6. Changing Gears - Helping Staff Adapt When Things Don’t Go to Plan
Supporting flexible thinking in busy, unpredictable workplaces
Jill manages a buzzing tourism office in Queenstown. The work is fast-paced and full of moving parts - tour bookings, last-minute changes, unexpected cancellations and overseas guests with unique needs. Her team is experienced, but one staff member, Maya, keeps freezing when plans shift.
A tour operator cancels? Maya panics. A customer needs something slightly different? Maya gets flustered. Even small changes throw her off. She needs time to recalibrate - but the job doesn’t always allow for that.
At first, Jill thought Maya just wasn’t cut out for this kind of work. But over time, she realised Maya was brilliant when things stayed on script. When they didn’t, her brain struggled to shift gears.
The Real Issue - Flexible Thinking
What Maya was dealing with is called rigid thinking - the opposite of flexible thinking. It’s not about intelligence or attitude. It’s a part of executive functioning that helps us switch tasks, adapt to new information, or change direction without falling apart.
When someone has challenges trouble with this, even a small change can feel like a huge disruption. It’s not stubbornness - it’s a brain struggling to re-route quickly.
Signs of Rigid Thinking at Work
Panic or anxiety when routines change
Taking longer to respond to changes
Needing detailed instructions for new tasks
Frustration when things don’t go as planned
Avoiding last-minute decisions
Struggling to shift between tasks or priorities
This can be common in staff with autism, ADHD, anxiety, or even in highly conscientious people who rely on structure to stay calm and on track.
What Jill Changed
Instead of pushing Maya to just "get used to it," Jill tried a different approach - – she:
Gave More Notice - Whenever possible, Jill flagged upcoming changes earlier -even if it was just a "heads-up, this might happen."
Built in a Pause - When things did change suddenly, Jill gave Maya five minutes to regroup before diving into the new plan.
Created a Back-Up Template - Together, they built a checklist for how to handle common curveballs—last-minute tour changes, lost bookings, etc.
Practised Transitions - Jill used staff meetings to role-play a few "what if" scenarios so the surprises didn’t feel so surprising anymore.
Within weeks, Maya became more confident. She still didn’t love changes, but she could handle them without shutting down.
How to Support Flexible Thinking Without Turning the Workplace Upside Down
1. Give Advance Notice When You Can
Even 15 minutes of warning can help someone prepare mentally. Try - "Just a heads-up, we may need to shift priorities this afternoon."
2. Explain the Why
If plans change, explain the reason. Knowing the "why" helps some staff reframe and accept the shift.
3. Use Visual Schedules or Checklists
When the day is mapped out, staff can better anticipate changes. If the map needs to change, it’s easier to adjust when the baseline is visible.
4. Give Time to Switch Gears
If someone’s in the middle of a task and you drop a new one on them, they may need a minute to wrap up or mentally shift. Let them do that.
5. Let Them Debrief
After a sudden change, offer space to talk through how it went. What was hard? What helped? What could be done differently next time?
6. Create "Plan B" Templates
Build step-by-step guides for common disruptions. If the booking system crashes, or a delivery is late, what’s the fallback plan? When staff don’t have to figure it out from scratch, they adapt faster.
7. Normalise Imperfection
Staff who struggle with flexibility often fear making mistakes when adapting. Encourage a mindset of "do your best with what you’ve got."
Tools That Help -
Whiteboards or day planners to map out daily structure
Shared digital calendars for visibility on changes
Scenario training or "what if" practice sessions
Post-it notes to highlight sudden changes on printed schedules
Calm-down cards with short reset strategies (e.g. deep breathing, water break)
Why This Matters
Not everyone thrives in chaos. But with the right support, most people can get better at managing it.
Helping staff like Maya doesn’t mean slowing everyone else down. It means creating systems that make the team more resilient overall. When people aren’t blindsided, they stay calmer. When they know what to expect, or at least how to respond, they feel more capable and when staff feel capable, they perform better.
Jill’s Takeaway
Jill didn’t have to lower the bar. She just changed the way she communicated around change and in doing so, she turned Maya from a flight risk into a solid contributor.
The change wasn’t about making the job easier. It was about making it doable for a brain that needed a few extra moments to catch up.
Final Thought
Flexible thinking can be taught. It just takes patience, a bit of coaching and systems that respect how different people process change.
Some staff are like four-wheel drives - they handle bumps in the road without missing a beat. Others are more like performance cars: powerful, but thrown off by potholes.
The best workplaces know how to support both.