adaptability (noun). the quality of being able to adjust readily to new conditions
Adaptability has never been more important than it is today. The ability of people, teams and entire organizations to reliably and repeatedly adapt to today’s business environment — an environment defined by unrelenting, accelerating change; one in which new conditions, challenges and opportunities emerge every day — makes the difference between success and failure, growth and stagnation, relevance and obsolescence.
And where adaptation in the natural world is often outside an organism’s control, the readiness, willingness and ability to adapt in the professional world is well within an organization’s control — provided, of course, that the right culture, mindsets and skill sets are in place to foster adaptability.
To that end, I’m excited to introduce the Adapt Manifesto.
Co-created with fellow digital transformation consultant Ian Patterson and validated by a select set of “early adapters”, the Adapt Manifesto captures and crystalizes the seven values and 10 practices that, through our work, we have found to be most important for reliable, repeatable and successful personal, professional and organizational adaptation to a business environment characterized by continuous (often disruptive) change.
We view the Adapt Manifesto as more philosophy about change than strategy for change; as guidelines for how change happens rather than a prescription for what that change should be. Like the Agile Manifesto that provided us with inspiration, it is not our aim to tell you what to build; rather to provide you with a set of foundational ideas for how to build it better.
We hope you will find the ideas we’ve laid out in the Adapt Manifesto valuable for your own organization — and for your own evolution as a leader in times of change. And that you’ll be inspired to put them to work.
I’d love to personally invite you to join the movement. Here’s how:
- Read the Adapt Manifesto.
- Become a signatory to show your support.
- Share on social, email it around, discuss it with your team or anyone you know who is interested in the business of change.
- And of course, apply the Adapt Manifesto principles (the seven values and 10-part code of practice) in how you approach transformation in your own organization.
The manifesto itself is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, so feel free to use, repurpose and build upon it within those parameters. We developed this as a non-commercial tool, with the intention of advancing a wider conversation around adaptability and with the hope that leaders will find success in adopting the values and practices however they see fit.
This said, if you’re interested in working with me and/or Ian to apply the Adapt Manifesto to your own change programs, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Also, stay tuned for announcements about additional tools and services we plan to introduce in the coming months to help people like you to put Adapt Manifesto practices into play in your own organization.
