What’s so special about celebrating the New Year?
Story
We’re taking a break from our usual format of telling a client story. Instead we’d like to give you a collection of takeaways and insights from our clients from this past year.
The purpose is the same as the purpose of all holidays: it’s a pause button. It’s a chance to break the normal routine, the whirlwind of activity that we all live in.
Think of those movies you’ve seen where some character gets to see himself from outside his normal perspective. Maybe he got punched so hard his consciousness flew apart from his body. Maybe she switched places with someone. Maybe a ghost of an alternative timeline let him hear what people really thought of him. That perspective shift is one of the core activities of becoming more adaptive.
It’s about the pacing of the story you yourself are living in. No story is non-stop action. No music is constant sound. And no painting is a single color (that would be called a painted wall, not a painting). They all need to breathe.
Here’s the amazing thing: a lull in the action, a breath in the sound, and a space in the display actually make the rest of the artwork more meaningful.
So, let’s pause and hear just a small handful of the most meaningful takeaways from multiple clients from multiple industries over the past year. Maybe you’ll have one of your own to add!
“Slow down to speed up”
There’s no doubt that everyone is feeling pressure to speed up. But sometimes it’s exactly that pause that’s needed. Everyone wants more time, but it’s very hard to see where it will come from. Interestingly, our clients found that if they took the time to slow down and look at their priorities, answer a few coaching questions, or honestly identify a limiting assumption, they were able to make much faster progress later. Pausing and reflecting are foundational to becoming more adaptive.
“Look in the mirror”
It’s easy for leaders to see where others are underperforming, but it’s hard to see how their own leadership has enabled that. It takes all three of the 3Cs to take a good long look in the mirror and say, “Ok. There’s something I’ve been avoiding that I need to take ownership of.” It doesn’t mean that 100% of the blame goes on the leader. That’s usually not accurate either. We’ve been very proud to see our clients do the important work of looking honestly at themselves, which is key to becoming more adaptive.
“I’m excited to try that”
Leaders often feel there are some problems that cannot be solved. These usually get labeled as others’ responsibility (“that’s not my area”), personality (“that’s just how they are”), or authority (“that’s out of my control”). We often challenge those statements to see if there’s some untapped experiment that could be run to get more information. Clients end up with something new to try and they actually look forward to doing it. This is the spirit of innovation and experimentation at the heart of becoming more adaptive.
“I know what I need to say to [person]”
In our EMMA model for Performance Leadership, the final step is Accountability. This includes leaders’ giving two types of feedback to their teams: affirmation (“You’re doing the right thing; keep going!”) and corrective feedback (“You’re not doing the right thing.”). Each leader is stronger at one type and weaker at another, or better with one person but worse with another. It’s been very encouraging to see leaders use all 3Cs and increase either their affirming or corrective feedback. Changing the way you give feedback is also an important part of increasing adaptive capacity.
New Year’s Resolution
At a time when it’s impossible to avoid the topic of New Year’s resolutions, we want to suggest a pre-packaged one for you, straight off the shelf. How about making this your 2026 resolution:
- In 2026, I want to become more adaptive
The reasons we like it are:
- It’s personal (what’s your next level of adaptivity?)
- It’s doable (you could accomplish it by taking a new step)
- It’s momentum-izable (once you start, you’ll want to keep doing more)
- It’s meaningful (it is the number one game changer for leaders in the modern world)
If you like it, here’s a little poster for you to post, print, parade, or pirate (who will ever know?):
From the global team at Adaptive Leaders, happy New Year to you and your team!
May 2026 be your most adaptive year yet!
Next Steps?
Forward this article to team members (or a supervisor if you discern that’s a good idea).
Also, feel free to take any images from this article and print, share, save, etc.
Finally, if you’d like to talk about an Adaptive Leader Journey for your team where we do a deep dive into EMMA and the 3Cs to integrate them into daily practice, feel free to book a free 20-minute call with one of our coaches to discuss how we can support you in making your next big breakthrough. Looking forward to talking to you soon!
