Versatility – How to Better Get Along With Others

Next time you hear, “He (or she) just can’t get along with that person”, you might want to think about this. You can get along with anyone, if you want to.

Here’s why…

We are all versatile.

It’s the essential skill we need to get on with each other.

We are not born versatile. Rather, we are born with the capacity to become versatile and, often, our success depends on the degree to which we are willing to be versatile.

You are being versatile when you laugh at your manager’s jokes even if you think they are not funny. Or, when you reply encouragingly to your husband when he asks if he looks fat in the tux he hasn’t worn for a few years.

It also means willingly doing little or big things for our significant others and loved ones – even if what we have to do is difficult for us, doesn’t really interest us, or we don’t care much about it. But because we know it is important to them, we do it gladly. That’s versatility.

In other words, if you choose to, you can get along with anyone in any situation, if you want to. Just by being versatile.

The simplest definition of versatility is ‘our willingness and ability to change our behaviors to get what we want’.

In any situation, the degree to which we will be versatile is governed by whether the rewards for being versatile outweigh the punishers for having to be versatile.

That’s why any long-lasting relationship ends up anchored in negotiated compromise.

You’re always asking yourself whether the rewards for being versatile outweigh the punishers for having to be versatile.

You completely control this delicately balanced teeter-totter.