Be Flexible at Work

Being flexible at work allows you to cope with and respond to changes quickly and calmly so that you can get the job done well. While some people are more adaptable to change naturally, it can be challenging when you have a set way of doing things and a long list of tasks to accomplish. To help you be more flexible at work, there are several things you can do to help you alter the ways you think about and mentally react to changing circumstances. Once you become more mentally flexible, you can take actions that demonstrate your ability to adapt to any situation.

Steps

Becoming More Mentally Flexible

1. Focus on what can be done rather than what went wrong. When an unexpected complication arises at work, try to focus on what you can personally do to help rectify the situation. While it may be easier to react by focusing on what caused the issue, doing so is rarely productive or helpful. Once you start consciously focusing on what you can do to help address the situation, this will eventually become your immediate response.
   • Similarly, when you come up with a solution, try to focus on what can go well, not what can go wrong.
   • For example, if a co-worker forgot to reschedule a meeting with clients and the clients show up at the wrong time, try to focus on the things you can do to help, such as finding an open conference room and seeing who is available to attend the meeting despite the scheduling mishap.
2. Keep the bigger picture in mind when challenges arise. When you’re at work, there are bound to be situations that demand your attention and force you to abandon your to-do list. When this happens, try to take a moment to remind yourself about what your workplace values and goals are. Doing so can help you consider the bigger picture and see that being flexible may end up helping you get closer to your goals.
   • For example, if you work in advertising, you may be working on a heartfelt product campaign plan when your client decides they want you to write a funny commercial instead. While it will certainly be frustrating to discard all the work you’ve done, try to keep in mind the possibility that you could end up creating a hilariously funny, award-winning commercial.
3. Remind yourself that your work stress is temporary. When something unexpected comes up at work, it’s likely that you’ll initially feel a lot of anxiety and stress. To help you move past this so you’re able to be flexible and have a positive attitude, remind yourself that your stress is only temporary. While it may seem overwhelming at first, you will eventually resolve the issue and move on with your work.
   • Reminding yourself that your stress at work won’t last will help you see the bigger picture and manage your anxiety enough so that you can focus on what you need to do to respond positively to the changing circumstances.
   • For example, if you’re working on a big project and one of your team members quits, you may initially feel stressed. By reminding yourself that while stressful this situation will not plague you for long, you may then be able to decompress enough to realize that this complication could provide a capable intern with the opportunity to step up and take on more responsibility.
4. Don’t let your failures and setbacks at work get you down. When you’re trying to be more flexible at work, there are likely going to be times when you fall short of adapting to a situation successfully. Instead of retreating back into your old ways, focus on what you can do differently next time to have a better outcome.
   • Ultimately, learning to become more flexible about work is about overcoming your fear of change and managing your stress. Even if you fail to adapt and address a challenging situation in the best way, try to learn from it and remember that failure is an essential part of learning.
   • For example, if you’re an event planner and your client decides to change their event’s theme from classic winter whites to an ugly sweater party, it may be difficult for you to completely change the décor if you’ve already paid for the winter white decorations. When you’ve tried to be flexible but it just didn’t pan out, try to focus on ways you can improve next time, such as confirming the theme with your client before paying the deposit on decorations.

