Flexibility, adaptability and resistance to change

SUMMARY:

The History of man and the life of man is a great undertaking, especially his early life, in it he put all his will, creativity and effort in overcoming problems that afflicted him; Being flexible, demonstrating adaptability to the hostile environment that surrounded it, these are qualities that companies must promote from the beginning. However, learning to adapt to changes, creativity in the face of problems, willingness to face difficulties, are but some of the key characteristics, since in reality a set of qualities is needed to create an organization that can intelligently face adverse situations..

INTRODUCTION

Man has a basic quality, this one, which differentiates us from other animal species, has elevated us to a higher rank, but apparently the human species insists on having a bad memory, and forgets this condition very easily. Man is supposed to be a rational being. As we all know, and as the dictionary defines, the term reason means: Faculty of speaking / Act of understanding in which one thinks / Expression of thought or speech / Argument adduced in support of something / Order and method of something / Equity in purchases and sales, etc., then we find the definitions of reason applied to mathematics and other disciplines. According to the definitions, the term reason can be applied to the “Argument that is adduced in support of something”.

Throughout history, Man has always had valid arguments to find solutions to the problems that life in general poses to him, thus in very difficult moments, History records the way in which human groups have found the option that has allowed them to perpetuate the species, when according to scientific studies the extinction of man would have been very likely on more than one occasion. For this reason, I will present a parallel between some human situations that man has had to go through, and the critical moments that any organization is faced with.

Flexibility

Flexibility is closely related to encouragement, tolerance, and accepting new ideas, facts, or different situations. If we think about History, there are many examples that we can cite, in which flexibility has been present. Life on earth was initially very difficult… let's think that men had to provide their entire family with food, take care of their loved ones of dangerous animals and the attack of more primitive tribes, who killed, robbed women and they destroyed everything in their path. It doesn't have to have been easy to endure all these situations, but despite the primitiveness of man back then, he could intelligently overcome and devise a way to go hunting and protect his own.

Flexibility is also related to transformation. Imagine a flexible material, it can acquire a new image. The man, in his early age, endured low temperatures without having a dress, however, when the situation could not be sustainable, his image changed, now dressed in animal skin, which helped him resist periods in which the earth was covered with ice: The ice ages (we are talking about the late tertiary and part of the quaternary era).

Although it is true, we could think of History as the great company of Man, with more than one hundred thousand years of existence, and 7,502 years of Historical consciousness (since the invention of writing)

Today, there are companies that are extremely flexible, and always find a way to deal with financial crises, markets that are closing, needs that no longer exist, and others that appear, in fact flexibility is very necessary and timely in a constantly changing world. Company leaders must have one eye on the company and the other on opportunities that occur once. For this reason it is important that the leaders of a company or organization have a vision of the future and can find gold where others only see clay.

Recall the case of Shell?

The oil company Shell began as an industry that was dedicated to satisfying the eccentricity of collectors for obtaining rare molluscs and products from the sea, and also from oysters, which are quite desirable and well paid in the European market, but realized the potential that it had Dutch oil and now it is one of the largest oil industries in the world, and only the viera (shell) that is its commercial logo remains from the Oyster, that is, it was far from the Company's Mission, however, its Higher leaders knew how to see in time where a strong, high-need product was really found and launched into the exploitation of crude oil without affective consideration.

So, can we think of a company with its rigid structures? I think not …….., the flexibility of a company's structures allow it to face any crisis, however difficult it may seem.

Adaptability:

Adaptability is closely linked to the aforementioned characteristic: flexibility. To adapt, in some way, is to accept 100% the current situation. For an organization to adapt to a new situation implies that from the Director of the Company to the garbage manager assume this new condition, which is not easy for those who occupy managerial positions, but very valuable for the institution that is going through a serious problem. It is useful to mention that Humility is a characteristic of every Leader; In difficult times it is when the humility of the directors of the Institution is most needed.

Adapting is not a simple task, it involves leaving something of what you are, or what you are used to being someone else. Perhaps this type of situation is influenced by the will, tolerance and intelligence to get rid of benefits that are no longer due to new or different obligations to assume.

In History, Man has adapted to floods, climatic changes, invasions, wars, poverty, epidemics, etc. Man is a customary animal; he got used to living in the trees, then occupied abandoned caves, then decided to go down from the trees and live in them, but when he realized that he needed to look for his food due to the shortage, he became completely nomadic, and as the situation continued constantly changing… he needed to settle in one place and grow plants and raise cattle… he became sedentary.

On the path that is traveled to adapt work teams to the changes demanded by the new times, or the needs that the company presents, those individuals emerge who represent in themselves the "Resistance to change", those who always see the aspects negatives, which point out or say that "it is better to work as it has been done so far", of course, they do not know how to visualize the positive aspects, but they cling to staying in their position and working without any modification, fear ?, ill will ?,

To reach a true adaptation, five stages must be passed:

First Total Denial: Stage characterized by fear, anxiety, states of normal anguish that are generated by the changes, the feeling of instability and insecurity causes a denial reaction, even without knowing the possibilities of growth that the organization may experience.

Second Self Defense: The individual clings to his ideas, however, he begins to understand that it is his own fears, thus he is able to visualize some advantages, which allow him to place himself in the next stage: Assessment.

Third The assessment: At this stage everything that is done is valued and a principle of collaboration and participation begins to be born, this is the stage prior to acceptance

Fourth The acceptance: The entire organization accepts the new situation as something irremediable, however the positive is that new skills appear in those who were reluctant to change

Fifth The adaptation: Final stage, the complete organization assimilates the new way of working, generating benefits for all.

Why is there resistance to change?

1- Speed with which changes take place: Precisely because they are not motivated in due time nor are they informed of what it is, therefore, there is a natural resistance in the staff due to ignorance.

2- Psychological characteristics of some individuals: Fears, Insecurity,. Open resistance to all kinds of changes, (work paranoia) people who always think they will be fired, lousy dedication to the institution and low availability.

3- Feelings of immobility: For some people with charges it can mean the danger of losing the benefits they have achieved, which is why they resist changes.

How to avoid resistance to change?

Firstly, the Human Resources department, management teams or Executives, must complete a first step, before the change that is desired, this must be widely informative, through which all doubts of the company personnel are cleared, to At the same time, it must be motivating on the part of the leaders of the institution and, finally, it must be compromising, so that all the personnel can participate in the change and feel part of it, all these steps, obviously prior to promoting the change.

It is of great importance that leaders fully motivate staff, creating motivating expectations.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Man is designed to work as a team and to do it well, if not how do we explain great engineering works built throughout history?, Irrigation channels, aqueducts, bridges, pyramids, floating gardens, etc. It is only necessary to find a way to generate group synergy, something like what the organs of our body do to work together, the perfection of the human body, is but a sample of what highly efficient teams must be, working all for a common purpose. In this century it will be very important to work in coordination, as a team, supporting each other's work, collaboratively.

We are entering a century marked by intelligence, therefore, companies must differentiate themselves by those factors that are difficult to imitate; Man is supposed to have developed his intelligence, but his emotional intelligence is poorly developed, so it is a matter of reinforcing that quality to take possession of the market as organizations with high-value human resources.

The qualities of which we speak are in the people, a leader is needed who can bring out the best in them, in this the role of the leaders of the institution is key. Is it possible for all mountaineering teams to reach the top of Everest ???, what does yours need to reach it ?????

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