Excelling in the Midst of Adversity (part nine): Adapting as a Strategy

A collaboration between Chaordic Design and Estonian Life

The ability to adapt one’s ideas, approaches, organization and strategy to a changing environment is a key factor in innovation, and can also be applied in life.

Bruce Lee famously said ‘Be like water, my friend…” because water fills any vessel, and takes its shape. Thus, water adapts joyously, and fully. Water can wear away stone, and run in unstoppable rivers. More importantly, water can change its state significantly, to be fluid at room temperature, mist under heat, or turn to ice when it is cold. We are called to consider the need for adaptation in our own environment; how can we be more like water, in the discomfort of change?

The Benefits of Change:

Since the only constant we can truly count on is change, it can benefit us to realize that change is most definitely coming (it is only the time between now and change that varies), and therefore be prepared to act, react and adapt when it does. An easy way to welcome change is to keep our eyes and ears out for it, so that we might detect early trends and signals – and stay ahead of the competition in business, and strategy. Times of change are also times of great opportunity, and those who are not fearful of change may use their adapt-ability to drive innovation for themselves, their organization, and their community.

The Changing Environment:

Tracking trends and signals of change is a constant art, and it can be helpful to track on a series of levels, both in our immediate environment, such as our marketspace or neighbourhood, as well as on a larger scale, such as the global impact sphere. Gathering your signals from various sources, like opposing magazines, newspapers or media outlets is a fruitful idea, as these varied media will have different opinions, and you may get a clearer picture of the change.

The Five Whys:

Adapt-ability is most successful when we are able to translate our current state – what we are currently doing, and how we are currently doing it – to our adapted state, by understanding the deep why of what we were doing in the first place. An innovation tool that is extremely useful to create this deep understanding is asking the “Five Whys.” It’s extremely simple, yet works very well. Ask yourself WHY you were doing your current action FIVE consecutive times, taking care to fully answer the question each time. Every time you answer, ask yourself WHY you answer in that way, until you get to the depth of the purpose, or true challenge. When you have achieved “deep why understanding”, you will have also increased your adapt-ability.

In these ways, we can be like water, understanding the shape of a stone, and choosing our best path over it to reach our desired outcomes, and ultimately, change and grow.

For as long as Estonians have lived outside of Estonia, they have tracked signals of change to bring and enjoy their customs in host countries. Whether fleeing as refugees or immigrating in times of peace, in all corners of the globe, they’ve built communities that engage with local life, but where they can also hold onto the distinct experiences and memories of home.

While it may be taken for granted, part of adapting has included finding community locations that resemble the Estonian landscape. For example, the exterior of the Chicago Estonian House is mottled with shimmering birch trees and sits on the easy bends and trickles of the Des Plaines River in Riverwoods, Illinois. At Jõekääru Summer Camp in Udora, children can run and play in open, sunny fields and splash in creeks by day and stay in wooden cabins by night. On the grounds of Kotkajärve, near Huntsville, Metsaülikool (Forest University) attendees can spend time at a hiis (sacred grove), just as is done in Estonia. Why? All of these places have brought visitors back to the experience of being at home in a particular outdoor environment, like generations before them.

Adaptation is achieved elsewhere through monitoring signals of change. Academic sororities, fraternities, and societies founded chapters and points of activity in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Sweden, the UK, the US, and Venezuela. Community members went to great lengths to contribute social vitality, support, and networking to student life. Sensing an opportunity, the demand for a student residence and hub of academic life for students of Estonian heritage was met with the construction of Tartu College on Bloor Street in Toronto, 50 years ago. Not long before, in the first half of the 20th century, these same sororities and fraternities patiently observed the regulations of overseeing student federations to come into existence in Estonia, allowing for students’ Estonian identity and language to be expressed more freely. These goals continue to this day.

When cultural communities adapt with water-like flexibility and new, innovative ideas, they remain strong and alive.

Next week, Kristina Põldre, a project manager and sorority leader, will speak from her own experiences about how adaptation is employed in the present day.

Jõekääru children’s suvekodu opening in 1953.

Photo: Johannes Säägi