Innovation and Adaptation through the Hope-Action Theory

by Andrea Fruhling

Working with clients as they identify the need to adapt requires much more than making a quick shift in direction. Learning to support clients and their need to adapt requires innovation and creativity, working in partnership with adaptation. As we consider the Hope-Action Theory and the ways it influences the work we do with clients, it is interesting to note the importance of the Adaptating competency and how this skill requires all competencies of the Hope-Action Theory model in order to be put into action.

We are all in transition in some form, and have varying experiences when navigating uncertainty. Recognizing the emotional impact of change is often what leads clients to seek the support of a career development practitioner, whether they are gradually realizing a change is needed, responding to an unexpected event, or preparing for and navigating a change in their lives.

When clients seek support, they are often responding to something. When we expand our perspective on Adapting in the context of Hope-Action Theory, we can see the importance of innovation, held in balance with adaptation. Adapting occurs when responding to a circumstance or event, whereas innovating becomes an opportunity for clients to reinvent aspects of themselves and create change.

If we consider Adapting as a meta-competency, encompassing all of the Hope-Action Theory competencies, innovation and creativity emerge as essential components. Clients then begin to learn not only how to respond to their circumstances, but also how to take control of their career development and increase their overall sense of hopefulness. Working with the Hope-Action Theory’s pinwheel model, here is what this might look like when approaching Adapting from a more holistic perspective, inclusive of innovation and creative thinking:

• Hope: Maintaining the belief that positive outcomes are likely in the midst of uncertainty. A foundational belief that supports forward momentum and your ability to increase your sense of confidence.
• Self-Reflection: Stepping back, pausing, and noticing how you are responding to the experience of change. Taking time to reflect on and explore the challenge, as well as the inner strengths you possess to help you move through this time of uncertainty.
• Self-Clarity: Identifying and understanding the experience you are having, and being able to communicate to others (or yourself) more clearly what you are experiencing, the boundaries that exist around you, and your key strengths, values, style, and interests that support your career development.
• Visioning: Imagining the adaptation you hope for and the outcomes that would be helpful. Drawing on what you know to be true about who you are, thinking creatively to expand possibilities.
• Goal-Setting & Planning: Identifying possible next steps and creating goals to put plans into action. Proactively anticipating barriers and designing new solutions or next steps uniquely suited to who you are and the strengths you possess.
• Implementing: Putting your plans into action by taking the next steps identified or making the change.
• Adapting: Evaluating what did and didn’t work, and beginning again.

Although not a competency, the environment is an important element to be aware of when navigating change. To better understand the experience of Adapting, it is essential to be aware of one’s environment at both the micro and macro levels, including the system in which they are situated and its impact on their ability to adapt, whether positive or negative. Recognizing the impact one can also have on the people around them can influence their sense of agency and help build momentum and engagement.

Adapting in career development is often a response to an experience. As career practitioners, when clients come to us seeking support with adaptation, it is important not only to hear their need but also to respond with innovation and creativity. If we remain solely in the space of adaptation, we limit the work we are able to do together. Adaptation allows clients to draw on what they know about themselves and their environment to adjust goals and plans as needed, but innovation and creativity move clients beyond a response or reaction, inviting them to identify the boundaries within which they are working and to engage the challenge in order to develop innovative solutions.

As career practitioners, it can be easy to fall into the habit of trying to fix the problem in order to speed up the adaptation phase of our work with clients. If we learn to pause and explore the challenge—seeking to understand and inviting clients into more creative and innovative approaches (metaphor, physical movement, storytelling, externalizing the problem, My Life As A Book, etc.)—we can support innovation and help clients identify new paths forward. This process increases their sense of hopefulness by strengthening all of the Hope-Action Theory competencies, while teaching them more about who they are and how to take control of their own career development. Working with clients in this way requires flexibility, curiosity, and hopefulness for both yourself and the clients you support. Coming alongside the clients we work with, learning together, and supporting them to find their own way can be challenging. It requires career practitioners to continuously reflect, practice listening, and develop an awareness of not only the ‘doing’ of this work, but also the ‘being,’ along with the courage needed to step into uncertainty in partnership with their clients.