Co-author: Tom Gibbons
As we navigate all of the changes over the last year, one critical leadership competency surfaces more than ever before – managing paradoxes. It's not that 2020 created these paradoxes, it made them more pronounced and visible. The surfacing of paradoxes prompts us to examine their impact on leaders and organizations.
A paradox can be defined as: a situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities. A paradox creates tensions, dilemmas, and polarities of conflicting priorities, competing values, and opposing demands.
It may sound counterproductive for leaders to exhibit contradictory or opposite behaviors. Yet, the ability to balance paradoxes is critical for leaders as organizational leadership is filled with them. Balancing paradoxes starts by eliminating the ‘either or’ thinking and beginning to see the two polarities as connected rather than in conflict. Let’s consider some of the paradoxes leaders face in organizations today.
Strategy
Prior to 2020, it is unlikely any strategic plan focused on the events that defined the last year. But then again, no strategic plans had the events of 2008 or 9/11 in them. In 2020, strategy, defined as the long-term focus and goals of an organization, became nearly irrelevant as companies grappled with the daily realities of business continuity. Strategy took a backseat to day-to-day responsiveness. The paradox here is strategic action vs responsive action. Executive leadership is often defined by strategy and long-term projections, yet when leaders are open to a more emergent and responsive flow of business, they see many new opportunities for success than what a focused, defined future allows. Perhaps even a greater future than a strategy could ever imagine. As a leader, consider your day-to-day opportunities and new possibilities just as significantly as your strategic plan for the future.
Accountability
Leaders are taught to be accountable and drive accountability throughout their organizations. Typically, accountability is achieved by leaders in two ways, through organizational systems, process and procedures and by being in close physical proximity to people. Accountability by power. The events of 2020 showed us that proximity was the key perceived variable; its what leaders had previously relied on to make the system work. As virtual work became a reality, many leaders reacted as if accountability was completely lost and productivity was going to see huge declines. Yet neither happened to any significant extent. People were accountable because they were still committed to the business, their jobs, and their teams. Employees still took accountability for what they were employed to do. Accountability in virtual work is driven by two different things, trust and results. The paradox is accountability by power vs accountability by relationship. How can you leverage organizational systems, process, and policies as well as proximity when necessary, with trust and performance results to achieve accountability and the highest levels of effectiveness?
Life Harmony
One of the oldest professional and leadership challenges is the balance of work life and personal life. Recent events and the exponential rise of virtual work have put new parameters on this challenge. In virtual and remote work, the boundary between work and personal become even more blurred. Leaders drive to increase revenue, efficiently produce products and services, and raise employee satisfaction which is time consuming and requires full dedication of mental and physical energy. At the same time, family obligations, personal commitments and goals, and unique endeavors also ask for investment and commitment. The paradox is work life vs personal life. Instead of deepening the tension and fighting the gray space between the two, grow into the harmony between them. Some days and weeks will pull more to one side and other situations will pull to the opposite. Embrace the inequality and ask yourself if you are satisfied with this time allocation at this period in life. When do things need to shift in the other direction? What needs to change for you to have harmony between the two?
The Business
Leaders are evaluated, promoted, and fired by growing the business. Leaders need to increase profit and decrease expenses, which are often people related. This drive for results can come at the cost of the people doing the work. As a leader, you know how challenging it can be to take care of the business and the people when the two are in direct conflict. The paradox is the business vs the people. By stepping into the paradox instead of choosing one over the other, we can begin to balance both sides. The more successful the business is, the more employees can benefit. The more you support and equip the people, the more they will grow the business. Look for opportunities to connect the two by considering and leveraging both sides. Can you create people programs with direct links and returns to the business? As you grow the business, what additional opportunities does that create for people to cross-train, learn other aspects of the company, or grow new skills? At times, is it possible to take less financial growth to invest in people and future capabilities?
Culture
Leaders strive to create an organizational culture that will engage employees and grow the business. A collection of shared norms, behaviors, values, symbols, and vision for the organization. As leaders cultivate this culture, they will experience diversity of thought, action, and employee characteristics. The paradox is culture alignment vs diversity. It’s a powerful paradox. Yes, leaders can look to align employees around the values of an organization like customer service, innovation, and efficiency while at the same time honoring and intentionally growing diversity in backgrounds, skill sets, and perspectives. While common direction and core principles can bring organizations together, culture fit can no longer be code for homogenous. How can you purposefully seek diversity to elevate culture and intentionally model equity and inclusivity?
Leading Others
Leaders give direction, set a vision, empower their teams, clear obstacles, and provide resources. Some leaders are very comfortable stepping out in front and guiding their teams. Other leaders prefer leading from behind by serving others and helping them grow and succeed. The paradox is leading others vs serving others. Great leaders know both are critical. Both leadership approaches are needed at different times to move teams and organizations forward. As a leader, balance when you need to lead and provide clear direction and when it is more beneficial to serve others and assist them in taking the lead and stepping up.
The challenge of paradox is the pull to pick one side or the other. Leadership is about resisting that pull and finding value in both sides. Define and evaluate the paradoxes you face as a leader. That could include the paradoxes discussed above or other leadership paradoxes such as growing existing products and services vs creating new products and services and diversifying, internal focus on the business vs external focus on stakeholders, self-awareness through reflection vs self-awareness through interaction, direction vs delegation, assertiveness vs humility, speaking vs listening, or success through financial accomplishment vs success through contribution. By engaging both sides, you can tap into the best of both worlds, increase your effectiveness as a leader, and grow your teams and organizations.
** This article is the fourth in a series of twelve addressing common leadership questions. These questions and challenges touch leaders at all levels and transcend industries. The article series provides valuable information and action steps for leaders to take their skills and teams to the next level. Click here to read the full series.
Author’s Note: Special thanks to Tom Gibbons for fearlessly discussing difficult topics and growing leaders through dialogue and exploration.