positive mindset about changes around the office will help employees get work done without disruption due to negativity.
In order to help your employees see the light at the end of the changes, consider sending out a newsletter about the positives of the change and how excited you are to see the effects of the change.
Encourage Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a wellness practice used to acknowledge and validate a person’s emotions. During big changes, mindfulness can be a great way to stay focused on work. This is why it is so important for employers to encourage employees to practice mindfulness, as it is a valuable skill that will make them more adaptable. It will also improve employee mental health overall.
To better encourage mindfulness, consider offering a free mindfulness training course to all employees. Another way to encourage mindfulness in the workplace is to provide breaks throughout the day for employees to practice deep breathing.
Taking these steps to improve employee adaptability will increase productivity and minimize disruption in the workplace. For more information on adaptability in the workplace, check out the infographic below.
