This core philosophy comes to us from those in the military – the Marines – whom use a similar phrase ‘improvise, adapt and overcome.’ We loved this so much that we wanted to pull it into our culture. In looking at improvise, we realized that due to the work we engage in, we needed something a little different.
And we settled on Accept.
And it’s an important word for many organizations. Friction is created when expectations and reality don’t align. We spend inordinate amounts of time wondering ‘why is this customer so challenging’ or ‘how is this project so hard?’ Spinning our wheels wondering why something is or isn’t instead of accepting reality is an incredible waste of resources. It distracts us from solutions and wears down our mental and emotional fortitude.
When your organization is faced with a challenge, it’s certainly easy to wonder why it can’t be different. But it only delays you from adapting and overcoming the challenge. And so – our first word is accept. We accept reality for what it is. We accept that the problem exists…without judgement…so we can move forward faster to adapting to the situation and overcoming it.
Adapt is all about flexibility and problem-solving. We’re all familiar with Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.” However, many of us miss that Darwin suggested that the ‘fittest’ were those that were most adaptable to change. Those that could best adapt to the environment became the ‘fittest.’ Same is true in the business world. How many large enterprises have we seen upended by smaller, more nimble companies? The smaller organizations learned to adapt faster, and therefore, became the ‘fittest’ to survive.
And finally overcome. This is all mindset for us at Wholestack Solutions and it should become a mindset for your organization as well. Running a marathon is hard, yet the mental part of the marathon is harder. Convincing your body to overcome 26.2 miles, telling your legs to keep moving and willing yourself forward for yet another mile. Problem solving and building businesses is another exercise in mental preparation. We must have a mindset that we will overcome obstacles. We must have a mindset that as a team we can solve problems, no matter how big.
Creating a culture where your team can accept reality for what it is…find ways to adapt to new environments and have the mental fortitude to overcome problems… will set you up for long term success and enable you to unleash your potential.