Being Adaptable in Your Actions

1. Ask others for their opinions so you can consider various perspectives. One of the best ways that you can start being more flexible in your actions is to understand and accept that there is more than one way of doing things. To do this, try asking other people you work with for their opinions when challenges arise and listen carefully to what they have to say.
   • While tried and true methods may have worked well for you in the past, being open to new ideas will help you be more flexible and adaptable when unforeseen situations arise.
   • For example, if you’re a teacher and your students are struggling with the material, try talking to other teachers at your school to see how they are approaching the material with their students. You may find that their approach is a bit more effective with this particular group of students.
2. Learn new skills that are relevant to your job. Rather than solely sticking to what’s immediately required of you at your job, try talking to peers and researching other professionals online to see what skills may be helpful for you to acquire in the future. This will enable you to step in and be flexible when it’s needed since you’ll have already acquired the necessary skills to perform the task at hand.
   • This can also help you move up in your job by demonstrating your ability to learn new skills and put them to use.
   • For example, if you work in a museum and your institution uses a particular type of software, try talking to other museum professionals and researching online to see if any newer, more efficient types of software are out there that you can learn. While your institution may not be ready to make the switch quite yet, when they are, you’ll be able to adapt quickly and easily.
3. Assess what challenges may arise so you can plan ahead. If you tend to have a hard time adapting to changing circumstances in the moment, it can be helpful to take some time to consider what issues or situations may arise given the nature of your work. While unforeseen changes can certainly still occur, this will give you an opportunity to anticipate some possibilities and plan how you will adapt accordingly.
   • For example, if you are a dance teacher and you’re in charge of pairing up dancers for an upcoming performance, try to consider which dancers may not get along personally, or if any of the pair’s skills sets are a bit unbalanced. This could make it easier for you to be flexible and change up the pairings if issues arise.
4. Build positive relationships with co-workers for support. In some cases, a situation may come about that requires both you and your co-workers to be flexible. When this happens, it’ll be much easier for you to adapt to changing circumstances if you have the support you need to be flexible when the situation arises.
   • If you’re able to alter the way you react and become more flexible at work yourself, you can encourage your co-workers to do the same by having a good attitude, building a positive rapport with the people around you, and leading by example.
5. Switch tasks frequently to work on your ability to shift focus. One of the challenges of being flexible at work is having to abandon a task before it’s completed to work on something else. When you’ve been committed to one aspect of your work, you may find it hard to dedicate the same level of focus to something else right away. To help you move past this, start switching tasks throughout your workday to get yourself accustomed to shifting focus.
   • For example, try getting a daily planner that allows you to plan your day by the hour. Then, schedule one task for 2 hours and set an alarm. When the alarm goes off, force yourself to switch to the next task immediately.
6. Remain as calm as you can in challenging situations. Instead of becoming visibly upset or anxious, try to remain as calm as you can when an issue arises at work. Learning to acknowledge your emotions without letting them overwhelm you or dictate how you react to every situation is one of the keys to becoming more flexible at work. If you’re able to remain calm, your mind will follow suit, allowing you to assess the situation more clearly and decide rationally what actions you should take.
   • For example, if you’ve worked hard on a project at work but your boss disagrees with you on several aspects of you plan, try to remain calm rather than getting defensive or upset. This will allow you to think rationally about what you need to change, and listen and understand your boss’s perspective.
   • This can also show your boss and co-workers that you’re able to adapt and handle adversity in a constructive manner.

Promoting Team Flexibility at Work

1. Encourage your co-workers and employees to be more creative. To help the people you work with become more flexible as well, try to encourage them to think creatively and come up with new ideas. When they feel like their ideas are worthwhile, they’ll likely feel more comfortable adapting to changing circumstances and thinking outside the box.
   • To help encourage creativity at work, try leading by example and making a point to suggest new ideas yourself, as well as ask others for their ideas on a regular basis. Even if you don’t agree with their ideas, encourage them to keep brainstorming rather than shooting the idea down immediately.
2. Be open to hearing your co-worker and employee’s scheduling needs. If you want to encourage your co-workers and employees to be more flexible at work, you’ll likely need to be flexible and open to hearing about their needs as well. Allowing your co-workers and employees to have the flexibility they need in terms of scheduling will show them that you are empathetic to their needs, which will both encourage and enable them to respond to changing demands at work as needed.
   • For example, if you work as an editor for a newspaper and one of your writers asks you if they can leave early on Wednesdays to pick their child up from school, try to be flexible about this if possible. In return, they’ll likely be happy to work from home on Wednesday evening to make up for the hours, or stay late the next time there’s a breaking story.
3. Make your employees and co-workers responsible for finding solutions. While it can be tempting to try to solve every problem at work yourself, try to delegate responsibility by asking your employees and co-workers to find solutions to the problems they encounter. Rather than just identify problems, this will encourage them to think outside the box to figure out how to rectify the situation for the benefit of the whole team.
   • Delegating responsibility will make you more flexible as a leader by forcing you to consider other’s ideas and ways of doing things, and will make your employees and co-workers more flexible by forcing them to think and act creatively.
   • For example, if you own an interior design company and one of your designers tells you that their client isn’t happy with their living room design, encourage your employee to reassess their design and come up with alternative options. While you may be able to easily see what can and should be changed about the design, encouraging the designer to come up with a solution will make you both learn to be more flexible.

References

See also

• Learn About Asbestos Legislation
• Avoid Germs at the Office
• Lift and Carry a Baby
• Find Alternatives to Sitting in a Desk
• Balance Work and Health
• Do Yoga at Your Computer
• Sue for Asbestos Exposure
• Put on a Cleanroom Suit
• Obtain OSHA Reports
• Measure Work Safety

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