[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”8507″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Adaptability is key to survival, whether we\u2019re talking about organisms or business organizations. For organisms, the strategy is simply to survive, but businesses, regardless of the industry, size, or location, have an additional objective. That objective may be profitability, service, entertainment, or some other value. But regardless of the mission, all business organizations must adapt to continuous change to thrive.<\/p>\n
Unlike simple organisms, business organizations are composed of individuals who also have their own individual objectives and survival strategies. As a result, businesses develop rules and strategies that govern how employees and stakeholders interact with each other, and with suppliers and customers. These rules and strategies undergo continuous change<\/a> as the businesses strive to adapt to new challenges quickly while staying true to their objectives.<\/p>\n While it may seem like the present is among the most challenging periods in history, the need to change quickly and successfully has always existed. Businesses don\u2019t try to reinvent the wheel whenever they face a new challenge because it\u2019s too time consuming to start with a blank slate every day. Rather than help them survive, such a strategy would doom the business to failure. Instead, companies and organizations look for innovative technologies and methodologies to build on their existing frameworks to help them adapt<\/a> as necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n Cesilio de los Santos, a former Uruguayan soccer player, researched this adaptation strategy as it relates to organized sports teams in soccer. He interviewed players, technical directors, coaches, and physicians from different leagues\u2019 teams to understand how they were adapting to changes in society forced on them by the COVID pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n Because the pandemic reached Mexico later than some other regions, the teams had time to study the responses in other countries and learn from their successes as well as their mistakes. Most teams didn\u2019t have integrated, documented, tested, or approved plans to use in this scenario, yet they were able to anticipate the broad societal lockdowns that forced organized sports around the world to suspend play or play in isolation.<\/span><\/p>\n Lockdowns also affected training and player fitness. The boards of directors of the soccer teams asked their players to stay at home. They took steps to ensure their players could maintain their fitness levels by providing exercise machines and fitness bands to track their physical condition. Coaches and team physicians can monitor the players\u2019 health, including sleep patterns, exercise, and diet, just as they had in the past using traditional methodologies. Some teams even broadcasted players\u2019 workouts using apps such as Zoom, to keep the team spirit strong. This was clearly a successful adaptation to unexpected challenges. Teams used modern technologies and methods to ensure they continued to meet their core objectives.<\/span><\/p>\n Most enterprises and industries have not fared as well. Many businesses have contingency plans to protect computer systems, data centers and core infrastructure to support business continuity in the event of a disaster. Such disaster recovery (DR) plans are rarely audited or updated on a regular basis, and they are seldom audited by third-party experts. But these DR plans proved grossly inadequate for the wholesale disruption of operations and supply chains. Unlike automotive companies, very few industries require members of their supply chain to have formal, documented back-up plans.<\/p>\n Many businesses adapted to the crisis in ways like those the soccer teams used. They provided computers and data communications infrastructure so that many employees could work from home. They adapted new policies for identifying essential services and personnel, and adapted existing guidelines for work hours, shifts, sick leave, travel, and face-to-face meetings with customers, suppliers and employees. <\/span><\/p>\n More industries and organizations are taking measures to reduce previously unseen risks and weaknesses exposed by current events. They are rapidly adopting the technologies and methods that enable them to stay in touch with employees and customers. Moving to the cloud because of high data availability, integration and accessibility is an example of a new guideline that companies are adopting to prevent <\/span>business disruption<\/span><\/a>. Despite the need for some \u201ctrial and error,\u201d companies have enacted change at an unprecedented speed to survive, and they are taking the need for contingency plans very seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n A key point about change is that it\u2019s impossible to know what the future holds, so it is equally impossible to have a contingency plan that works in every possible scenario. Adaptability and willingness to change are crucial to every business’s survival.<\/p>\nBusiness Adaptability Builds the Present from What Existed in the Past<\/h2>\n
Adaptability Techniques Businesses Can Learn from Soccer<\/h2>\n
Most Businesses Were Unprepared for the Necessary Adaptations and Changes<\/h2>\n
The Importance of Business Adaptability in an Unpredictable Future<\/h2>\n