Adaptability Quotient: Strategies Leading To Resiliency and Stress

AEIOU and Sometimes Y. Not just vowels, but also Quotient Types.

The AQ, EQ, IQ, OQ, UQ (and Sometimes YQ)

I saw an article several months ago on adaptability and it go me thinking about how all of these ‘quotients’ applied to resiliency and mental health. When you google quotients, you can find the 5 quotients, the 3 types, which one is better, which one is more important, and how can I increase my (blank) quotient, etc.

IQ

You have certainly heard of IQ. IQ, or Intelligence Quotient was first developed in 1912 by German psychologist William Stern. It was used to describe a scoring method that gave a ratio of the estimated mental age compared to the test takers actual chronological age. It measures one’s intelligence like short-term memory, analytical thinking, mathematical ability, and spatial recognition and it defines one’s capacity to learn, rather than the amount of information one has already learned. IQ scores have been found to be predictors of job performance, income, health, and even longevity of life.

So, how can you increase your IQ?

• Study a new language – learning a new language causes the language centers in your brain to expand, which can positively impact your problem-solving ability
• Get enough sleep – disturbances to healthy sleep patterns can cause your IQ to drop by a significant five to eight points.
• Start sprinting – A Swedish study found that cardiovascular fitness can raise your verbal intelligence by 50%..

If you want to find out your IQ score, take the test:
https://www.123test.com/iq-test/

EQ

EQ = Emotional Quotient is a term coined by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer in 1990, as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, and the ability to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action.” People with a high EQ are empathetic and authentic and they have a flexible communication style and can navigate conflict effectively.

Daniel Goleman went further to say that it was not cognitive intelligence that guaranteed business success, but rather emotional intelligence, describing emotionally intelligent people as having four specific characteristics.

• Self-awareness – one’s ability to understand their own emotions
• Self-management – one’s ability to manage their own emotions
• Social awareness – empathetic to the emotional drives of others
• Relationship management – one’s ability to handle other people’s emotions

So, how can you increase your EQ?

• Put yourself in others’ shoes – take time to explore why someone might feel a certain way about a given situation. Generally, people have good reasons for seeing the world the way they do. Keeping this in mind can help you cooperate with others when problems arise.
• Be mindful of your emotions – the next time you’re having a particularly good or bad day, pay attention to how your mood is impacting your communication with others and your productivity.
• Pause before acting or speaking – most situations require tact, sensitivity, and taking a brief pause to think about what you want to say or do can make a huge difference in moving a situation forward.
• Consider what you can learn – when receiving criticism, try not to rush to your own defense. Put your feelings aside and see what you can learn from this person’s perspective.

If you want to find out your EQ score, take the test:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/tests/personality/emotional-intelligence-test

That leaves AQ or Adaptability Quotient.

The Adaptability Quotient is a fairly new concept. The term was coined by author Paul Stoltz in 1997 in his book Adversity Quotient: Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities.

‍How do you react when something goes wrong?

Do you stomp, shout, and grasp at any straw to find a solution? Or do you keep your wits about you, figure out a fix, and learn something that will help get you out of the next situation?

“A rigid business or leader is setting themself up for failure. What does not bend, often breaks.”

The Adaptability Quotient is the gauge of how a person responds to difficult situations. It is the ability to determine what’s relevant, forgo obsolete knowledge, overcome challenges, learn from mistakes, and adjust to change in real-time. It’s about being able to read and act on early signals and make a deliberate effort to change. People with a higher Adaptability Quotient respond to challenging situations more effectively, can better reserve their energy during periods of intense stress, generally perform better, are more healthy, and have more positive outlooks than those with a lower AQ.

Leaders responding to complexity are increasingly being asked to be nimble, to navigate VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) in their environment, while managing their own stress, and that of others, in order to avoid burnout in the workplace. The Adaptability Quotient is about how they will thrive personally and how they are able to lead others through these increasingly chaotic times.

AQ – Adaptability Quotient is now considered to be a primary predictor of success.

Adaptability has become a sought-after trait in employees, and more and more businesses are looking for leaders who demonstrate a high AQ.

When it comes to individuals, those with high Adaptability Quotient:

• Keep an open mind, so they see possibilities not barriers
• Keep an open heart, so they can try to see any situation through another person’s eyes.
• Keep an open will, by letting go of identity and ego. They can sit with the discomfort of the unknown.

‍Characteristics And Skills Of Someone With A High Adaptability Quotient:

• Flexibility

Flexible leaders role-model the message that it’s ok to change thinking, practices, feelings, and ways of working or doing. They recognize a need to let go of potential biases because they understand that others may have different beliefs and values to oneself and that these different values are equally important. ‍Flexibility is connected to being creative and ‍innovative. Be willing to experiment. The more you do so, the better you will be at determining the right results over time.

