As mentioned in our previous post, SixSEED Partners would like to provide you immediately applicable tools to help you lead during this time of unprecedented disruption. These tools can help elevate leadership capacity in leaders at any level. These times call us to leverage problem solving skills which often have a right/ wrong- black and white answer along with both/and responses to complex interdependent tensions (if you want to know more, stay tuned for a webinar being offered soon).
Leading during Covid-19 requires both problem solving as we learn facts concerning viral spread and leveraging uncertainty- what we don’t yet know. As we learn facts about the corona virus, we can problem-solve where there are definitely right and wrong answers. For example, we know the right way to wash our hands and to deploy personal protective equipment so that it is accessible to those who most need it. Decision-making during complex and ambiguous times also requires the ability to know when we’ve exhausted what we know, and could benefit from the deployment of faith and possibilities. Faith is not often spoken in healthcare, AND we know that deploying faith along with facts helps to strengthen our resilience and positively infects others.
The Polarity Map® below takes you through how you might leverage this tension in service to our greater purpose of impactful and informed decision-making. Since this virus is new, we are leveraging what we know and have used in the past, while dancing in the moment as we discover new patterns of viral spread; infection and disease manifestation.
If we listen to the news, there are many who want to blame others for spreading “wrong information.” If all acknowledged the tension of what we know with what we don’t know, perhaps we’d be more forgiving in our perceptions. Each human being on this planet is now challenged with leveraging their own tensions around their behavior. How do I protect myself and loved ones, while also contributing to the common good? As the primary caregiver for my 88 year-old mom, I’m challenged by leveraging the therapeutic benefit of my presence and healing touch, with the risk of exposing her to the virus should I be a carrier without symptoms. I’m not convinced the risk of exposure is of greater risk than that of her not seeing me which provides her reason to live.
The map below is a suggestion of how you might leverage action steps and warning signs to make sure you’re fully-leveraging the benefits of both poles and minimizing the downside limitations. Merely balancing isn’t good enough. Truly great performance comes from full-leverage – staying out of the downsides as much as possible and staying in the upsides as much as possible. System-level resilience is directly tied to how well leaders and those who follow them leverage this and other polarity tensions. Here’s the bottom line: while either/or thinking is useful, it’s not up to the task of leveraging the interdependencies that show up for leaders, teams, and organizations.
If you’d like your own editable polarity map to give yourself the systemic view of the tension you are navigating, or if you have questions about how you might use this information now, complete our contact form and we’ll respond within 1 business day.