Future Crunch
2024 Fotoworks WAPPA Conference
Friday, 30 August 2024
Keynote: The Adaptability Quotient
Future Crunch introduced us to the term, adaptability quotient, that is the potential, innate or learned, to adapt to a new environment.
They were clear it is the most important skill for the 21st century, especially as we embrace infinite possibilities. Sharing knowledge of a tech world, understanding neuroscience and leadership, they revealed why it is the best predictor of success and is what allows us to adjust in an ever changing world, when we don’t know if there is going to be a new normal, we just know there is going to be new.
Future Crunch spoke of equipping people with those skills that are needed to navigate that new world and identifying those on our staff who have growth mindsets and adaptability in their thinking. It’s no longer enough to be best in your role, it’s no longer enough to have great interpersonal skills, we now need great adaptability to be able to step into challenges to embrace and enjoy them. It’s about becoming really good at doing new things and adapting to thrive in unpredictable environments.
Those with adaptability quotient develop productive questioning habits such as planning alternatives, factoring disruptions, challenging assumptions, considering threats and remaining flexible. Future Crunch reminded us as educators and leaders of the need to be team-focussed and remain willing to try out other people’s ideas, make use of new technologies to become efficient and current in our work, and most importantly, consider what we do as habit and consider how we might adapt them as opportunities for learning new.