ADAPTABILITY ASSESSMENTS · CASE STUDY
| INDUSTRY | ORG SIZE | DURATION | SCOPE | CLIENT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Leading Technology Company | Enterprise (global) | 6 weeks · 2025 | 5-person team | Global Travel Platform · Global |
A high-performing team turns prolonged uncertainty into hope, shared language, and collective agency.
SITUATION
A high-performing learning and development operations team at a technology company had spent six months in restructuring limbo. They were in a liminal space with reduced access to tools, and mounting uncertainty. Working hybrid, the team had never openly discussed the strain together. Wellbeing and engagement were quietly eroding, even as the group kept delivering.
IMPLICATION
Left unaddressed, prolonged uncertainty risked tipping a high-performing team into disengagement and burnout. Emotional health was already low across the group, and members were coping in isolation rather than drawing on one another, a fragile position for a team the organisation still relied on.
APPROACH
Karen Gordon, an AQai® Certified Partner, deployed the AQme™ assessment across the five-person team and built a team-level AQ® report. She opened with a 1:1 leader debrief, then ran individual debriefs using reflective exercises to better understand strengths, challenges, and build action plans before bringing the team together. The group session included the science of adaptability, connection to the team’s L&D context, and used LEGO® Serious Play to surface how differently each member was coping. Karen created psychological safety by anonymously sharing stories of comparable teams and co-creating a team action plan, linking AQ® insights to the team’s existing CliftonStrengths® themes.
WHAT AQ® REVEALS AQ® measures adaptability — the capacity to navigate change, complexity, and uncertainty — across three dimensions: Ability, Character, and Environment. Unlike engagement surveys or personality tests, AQ® measures what people can do when the ground shifts, not how they feel or who they are. It is the only validated framework that lets leaders predict, develop, and scale adaptive capacity. |
RESULTS
▸ The team moved from a “victim” stance toward change to shared ownership, reframing leadership decisions with empathy and seeing the restructure as happening for them, not to them. ▸ Members recognised their high Team Support as a genuine strength and committed to checking in on one another’s adaptability action plans, replacing isolated coping with collective support. ▸ Individuals shifted from “probability thinking” to “possibility thinking”, naming their fears and building concrete plans to grow through the change rather than wait it out. | “Her focus on ‘possibility thinking’ empowered us to appreciate change, grasp adaptability’s benefits, and leverage our strengths to foster the strong team support and agility we value.” — Learning Operations Team Leader |
PRACTITIONER SPOTLIGHT
Karen Gordon · AQ® Certified Partner · Level 2 Firm: KGT Consulting Specialism: Career & Change Coach and Facilitator Sectors: Public, Private and Academic Karen Gordon is an EMCC-accredited Leadership, Team and Career Coach and certified AQai Adaptability Consultant based in the Netherlands. She partners with international teams to strengthen adaptability, collaboration and leadership in times of change. Combining evidence-based diagnostics with practical tailored coaching and facilitation, Karen helps individuals and teams translate assessment insights into actionable human-centred strategies for growth and sustainable performance. Uncovering blind spots and delivering interventions for long term impact in a rapid change. |
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