Embracing the Leadership Paradox: Succeeding through Contradictions
We've exhausted the easy. What's left is complex!
I want to talk to you about something that often trips us up: the Leadership Paradox. The seemingly absurd contradiction between two things that is actually the key to becoming more effective in how we lead and deliver results through our teams.
We’ve been living in a world full of paradox for years so the concept isn’t new, think about…
Chilli and chocolate,
or fighting fire with fire,
or needing to spend money to make money
or even just the term ‘deafening silence’.
They don’t make literal sense but they work, and they work well.
In the realm of leadership we’ve managed to avoid the paradoxes up until a few years ago when we realised that we’ve exhausted the easy ways to be better…we’ve sped up as much as we can humanly sustain, we’ve offshored, outsourced and optimised our processes. We’re exploring AI and new technology solutions of course but these are harder to implement and take longer.
So we need to consider how we work with the paradoxes and use them to guide our awareness and how we lead. Where we pay attention, how we expand our awareness and when we need to adapt to get the best out of a situation.
Some examples of where we need to embrace the paradox include:
Some of the best leaders are already doing this, and they make it look easy, because, when you figure out how, it isn’t that hard. The trouble is that you won’t just magically wake up one morning with the skills, you need to work on them, over time, ongoing, unrelentingly.
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This is why leadership is more complex than ever…it’s not just a matter of learning new theories, processes, skills…it’s about applying them in practice, embodying them, making mistakes and getting better over time. This is something you master, not just something you do.
And so the first shift you need to make to work with the paradoxes is to stop ‘doing’ and start ‘being’. Take the opportunity to get out of the weeds and stand above the garden…take the time to look at what’s going on and where you might need to give focus.
Figure out what your own learning journey looks like and make the room to bring it to life.
The leadership environment will continue to evolve and if you don’t get on board, you will get left behind…and so will your team.
If you’d like to have a chat about what embracing the leadership paradox looks like for you and your leaders please reach out for a conversation here.
S. 😁
Shelley Flett is a transformational leadership trainer and executive coach who believes the journey to dynamic leadership is lifelong, it's exciting and challenging - and the most fulfilling adventure one can embark on in their career. It's a journey to take with others - to learn, to grow, to fail, to love and experience all the joy that comes with being imperfectly human - together!
Helping improve productivity and reduce work injury claims by going Beyond the Ergonomics to build the new Self-Care Competencies staff need for Computer-Intensive Work.
7moAbsolutely, Shelley - "It’s about applying them in practice, embodying them, making mistakes and getting better over time." If participants don't know how to apply the theory and transfer that as effective work skills, the effectiveness is to make leaders and their teams cynical about company culture and the severity of senior management.
"That Optimism Man"
7moGood stuff on a Friday afternoon, Shelley! "offshored, outsourced and optimised" and where's the optimism? Your point is well made.