Balance. We’re all conditioned to strive for it but it’s elusive. Seeking balance can often actually put us out of order and can create opportunity costs as we shift one way or another.
A better way to cultivate conscious leadership is by understanding the potential for balancing the tension of polarities.
What is a Polarity?
A polarity is the pull between two seemingly opposing options. You might hear people refer to it as “both and,” meaning that you need both sides of these opposing systems to be successful over time. As leaders, it’s our job to understand the polarities in our daily work experience and to find the right balance between tensions.
For example, as individual contributors or inexperienced leaders, we may see an issue and we go into focused repair mode. That approach can work for short-term problem solving.
To advance your leadership, you need to move beyond solving short-term problems. Actions need to be taken with a focus on both short- and long-term effects, and finding resolutions becomes more complex. A short-term fix may hinder progress toward a long-term goal.
Striking the right chord between the two is a challenge but when you learn to manage the tension between polarities, you can harness powerful leadership skills that will improve your outlook, your team’s productivity, and your organization’s success.
A polarity may seem like an unsolvable problem; however, think of it instead as finding the right place on a continuum of two values. Both sides of the polarity are critically important to overall success. Instead of think thinking of them as an either/or choice, focus on finding the right place in the tension between the two polarities.
4 Polarities to Cultivate as Part of Your Leadership Skill Set
I’m outlining a few polarities leaders are often challenged with, as well as the ways they learn to find a way to integrate two seemingly diametrically opposed options.
1. Structure and Flexibility
Many managers in the pre-pandemic world were accustomed to taking some types of structure for granted. They knew their workers would be in the office at a certain time, that they’d be available for meetings, etc. When COVID struck and the world transitioned quickly to remote work, that built-in structure fell away.
In this situation, leaders were faced with an unexpected challenge. Should they go with the flow and let structure fall away as they moved their teams to a new way of working? Or, should they put even stricter guidelines in place to ensure people knew what to do and how to do it in an unforeseen and unexpected environment?
It wasn’t an either/or situation. People needed structure and flexibility:
- Structure to support them as they dealt with new challenges and the mental health impact of added workload, less social connection, and more simultaneous responsibilities.
- Flexibility to accommodate all the changes, to adapt to a productivity-based work standard instead of one based on hours of being seen in the office.
Companies that struggled with morale during this time did so (in part) because they leaned too heavily into one area or the other, instead of creating opportunities to address and balance the needs of their people. (I put in part – since they also needed to find a way to consistently connect and collaborate)
2. Task and Relationship
This polarity is also referred to as performance and care. As a leader, you’re responsible for the results your team generates; this responsibility leads some leaders to focus on winning at all costs and on valuing performance metrics over people’s wellbeing.
At the other end of the spectrum, some leaders focus too heavily on relationships and create environments that are unorganized and unproductive. You may have experienced working with this type of leader – one who is afraid to give feedback because it may be upsetting and who instead dances around issues or approaches them in a passive-aggressive manner.
Managing this polarity requires a commitment to candor, as you need to be able to talk openly with your team about needs and expectations. That candor, however, is balanced by empathy in the feedback you share and the way you communicate opportunities for improvement with your team members.
3. Advocacy and Inquiry
As leaders, many of our leadership actions happen in conversation, whether influencing stakeholders, galvanizing our teams towards outcomes or achieving cross-functional results. That means if we want to be the best possible leaders, we need to hone our communication skills.
The polarity of advocacy and inquiry helps us to manage the tension between telling our people what to do and understanding the diverse points of view they share. As with all polarities, there’s a place and a need for both. In a crisis situation, you need leaders who can decisively direct a team. In a brainstorming session, you need to bring together diverse viewpoints, giving everyone a voice and creating more collaborative solutions.
4. Direct and Empower
As a leader, you have a responsibility to direct your team members and provide guidance. However, going too far one direction leads to micromanaging and shutting down their voices. At the other end of the spectrum, too much empowerment can lead to people working in silos and the organization losing a unified true north.
Think of the polarity of direct and empower as guardrails. You give people guidance and commit to trusting their efforts. They may not handle things in the exact same way you would, but if you’re aligned on direction, that’s okay. You give them the power to use their own competence (which is what you pay them to do) and you watch them generate results for your organization.
A fast-paced, complex work environment requires the ability to navigate difficult situations and to use a full set of leadership skills. Ignoring one side of a polarity may leave you open to missing something (and eventually to more challenges/struggle); ensuring you (are aware of and) leverage both sides gives you a deeper understanding of your team’s needs and a greater capacity for conscious leadership.
