Polarity Management™: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems

Polarity Management

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• Sensitivity to the downsides as they are experienced

• A willingness to shift poles as needed

• Knowing how to talk to your opposite and mediate

between opposites

3. There are such things as well-managed polarities. They are

achieved by staying primarily in the upper two quadrants.

When a polarity is being managed well, there is an effective

alliance going on between the crusading forces and the tra-

dition bearing forces.

4. There are also such things as poorly managed dilemmas.

Ignoring a polarity is one way to manage it poorly. The result

of poor Polarity Management is staying primarily in one or

both of the lower quadrants. When a polarity is being

managed poorly, there is an ineffective alliance going on

between the crusading forces and the tradition-bearing forces.

Exercise

Create a Polarity Map and diagram the dynamics of how your group

moves through the four quadrants:

Think of a polarity that your work group is not managing as

well as you would like. (If you need suggestions of possible polari-

ties, see the Appendix for a list of polarities.)

1. Identify the up- and downsides of each pole.

2. Put an X where you think your work group is right now.

(Your group is, to some degree, in all four quadrants all the

time. I am asking you to identify where the emphasis or

energy is most concentrated at this time.)

Now, think of this Polarity Model with an X in one quadrant as

one frame in the film of a movie. If you were to put the film in

reverse and back it up, then start it up from six months or a year

ago, what would be the path of this X through the four quadrants?

How to Recognize a Well-Managed Polarity

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In which quadrant have you spent the most time? That quadrant

would have the biggest loop. The quadrant where you have spent

the least time would have the smallest loop, etc. The distorted infin-

ity loop might look something like Figures 25 through 28.

Now think of what your group might do to keep itself in the two

upper quadrants of this polarity. Make a list of some action steps. Hints:

1. Identify those who will be the ones most sensitive to each of the

downsides. You might agree to encourage them to let everyone

know when they are experiencing the downside to which they

are most sensitive. This information will provide you with an

early-warning system. What you are doing is building in a

self-regulating process that capitalizes on the sensitivity of

different group members to each of the downsides.

2. You need to commit to the ongoing shift in emphasis back

and forth and consider how that can be done.