Most issues and challenges in organizations are viewed as problems to be solved or things to be fixed. There's often a more productive way to think about addressing challenging issues. Several years ago, Barry Johnson introduced the idea of polarity management into the world of consulting. A polarity is a condition where two opposite ideas or positions are both true and helpful, depending on the situation. In a polarity, the tension or issue cannot be resolved – only managed. A simple example is stability versus change in an organization. Treating these opposites as anything except a polarity to be managed would be disastrous. It would either cause a group to appear frozen in time on the one hand, or capricious and unpredictable on the other. Which would you rather have? Obviously, neither (I hope). Managing this polarity successfully would mean finding a way to maintain a helpful amount of stability while still keeping the group open to innovation and change.

I've recently been thinking about the inherent polarities of leadership. For example, leaders sometimes need to take on a role that involves more “telling” (“Let’s do this!”) but at other times need to have more of an “asking” stance (“What do you think we should do?”). Leaders also need to think about the polarity of “person” versus “task.” A focus on person values relationships and the needs of others over action. A focus on task values getting things done over harmony or how people might respond to the task at hand. Another leadership polarity might be “doing” (the leader taking action him or herself) versus “empowering others” (enabling others to take action). “Maintaining unity” versus “identifying differences” might be another leadership polarity.

In all of these leadership polarities what is needed most from the leader is the ability to adjust leadership according to what is needed at the time. In the case of polarities, consistency in leadership (always leading from one pole of a polarity) is not a virtue but a liability. Effective leadership recognizes that many tensions in organizations are polarities to be managed instead of problems to be solved. In regard to leadership, just as one size doesn't fit all, choosing only one position within a polarity will only work some of the time, and only for a limited time. Good leaders need to be able to both recognize polarities and find ways to manage them effectively.

What other leadership polarities do you think might be added to my list?

Chris Gambill January 2011