If you would like to listen to a summary of this blog, here's the YouTube link.

This blog was originally published by me on LinkedIn on February 19, 2024. Here is the link.

If you are keen to watch the graceful Flamingos taking a walk, eating food in the shallow waters & take a short flight too, here's the link.

It was just yesterday that my friends and I decided to visit Bhigwan. Bhigwan is a town in the state of Maharashtra in India, around 105 km from where I stay in the city of Pune.

Bhigwan is famous for birdwatching, particularly the seasonal migration of flamingos. Bhigwan is also known for agriculture, particularly sugarcane farming. Bhigwan is situated along the banks of the Ujani dam reservoir, making it a popular destination for boating too.

We started in the very early hours avoiding a lot of traffic and reached just in time to catch a breathtaking sunrise.

It was a beautiful peaceful feeling watching the sunrise. I chose to forget that I was feeling a bit cold - at least for a few moments.

We observed several birds while being guided around on the boat. We got amazing insights from our boatman on all the birds that we saw - the Spoonbill, Grey heron, Egret, Cormorant (PanKavla), Flamingos, Glossy Ibis, just to name a few. It took us a while until we finally reached the flamingos.

The flamingos looked so graceful as they walked from one point to another together in their flock. We watched them walk, eat in the shallow waters and fly swiftly and gracefully. We even spotted a few standing on 1 leg while they ate their food. It was a wonderful experience.

One of the many key learnings that I had was that they are adaptable to changing environmental conditions be it adapting to different temperature ranges or different feeding behaviours or adjusting their migration routes, etc, they are able to thrive in a variety of environments, from saltwater lakes to brackish lagoons.

Just as adaptability is a key characteristic of the behaviour of a flamingo, it is a key leadership characteristic, key to change management and key to facilitation.

Being adaptable allows Facilitators to tailor their facilitation techniques and make run-time changes in their context and navigate complex group dynamics.

Being adaptable allows change agents to pivot, pursue and pause the change. It allow them to inspect and adapt change or business strategies with the people impacted by the change and adjust the course of change.

Being adaptable allows leaders to navigate the uncertainty, re-adjust their priorities and business strategies in response to the constant change around them.

In conclusion, whether you are facilitating collaborative discussions, or driving an organisational transformation, or leading your team through change, let’s remember adaptability is not just a skill. It’s a mindset.

Reflect how you can cultivate ‘adaptability’ on your own facilitation, leadership and change journey.