Adapter
Adapters have a relatively even balance of behavioral drives. There's no predominant drive that really fuels their needs and behaviors. Adapters can be hard to read at times because there's no one clear motivation that drives them.
Highlights: Flexible Versatile Empathetic Bridge-builder
Maximize your business potential by tapping into people’s natural strengths.
The Adapter Reference Profile—like all Reference Profiles—has many unique strengths and characteristics. Understanding the differences in your people can help you build a company that achieves the results you’re after. The same way you’d build a world-class sports team, knowing how your people think and work helps you optimize for success.
The Adapter on a team
Fluid and versatile, Adapters will transform their style to meet the current needs of the team. Because of this, they’re often the glue that holds the team together, bridging disagreements, offering perspective, and providing both energy and caution in the right amounts.
Teams are often designed by default rather than intention. A strategic, data-driven approach to building teams is what helps organizations win.
Business strategy and the Adapter
Before you know whether someone is the right person for the job, you need total clarity and alignment on the results you’re after. What’s the goal or desired outcome? When we ask questions like this, we get a better understanding of the need to align people strategically for specific results.
When you put people in the right roles, you avoid turnover, toxicity, disengagement, and lost productivity. In the case of the Adapter, they naturally adapt to meet strategic goals.
Managing the Adapter
Often managers try to manage everyone the same way—and that’s usually the way they like to be managed. But this approach can backfire. People like to be managed differently—and it may not always be in a way that comes naturally to you. Even beyond the individual needs, teams require different leadership styles. You wouldn’t manage a sales team the same way you’d manage a team of developers.
When working with Adapters, remember that they’re flexible and able to see all sides of a situation. The key to effectively managing an Adapter is to learn what motivates them personally and what their preferences are. When managing this profile, consider some of the following suggestions:
Talk to them to learn about them.
Find out their motivations and preferences.
Help them communicate their thinking.
Encourage team members to learn your Adapter’s preferences.
Let them know what the team needs.
Explore talent optimization.
Companies that struggle to build high-performing teams are often missing critical people data. With our framework, methodologies, education, and the best behavioral tools from The Predictive Index, you can stop guessing at how to get the most from your people— and better align your people to deliver on the results you’re after.