Embedding Learning When Change and Adaptation Is More Important Than Ever!

Updated August 17th 2023

Imagine if I proposed that the absence of a vital element could render all the investments your company makes in employee learning and development futile, both in terms of time and money.

A recent conversation with a friend got me thinking about this problem.

During a zoom lunch date (one of the things I am doing to give myself some work-life balance while working from home),

I asked her what she had going on at work that afternoon.

Her face shifted to irritation and, with an exaggerated eye-roll, she said:

“Ugh, we have another training workshop… this time on motivation during Covid-19. I could not be bothered.”

As a performance psychologist I am fascinated by motivation and so this statement made me laugh. I was immediately reminded that we should never assume people are interested in the same things as us!

Further questioning clarified that my friend had been subjected to lecture-style training sessions with little interaction and no opportunity to apply what she was being taught. These sessions felt like a waste of time to her, and in fact they were, because afterwards she never felt able to implement the knowledge.

The Power of Habits

We now know that at least 40% of our daily actions are habits. Habits are a combination of automatic
thoughts, sub-conscious reactions and established routines. The longer we have been following these
routines, the harder they are to change. Even when we have the desire and the best intentions to
change, the sheer strength of our established neural pathways pull us back to our old ways of doing
things. When we don’t understand the processes behind this, we are left feeling powerless to make our
desired changes a reality. This feeling of powerlessness feeds a fixed mindset, which whispers to us
there is no point in trying hard to change as it won’t make any difference.

But why is learning such a struggle?

Implementing new learning is, at its essence, a struggle against our established habits. It requires a
strong clarity of what you are looking to change and the sheer discipline of repeatedly choosing a new
way of acting or thinking until it becomes your new habit or way of being. Contrary to previous research
which suggested it takes 21 days to form a new habit, we know now that this process can take anything from 3 weeks to
to six months, depending on our focus, determination and how our individual brain works.

So, the problem is this: learning and development training can be waste of time and money if we do not
give people the tools to understand their own learning, take control of their behaviour and implement
what they have learned.

Figuring out how to do exactly that is a priority at Adaptas. As a team, we teach learning and habit
change as a core element in all our training, from presentation skills to higher business performance. We
have seen the benefits of this approach, with clients often reporting back to us that through
understanding their own learning and habit change challenges they were able to take control of their
choices and behaviours and make long-term, impactful changes in work and in life.

The crucial ingredient, as we see it, is habit change.

See more about learning and habit change in Celine’s book ‘Our Learning Brain’.

Certainty in an Uncertain World

VUCA – Uncertainty Is Just One Element

For many years those of us working in the leadership arena have found ourselves discussing VUCA.

VUCA is an acronym that stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This combination of qualities taken together, characterise the nature of difficult conditions and situations where change is accelerating on a rapid level; technology, economics, warfare, world leadership, extremism, conflict, political dysfunction, social media, automation etc.

We have recently been witnessing VUCA together on a global scale due to Corona Virus Disease 2019.

Every single one of us have adapted in so many different ways.

But there is still a level of uncertainty, because business and life is not what it used to be, and will never be again.

We all have many questions: What’s coming next? How will this effect our lives long-term? What is the impact on our relationships, communities, organisations, economy, health?

Adapting at the speed of change that has been required has put pressure on us all in so many different ways.

To thrive in this VUCA world, uncertainty is the new normal. In life, so many of us try to control situations and to create stability and security. As we can see right now, there is so much that is beyond our control.

I’ve been thinking about a few things each of us can do to continue to get used to living in this VUCA world.

Here are 3 tips:

1. Control

What one thing can you create in your day that you can be certain about and that gives YOU a sense of having some control. This could be as simple as ‘regardless of what is going on around me, I eat an orange every day at 8am’, or ‘I get 15 minutes of air every single day at lunchtime’, or ‘I call one friend or colleague to check in at the start or end of my day’.

2. Flexibility

Having built in one thing that you can control. What can you do to help yourself have a more flexible approach to life, relinquishing some need to control? You may have a plan but one thing is certain, you will need to shift and change with the circumstances. We are all having to continue shifting to the new circumstances. Many of us are continuing to self-isolate. Many still have to entertain children while schools are closed as well as doing all their work from home. Many are having to re-think our roles and businesses.

As this new life and world continues to evolve, I recommend checking in with yourself on a daily basis and asking yourself ‘In what ways could I be more flexible?’ or ‘In what ways could I relinquish control? – ‘with myself, with other people and with the situation I find myself in?’ Things don’t’ have to be done the way they have always been done, clearly. Nevertheless we are creatures of habit, and we will fall into assumptions, expectations and judgements. This VUCA world is likely to continue, so how can you become more flexible in how you go about life?

3.Media Consumption

Be careful what media you are following. What are the facts? And be careful with your level of intake of the various media. Do you really need the updates every few minutes, every hour or even every day? There is only so much negative information our brain can interpret and our mind can digest before our mental health is affected.

I have found it helpful to check in with myself on all three items weekly and sometimes daily. Give it a go and let me know how you get on?

