Appendix D

Suggestions from Interactive Sessions

The lightning rounds included an opportunity for workshop participants to discuss points raised by the presenters and write down ideas, questions, and suggestions for change on index cards. The statements have not been endorsed or verified by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

These notes are categorized as follows.

THE NATURE AND EVALUATION OF ADAPTABILITY

• There is still no one definition of adaptability.
• Desired learning outcomes include communication, informational literacy, creative and flexible thinking, ethical reasoning, self-direction, technology use, global orientation, leadership, professional practice, responsible citizenship, research, and scholarship. Outcomes should be communicated early and measured before and after training.
• What are transferable adaptability skills? People can adapt in one setting but when they go to another may not be able to adapt.
• What is the concrete nature of skills? Are there hundreds or thousands? Can we make progress without better conceptual understanding?
• Adaptability necessitates cross-disciplinary knowledge and a collective orientation.
• What roles do gender and confidence play in adaptability?
• Agency, identity, empowerment, and self-reliance are keys to adaptability.

• Execution does not need to be perfect. Try and learn, then try again. Adaptability is a continuous mindset, not a starting and ending point.
• More work is needed on special or target groups, including veterans, youth (especially foster care youth), and people with disabilities.
• What are the qualities of a program that builds adaptability?
• Whose measurement tools and what metrics do we use to make a compelling case for adaptability?
• How can measuring the impact of adaptability be made affordable, accessible, and generalizable?
• Can RAND’s assessments be systemized and made available as a set of tools?
• Can best practices be translated into bottom-up change?
• What is the neuroscience of adaptability?

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

• How should universities incorporate “learning by doing” in a cross-section of arenas to prepare graduates for the future?
• How do we balance, combine, and locate learning of core lifelong skills (such as communication, interpersonal competency, and adaptability) with technical skills?
• How can curricula be changed to enable workforce adaptability and be aligned with industry needs?
• How can experiential learning emphasize adaptability?
• Expectations are too low for students with associate’s degrees.
• Everyone needs experiential learning.
• What type of project-based learning or experiential learning is most effective?
• Educational institutions are not stuck in old ways, but their innovations need to be marketed.
• What are universities doing to help students define their passions? How does this impact their education plans?
• How can opportunities to adapt be introduced in classrooms of 50+?
• Faculty need to be more in touch with experiential learning, even though institutions can be hard to move.
• Children are taught at an early age that failure is not okay, which inhibits creativity and innovation.

WORKPLACE LEARNING

• How do you teach and promote innovation in organizations?
• Workshops could provide general training and specific problems to create empathy, cross-functional collaboration, hands-on prototyping, and a common language.
• Mapping skill sets can provide a foundation for employees to aspire and do career planning.
• Small and medium-sized employers may not have the funds for adaptability.
• How do you distinguish between people who are agile and those who specialize in “nondurable” skills?
• An individual can be adaptive, but an organization’s structure may not support it.
• How do we elevate the importance of teaching soft skills so that employers will pay for them?
• If people are selected on their basis to adapt, this will inevitably leave some people out who do not fit.
• Where does adaptability fit in with a nation of improvisers?
• With increasing time pressure, how do we provide time and space to learn continuously?
• Adaptability means that the workplace and education will be synonymous to be sure company needs are met.
• How do you work with the current workforce to “reinspire” for purpose and passion?
• How does the pressure to change and the stress on people affect innovation and adaptability?
• Are there data demonstrating the hypothesized “crash” for people who specialize in skills?
• We need to understand the models to enhance workforce development strategies among Manufacturing USA institutes.
• Studies are needed on how existing workers adapt to disruptive midcareer changes.
• Further research is needed on resilience. Can you persist after change?

BUILDING SUPPORT FOR ADAPTABILITY

• The United States Conference of Mayors provides opportunities to change policies, focus on issues, reach out, and provide rapid information.
• Databases of successful experiences need to be built and shared so that everyone can implement these practices and add to the databases.
• With a diverse, disparate system, we need to develop more partnerships and work together.
• Pockets of good things exist, but they need to be shared so more people know about them.
• Flexibility and adaptability create diversity and a healthy innovation ecosystem.
• Where are the millennials at this meeting? All the speakers and participants are middle aged and older.
• More adaptable citizens need to be the new normal. This requires a long-term strategy and a culture of adaptability.
• Social support is needed for learning outside of formal learning.

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