Adaptability: Definition, Examples, & Tips

Adaptability is the skill of molding your actions and reactions to the changing environment around you. Specifically, it is “the capacity to make appropriate cognitive, behavioral, or affective adjustments in the presence of uncertain or novel circumstances” (VandenBos, 2007). Being adaptable means you are flexible in your thinking and behaviors when the circumstances around you are changing. 

What sort of changes might require adaptation? It could look like anything from an unexpected traffic jam that makes you late for an important presentation to a tornado that causes property damage. In each of these situations, you are unable to change your environment but you can adjust your reaction. Being thoughtful and considering multiple solutions will likely lead to good results. Freezing up or being angry at the situation won’t change much at all.

Consider the following idea. I ask you to write an equation that equals four and you write 2+2. I say that I forgot to mention that the equation cannot use addition. Adaptability is the ability to recognize that 2+2 is not the only way to achieve the result of four. The equations 6-2, 12÷3, and 4×1 also equal 4. You adapted your thinking to the unexpected rule of not being able to use addition. Someone who is not adaptable might insist that the rules were unfair instead of adapting their thinking to the new rules.

The opposite of adaptability is rigidity. People who have a rigid state of mind are highly inflexible in their thoughts, beliefs, and ideas. They usually believe their way of thinking is the right way and that people who think differently than them are wrong. People with a rigid mindset might be dismissive, or even disrespectful, of others’ ideas. This mindset can make it difficult to interact with other people as they are unable to see any other point of view than their own. 

It is okay to hold firm in your beliefs and values. However, it is important to recognize that other people may not think the same way as you and you’re better served by hearing and respecting their points of view. Trying to force your point of view on someone is usually an unsuccessful endeavor that will likely end up pushing them away. While you have the right to believe what you want, it is also necessary to respect the abilities of other people to believe what they want. Plus, you will likely learn something new when you look at life from someone else’s perspective.

Since change is a constant of life, adaptability is a skill that allows you to effectively adjust to that change. When you think rigidly, you may miss out on opportunities for better solutions because you refuse to consider any ideas other than your own. This might push others away as they feel you don’t hear or appreciate their thoughts and ideas. Getting other people’s opinions on how to approach an obstacle in your life may yield a solution that you never thought of before and improve your interpersonal communication and relationships.

The ability to be flexible in your thinking is called cognitive flexibility–a component of adaptability. Multiple benefits for people who demonstrate cognitive flexibility have been identified.

Benefits of cognitive flexibility:

• Ability to think in different ways
• Ability to change perspective
• Ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment (Buttelmann & Karbach, 2016)

Adaptability might be a beneficial skill to develop given that it can help you see better solutions to your problems and help you succeed in an ever-changing environment.

Adaptability and flexibility are two very similar terms that differ slightly. You have to be flexible to be adaptable, but if you are flexible that doesn’t necessarily mean you are adaptable. In other words, flexibility is a component of being adaptable. 

When the environment changes, flexibility allows you to bend around that change. Adaptability is the ability to maintain that bend. Someone flexible, but not adaptable, may bend in response to change but is unable to maintain that bend. When you are adaptable you realize that you can’t change your environment, which means you have to be flexible, and maintain that flexibility, to respond to change effectively. Working on your ability to be flexible may help your adaptability as well. 

Seeing examples of adaptability in action may help you understand it more. Consider the following scenarios where the subjects demonstrate adaptability to difficult or unexpected conditions which gives them positive results.

• Sergio has just started a new entry-level position for a start-up company. After the marketing specialist unexpectedly quits, he offers to develop marketing materials for the company as marketing is his passion. He does a wonderful job and is promoted. He was able to adapt to a different job role than he was expecting and it paid off.
• Lauren is planning a large outdoor wedding in the spring but has also made sure the venue has an indoor option as the weather is often unpredictable. As the day approaches the weather forecast calls for rain. She easily arranges to move the celebration indoors. Her forethought about the weather allowed her to be adaptable and still enjoy her big day.
• John is an Army veteran who lost his leg in the Iraq War. Before this, he was an avid athlete. He becomes heavily involved in the Paralympics and discovers adaptive ways to compete in sports which is a huge outlet for his mental health.

