{"id":22043,"date":"2019-03-07T18:11:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T02:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=22043"},"modified":"2019-03-07T18:11:49","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T02:11:49","slug":"surfing-polarities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/surfing-polarities\/","title":{"rendered":"Surfing Polarities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Simple Habits for Complex Times <\/em>by Dr. Berger and Johnston offers leaders a way forward among the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) reality we are all trying to lead in. I appreciate the emphasis on habits we can develop and their admission that there are no easy solutions. But leaders can advance in the following competencies: ask different questions; take multiple perspectives; and see systems.<\/p>\n

It was easy to find many applications for their propositions since I have some awareness of how complex (chaotic, even) leadership has become in just my small corner of the world. A few simple applications extend to my tendency to narrow solutions to what is probable (instead of what is possible), obsess over clarity (instead of sit with the complexity longer) and communicate around difficult issues without learning (instead of letting go of my script and listening). But I was most struck by their allusion to surfing as a picture of managing polarities. I immediately saw the application to my personal research.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Polarities are issues that are never solvable in any way that could last\u2026Whenever you think about a pendulum swinging from one side to then overcorrecting to the other, you have a polarity. Each side of the polarity mutually creates the other so they are interdependent; they need each other to exist.\u2019[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Managing polarities instead of trying to fix the problem is like surfing a wave. It\u2019s fluid and you do not ride for long. You get knocked down but you learn from it and try again. They even suggest we could enjoy it if we understood better the nature of polarities and their necessity in life and leadership.[2]<\/a>I have lived this in executive roles at the last two churches. Again, there are multiple applications. One of my temptations in leadership is to resolve a tension by \u2018fixing it\u2019. I think of wanting to resist the complexity and discomfort of listening to both my senior leader AND to the team I supervise. There have been many times I have wanted to be one or the other \u2013 either the best friend and champion of my boss or of my team. Adored by one side at least instead of living in the uncomfortable middle and in between. Campus-driven or central services-driven? Deep or wide? Innovative or stable? And on and on.<\/p>\n

Berger and Johnston suggest using a polarity map to help us understand the interdependencies once we have identified them. I have mapped a crude and quick grid of the polarities (which sounds a bit dramatic for my liking) I have been wrestling with \u2013 both in my research and my vocational opportunities. While the following is rudimentary, I am grateful for the language and the exercise as I hold these two together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are two kinds of ministry opportunities that have presented themselves over last several months. One is work within a fast-paced, passionate, missional organization, either local church or social justice oriented. It is exciting and important and results-oriented. The other kind of opportunity is in the arena of soul health and care for ministry leaders. It is caring and important and people-oriented.<\/p>\n

How I long for simple and elegant solutions to the tension I experience with health and productivity. I will resist the temptation to drive too quickly to solution and avoid the complexity.\u00a0 How easy to land on the side of either health or mission \u2013 or our purpose as either work or worship. But to do so ignores their interdependencies. And to do so may result in a pendulum swing of correction in the near future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

[1]<\/a>Garvey Berger, Jennifer and Keith Johnston, Simple Habits for Complex Times: Powerful Practices for Leaders <\/em>( Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2015), 96.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>Ibid., 98.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simple Habits for Complex Times by Dr. Berger and Johnston offers leaders a way forward among the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) reality we are all trying to lead in. I appreciate the emphasis on habits we can develop and their admission that there are no easy solutions. But leaders can advance in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1464],"class_list":["post-22043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-berger-and-johnston","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22043"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22096,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22043\/revisions\/22096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}