Tip: Embrace flexibility by trying a different approach to a situation. As a leader, offer adjustable schedules, flexible hours, and work-from-home options. Ask someone who acts or thinks differently to you how they might approach a situation.

• Problem Solver

Problem-solving skills is the capacity to generate different or unique solutions to a problem. This involves being able to take in a wide range and type of information and synthesize it to create new ideas. Inherent in this process is the leader’s skill in engaging others to co-create ideas and to test the ideas to feed back into the loop for continuous improvement.
Tip: Make it a habit to ask ‘What is the real problem I/we are trying to solve?’.

• Curiosity

Our brain looks for threats at four times the rate that it scans for rewards or positives. This means we naturally have an unconscious bias to be suspicious of the new, the unfamiliar, or of differences. Instead of a predisposition for finding fault, flaws, or holes in others or their ideas, a curious leader is able to suspend judgment long enough to understand something new or in more detail.

Tip: Examine your biases and try to suspend your own judgment long enough to gain new information or perspectives.

• Learning and Unlearning

Letting go of the known, especially at a more conscious level, means a leader must learn to unlearn, and relearn if they are to succeed. Become an active unlearner. Active unlearners seek to challenge what they presume to already know and override that data with new information.

Tip: When something new feels too hard give yourself permission to understand that it may take some practice to become competent at it, then continue to try again.

• ‍Continuously Improve

What was once true won’t always be true. Everything in life is constantly changing, and just because you thought you knew the best way of doing something doesn’t mean it will continue to be the best way. New possibilities and evolving circumstances could mean a new solution is best. Adaptable people are always questioning their assumptions and ready to embrace a new solution at any given time. Leaders that prioritize constructive feedback foster an environment of continuous improvement.
Tip: Continually ask questions and assess your processes. Is there a better way? What haven’t you considered before?

• ‍Willing To Make Mistakes

You can’t spark creativity, adopt innovation, or try new ways of working without being open to the possibility of failure. Build the capacity to endure making mistakes, reframe failure, and handle it in a constructive way. Building a tolerance for failure means being able to reframe failure as an opportunity to learn. Building a culture of support for people to test, try and fail, is critical for leaders to keep up with the pace of change and technical innovation. Eliminate the fear of punishment that prevents people from expressing new ideas.
Tip: Form the habit of asking ‘When things don’t quite go as planned what did I/we learn?’.

• ‍Unafraid Of The Unknown

Change is going to occur whether you like it or not. You can’t prevent change, but you can learn how to accept and embrace it. Simple changes in the workplace, such as updates in technology or adjustments to management or staff, can send some people spiraling. You may fight against it and fear the change, or you may become increasingly disengaged because things aren’t how they used to be. These phases are natural, but you must work your way through the change curve to a place of acceptance.
Tip: Lessen the fear of taking risks by getting outside your comfort zone. Take on smaller risks and then gradually build on them. Learn a new skill, try a new sport. Do something every day that scares you (just a little bit).

• ‍Considers The Future

Adaptable people understand change is inevitable. Accepting this allows you to freely consider what the future might bring. What does your role or industry look like in 5 years? 10 years? 30 years?
Tip: Practice thinking about the future and the many possibilities that could affect you or your business. Ask yourself “what if…” questions, which allow you to pre-empt what could happen before it occurs.

• Quick Recovery

The capacity to quickly recover or bounce back from setbacks through the process of positive self-care, and of selective cognitive reframing and repositioning. This is the process of constantly linking in with our highest-level purpose and goals, and reframing setbacks as an important step toward achieving what matters most in our lives and our work. Leaders can assist their teams to quickly recover through a conscious process of clearly linking with the team mission and staying true to this purpose.
Tip: Be clear on your ultimate purpose to maintain perspective on something that hasn’t worked out for you. Make it a practice to look at the larger picture. Practice positive self-care.

• Delayed Gratification

The motivation to choose the discomfort of long-term discipline over the shorter-term ease of distraction or indulgence. The leader’s discipline to stay on course and to delay gratification for greater gain is a key ingredient of achieving more and greater success. The Adaptable Leader understands recognition and reward in keeping self-motivated and of motivating others to achieve important goals.
Tips: Build in more frequent recognition and rewards linked to smaller milestones. Set larger rewards for larger outcomes.

If you want to find out your AQ, take this test: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/tests/personality/adventure-quotient-aq-test

Results Interpreted:

Low AQ (0–59): Low levels of motivation, energy, performance, and persistence. Tendency to catastrophize events.

Moderate AQ (95–134): Under-utilization of potential. Problems take a significant and unnecessary toll, making moving forward difficult.

High AQ (166–200): Maintains appropriate perspective on events and responses to them. Able to continue forward with upward progress despite significant adversity.

Enemies Of Adaptability

I like this graphic from http://www.game-changer.net/2013/05/30/the-enemies-of-adaptability/#.Yup4S9rMIvI which outline the enemies of adaptability.
Does your organization fall into any of these traps?