A Look at Adaptability

People who are especially talented in the Adaptability theme prefer to “go with the flow.” They tend to be “now” people who take things as they come and discover the future one day at a time.

CliftonStrengths

This week, our guest blogger is Jen Benson. Jen is the Development Director for TeamMates Mentoring Program. Her top 5 Strengths are Empathy, Adaptability, Ideation, Developer, and Input. Here is what Adaptability looks like for Jen.

At TeamMates, we talk a lot about our strengths in terms of their rank.  Adaptability is my “number 2.”  I think of adaptability as a lifestyle, not just a strength.  In high school and young adulthood, I was pretty “type A” in most things.  I was a perfectionist in school, got great grades, took on leadership positions, pursued challenging internships, had my life all planned.  As a busy mom with a demanding job and volunteer work that I love, I still don’t think of myself as a free spirit!  With that in mind, when I read the description of adaptability, I don’t think it describes me at all.  But, as I’ve been reminded many times in my life, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.”  Adaptability to me is the ability to appreciate and embrace the unique opportunities, happy accidents, and genuine challenges that have helped build my character, my personal relationships and my career.  It has helped me believe in the power of the unintended and unexpected events that have brought to me the greatest joy and accomplishment and keep me looking forward to a hopeful future even though I don’t know what exactly lies around the next corner.uture even though I don's that have brought to me the greatest joy and accomplishment and keep me looking forward to a h

My top five themes are:  Empathy, Adaptability, Ideation, Developer and Input.  In my work at TeamMates, it is my job to find the funds needed to operate our organization each year.  I raise money. I am often faced with the challenge that some grant opportunity or event I was pursuing isn’t going to pay off in the way that I had planned.  I believe my Ideation is what makes my Adaptability work to my advantage.  I value my ability to creatively solve problems and encounter challenging situations to achieve what I set out to do, even if the original plan didn’t work out.  It also allows me to be open to something better than what I had originally intended.  I find myself saying “Well, what about doing it this way?” pretty often in my work. 

When I was young, I think Adaptability helped me overcome setbacks quickly.  I remember being 5 or 6 years old, I had just learned to ride my bike without training wheels.  I was riding in circles in the driveway at my dad’s house and my circles got too small and I toppled my bike.  I remember thinking, “well that didn’t work, I’ll try it differently this time,” which I think of as a key mantra in my life.  I got up, picked up my bike and got back on and rode in bigger circles.  I don’t remember anyone pointing this strength out to me, but I think, given that my parents divorced when I was very young and I was passed between two households most of my childhood, Adaptability was expected more than it was appreciated.  With my parents wrapped up in much of their own stuff when I was a kid, I recall learning many life lessons by trial and error.  In my adult life, I believe Adaptability contributes to much of the “grit” in my toolbox.  I don’t have high Achiever or Competition in my strengths but achieving my goals is still critical for me.  Adaptability is the strength that helps me achieve by allowing me to “roll with it” to take an alternative path to my intended destination and to be open to new possibilities along the journey. 

A small example of how I used adaptability at work recently, last week, we were holding a lunch time fundraiser for the United Way.  We had a few guests from United Way coming to visit and were planning to eat in the conference room.  Earlier that morning, folks from Gallup came to the office and set up equipment in the conference room to do a live broadcast the next day, rendering most of our conference room unusable.  This didn’t bother me in the least bit.  Adaptability activated and we moved the table we could still use and chairs to the hallway outside our office and we all enjoyed a delightful lunch of southern food in the company of friends and the ambiance of vending machines and tropical hallway plants. 

If I were writing the description for Adaptability for Gallup, I would describe it as the ability to appreciate and embrace what you’ve got to work with when life throws you the inevitable curve ball.  And I would end with another one of my favorite mantras, “It’s all good!”

-Jen

If you are interested in guest blogging about one of your Top 5 StrengthsFinder themes this school year, please email Tess at tstarman@teammates.org