Psychological flexibility is the critical missing link for leaders and organisations today. It has the power to transform how organisations are run, underpins all managerial and leadership skillsets and is a more effective enabler of change than self-esteem or support from peers.
Psychological flexibility is the chassis upon which Becoming International’s vertical leadership development work is built. Over the coming months, we will publish blogs and hold events to explore the power of Psychological Flexibility and some of the many ways that it can radically shift organisational life. Register here to stay connected, be notified of new blogs and invited to upcoming events.
What is Psychological Flexibility?
Psychological flexibility is the ability to “contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to change or persist in behaviour when doing so serves valued ends.”
(Hayes, Luoma, Bond, Masuda, Lillis, 2006)
At its most simple, it is about equipping leaders to:
- Notice – the internal experiences that keep them stuck or off track.
- Choose –the range of choices that lead toward who and how they want to be.
- Act – build habits and take actions towards what is important to them.
Contrasting Psychological Flexibility with Psychological Inflexibility
It is perhaps helpful to contrast psychological flexibility with inflexibility. Psychological inflexibility refers to a behavioural pattern of rigid control of one’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It shows up in one of two ways:
- Experiential attachment – where we seek stimulus and focus on symbolic ‘rewards’ such as power, recognition, control, status or self –image, irrespective of their utility.
- Experiential avoidance – where we disconnect and avoid unpleasant internal experiences (thoughts, feelings, sensations) such as disappointment, disapproval, fear or anxiety even when counter productive.
In both cases, the attachment or avoidance are at the expense of more effective or valued actions.
Why is Psychological Flexibility useful?
No one can evolve and grow, either as a leader or simply as a human being, if they are psychologically stuck in how they currently think or feel and in narrow, rigid, patterns of attention.
Consider AI implementation… Psychological flexibility can speed up adoption.
No matter how much we train people on prompts and convince them of the time it could save, if they are feeling worried that it will replace their job, and if they do not trust its outputs, they will be slow adopters. Building psychological flexibility is about building their willingness to try AI, even with those worries or that lack of trust.
Or think about a transformation project… Psychological flexibility is a critical enabler of change.
Imagine that people are angry about the changes proposed and fatigued by ongoing change initiatives. They become entrenched, creating arguments and tension across teams. Psychological flexibility enables leaders and team members to sit with that anger and tension, and explore the way forward.
Psychological flexibility is effective across all managerial and leadership skills. Think of any skill that businesses try to develop: negotiation, problem solving, delegation, time management, assertiveness, sales, etc. If the people trying to learn those skills think that they can’t, feel anxious about trying, believe that they’re never going to be good enough, think they have to prove themselves by overperforming (to name but a few common thoughts and feelings that we work with), then they will not practice and develop those skills.
Is Psychological Flexibility just a new name for adaptability?
Psychological flexibility is different to both adaptability and resilience, although there are some areas of overlap.
- Adaptability is the ability to adjust your behaviours in response to changing or challenging environments. The focus here is how you respond to novel or uncertain situations.
- Resilience is about recovering from stress or adversity, coping well and avoiding or supressing unwanted experiences. The focus here is on how you bounce-back from challenging situations.
In contrast, psychological flexibility is an ongoing capacity or process that a leader can continually loop around, allowing them to break into patterns of avoidance or attachment. It opens up possibility and unlocks choice.
Psychological Flexibility is the critical missing link
Psychological flexibility is key to transforming organisational life. It underpins the skillsets that we demand of individuals in the workplace (whether they are an individual contributor, manager or business leader). It is a crucial enabler of change, transformation or adoption of new ways of working.
At Becoming, we believe it is the critical missing link for leaders and organisations today.
Psychological flexibility is the chassis upon which Becoming International’s vertical leadership development work is built. Over the coming months, we will publish blogs and hold events to explore the power of Psychological Flexibility and some of the many ways that it can radically shift organisational life. Click here to stay connected, be notified of new blogs and invited to upcoming events.