What Working with Adaptas has Taught me About Learning and Habit Change

Updated August 17th 2023

After ten years of working as an equestrian sport competition coach and two years training and working as a performance psychology consultant, I know that change is difficult. It is challenging to correct an athlete’s incorrect leg position on a horse once the body has formed the habit of holding it the wrong way.

Likewise, it is even more challenging to change the way an athlete thinks about themselves once the mind has formed the habit of thinking a negative way.

In our current climate, many of us have had to change the way we do things overnight. Whether these changes involve thoughts or actions or both, for most of us, this has been difficult. In short, underlying these challenges is the fact that changing the way we move, behave, or think requires changing our habits.

In the past, I was guilty of underestimating the power of habits on our behaviour. I knew making the change was difficult, but I did not fully understand why.

Since I have had the opportunity to focus on the psychology behind habit change through my work with Adaptas, this process has become much clearer to me. It has also given me the opportunity to equip myself with effective tools to help my clients understand their own learning and make lasting changes.

I now understand that habit change is a foundational element of learning in sport, business, and life.

A habit is a deeply ingrained pattern of thought or behaviour. In fact, more than 40% of our daily actions and decisions are ruled by habits. They are both incredibly useful and terribly inconvenient. From an evolutionary perspective, habits keep us safe and free up our brain to tackle complex problems. However, these same mechanisms can get us stuck in unhelpful patterns of thought or action. Because so much of habitual reaction is sub-conscious, we often do not realise how the habit is controlling our thought or behaviour.

I believe that learning about habit change allows us to become more meta-cognizant, to see our own thoughts and reactions from another perspective. Once this has occurred, we can effectively make use of habit change techniques.

Right now, as we continue to navigate the impacts of COVID-19 on our lives, many of us are trying to use this time to do things differently. Pay attention to the old habits you may have left behind and consider what new habits you might be forming to support these new behaviours. If you have been struggling with change, try to figure out what old habits may be holding you in old patterns of thought and action.

This is the strength behind the Adaptas approach: by including information about learning and habit change, I can now empower clients to take control of their thoughts, decisions, and outcomes.

In conclusion, It is truly amazing to see the positive difference this makes in peoples’ experience of making changes in work or sport and the impact this has on their performance and well-being.
Annika McGivern

If you are interested in learning more about how the brain works, check out the Adaptas book page

The Interesting Relationship Between Mindset, Resilience and Confidence

Updated August 17th 2023

We could all use a little bit of extra confidence right now. It has been six weeks since the world flipped on its head. It is challenging finding the confidence in yourself to help you thrive despite the impending challenges ahead. So, we wanted to share what we feel is the secret to confidence!

Confidence is the result of the story we tell ourselves about ourselves.

What is your story? Are you someone who accepts the inevitability of change, setbacks, and challenges? Who believes in their own ability to adapt and succeed regardless? Or are you someone who is at the mercy of challenging, negative events?

Thinking of our ability to adapt to challenges as a product of the way we think about ourselves can be illuminating. But of course, there is nothing straight forward about life and what it throws our way. Even when we accept that challenges will occur, they can still surprise us and knock us sideways, leaving us feeling temporarily out of control.

The fact is: yes, many of the events of our lives are outside of our control. We are all intimately aware of that now more than ever. But the way in which we react to and interpret these events is entirely within our control. There are two key frameworks in psychology that can help us begin to change our stories and shape our own confidence.

1. Mindset

Our MINDSET is a set of beliefs that subconsciously influences the way we react to failures. The idea of failure often feels catastrophic, something that will destroy our confidence and therefore should be avoided at all costs. However, this way of thinking blocks us from understanding the secret, wonderful truth about setbacks.

Setbacks are an amazing learning opportunity. They are a springboard that can launch us forward to a better version of ourselves.

Through failing and improving, setback and response, our confidence can grow in leaps and bounds. Change your relationship with failure and setbacks by changing your mindset. Very quickly you will find yourself looking for problems instead of avoiding them.

2. Resilience

Resilience is not an innate ability to set our shoulders and plough our way through the hardship life throws our way. It is the ability to feel the sadness, guilt, shame or anger of a setback and take a deep breath (or several!). It is the power to begin the hard work of discovering the learning opportunity and recognizing how what you have learned will make you stronger next time.

This ability is honed by developing the habit of asking yourself: what can I learn from this? By focusing on this question, the storm of powerful emotions surrounding the problem will start to diminish. As these emotions lessen, your rational brain can get to work on finding your opportunity for growth. Every time you succeed at this process, your confidence in your own ability to deal with failure and setback will grow. In this moment, more than ever, it is important to work on our mindset and resilience. This work will feed our confidence and self- belief. It will help you know that you have whatever it takes to thrive despite the challenges you face.

At Adaptas, we believe that confidence, mindset, and resilience are deeply connected and constantly influencing each other. We see the influence of personal stories and how they affect our clients again and again. We have seen first-hand the incredibly positive outcomes that are possible through changing these stories. Furthermore, we have all grappled with the challenging work of confronting and developing positive habits to change our own personal stories. It is hard yet incredibly valuable work and we encourage you to give it a try.

Embedding Learning When Change and Adaptation Is More Important Than Ever!