Change is an inevitable part of life which means adaptability is an essential skill for life and dealing with that change. It is important to practice this skill for everything from the small inconveniences that can happen in your everyday routine to the unavoidable community, political, or societal shifts that can impact your entire life. 

Time marches on and individuals, technology, and the world advance daily. Only 40 years ago, the internet was a novel concept for the average person. Now, we can’t imagine how the world could function without it. Likely, employees who refused to adapt to using the internet were not very desirable to keep around once it started to take over the workplace. 40 years later, and now it’s hard to function in the world at all without using the internet. The people who refused to adapt likely struggle with technology currently which makes their everyday life much harder. Refusing to adapt to change will likely only make your life more difficult.

Answer the following questions with “yes” or “no” to see if you have adaptability or determine if it is a skill that you might need to work on some more.    

1. Are you good at taking advice?
2. Can you adapt easily to new situations?
3. Can you stand criticism?
4. Are you a bad loser?
5. Do you want to have the last word?
6. Do you feel you can’t stand being contradicted?
7. Do you put down others’ proposals?
8. Do you feel you don’t tolerate critics? (Jackson et. al., 2000)

Give yourself 1 point if you answered “no” to 1-3, and 1 point for each “yes” for 4-8. Higher scores could be indicative of less adaptable and more rigid ways of thinking.

Since change is one of the only constants in the world, adaptability is a skill that can help you weather the storm. Some people may find adaptation easy while others might find it more difficult. If you would like to develop this skill within yourself, consider building the following strengths.

Build up your self-confidence.
Some people may not be very adaptable because they don’t believe in their abilities. Working on developing a greater sense of self-confidence can help you recognize that you are capable of adapting to new situations.

See a different perspective.
Looking at life from another point of view can help you realize there are many ways to solve the same problem. Consider a situation in your life that you need to adapt to and then approach that situation from someone else’s point of view. It may help you see new solutions.

Recognize that failure happens.
​All of your attempts to adapt may not work right away and that’s okay. Be persistent and keep working through life’s challenges until you find a solution. Failures can serve as invaluable lessons on the path to success.

• “Adaptability is the simple secret of survival.” – Jessica Hagedorn
• “Adaptability cushions the impact of change or disappointment.” – Marvin J. Ashton
• “The most important factor in survival is neither intelligence nor strength but adaptability.” – Charles Darwin
• “The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” – Kakuzo Okakura
• “All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation.” – Max McKeown
• “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Jelaluddin Rumi
• “We can’t be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don’t have something better.” – C. JoyBell C.

If you’d like to keep learning more, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

• Buttelmann, F., & Karbach, J. (2016). Development and Plasticity of Cognitive Flexibility in Early and Middle Childhood. Frontiers in Psychology.
• Jackson, D. N., Paunonen, S. V., & Tremblay, P. F. (2000). Six Factor Personality Questionnaire: Technical Manual. Port Huron, MI: Sigma Assessment Systems.
• Middleton, R., Kinghorn, G., Patulny, R., Sheridan, L., Andersen, P., & McKenzie, J. (2022). Qualitatively exploring the attributes of adaptability and resilience amongst recently graduated nurses. Nurse Education in Practice, 63, 103406. 
• Ployhart, R.E., and Bliese, P.D. (2006), “Individual Adaptability (I-ADAPT) Theory: Conceptualizing the Antecedents, Consequences, and Measurement of Individual Differences in Adaptability“, Shawn Burke, C., Pierce, L.G. and Salas, E. (Ed.) Understanding Adaptability: A Prerequisite for Effective Performance within Complex Environments (Advances in Human Performance and Cognitive Engineering Research, Vol. 6), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 3-39. 
• VandenBos, G. R. (Ed.). (2007). APA Dictionary of Psychology. American Psychological Association.