Adaptation is nature's principle of progression. Progression is the foundation for viability. Viability is the ultimate purpose of all living systems. With human beings being living systems spending most of their time working in corporations, firms, or other kinds of institutions, the capability to adapt on the individual as well as the aggregate level is as fundamental as is breathing.

With HR being the very center for talent acquisition, development, deployment, and facilitation, supplying adaptive human capacities, abilities and capabilities is mission critical.

Therefore, the most promising way to become an adaptive organization resides in applying nature's principle of adaptation through variation, selection, and amplification.

Creation and development of an adaptive workforce requires recruitment of a broad bandwidth of abilities and capabilities to ensure sufficient variation. A narrow focus on functional knowledge and skills does not do the job. It is less relevant what the candidate has learned in the past than who she is! Selection criteria based on soft skills (personality traits) such like openness, an inclination to excellence, trustworthiness, the ability and willingness to work in teams, creativeness, and a stable self-esteem are essential to establish a workforce that has the openness, passion and courage needed to accept the challenges of uncertainty and even personal risks associated with proving oneself on unknown grounds.

Additionally, don't be misled by the old paradigm of MbO! Objectives cannot be managed; they are either achieved/not achieved or they have been modified. In contrast, means can and should be managed! Knowledge, skills, and talent (according to Gallup called strengths) are the means to an end. Strengths are the recurring patterns of feeling, thought, and behavior that can be productively applied. To become a real adaptive and hence viable organization, Gallup's notion has to be extended beyond the notion of productivity. Adaptation requires the amplification of productive AND adaptive strengths through selecting, developing, deploying, rewarding, and cultivating people’s adaptive soft skills and personality traits.