Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Forums About Advertise Blog Network Contact Be An Author

Are You Managing Paradox?

Are You Managing Paradox?

If you want to succeed at managing a team today, you have to know how to manage paradox.

According to the Chambers dictionary, a paradox is something that is apparently absurd but really true underneath.

To illustrate this, consider a survey of top UK companies carried out by the Department of Trade and Industry.

The survey found that the best-led companies were those that achieved a balance between seemingly contradictory opposites.

For example…
• they developed people who were not just self-aware but also had excellent interpersonal skills.
• their communications were not just outstanding on a vertical level but also on a horizontal level
• they had a clear structure that was also flexible.

Put another way, managing paradox is about managing opposites.

There’s nothing new about managing opposites, of course. It is one of the key philosophies of the Taoists of Ancient China and it’s summed up in the symbol of the Yin-Yang or two fishes’ heads in a circle. The two heads are opposites, the yin and yang forces. For example, yin is female and yang is male. The symmetry is not static. It is a continuous changing cycle of movement. The two dots of the fishes’ eyes represent the idea that each time one of the forces reaches its extreme, it already contains in itself the seed of its opposite.

For Taoists, as for modern managers, there is no one simple solution to the problems of developing people and a business. There is no simple answers, no “win-lose” that works, no “I’m right, you’re wrong” fixes.

Instead, managers must move freely from one pole to another, from one position to another, from one conviction to another, synthesizing, harmonizing, and balancing as they go.

And the way to do it is to manage paradoxes.

So here are 7 of the most frequently-met paradoxes in management today.

1. Individuals and Teams: Individuals give of their best when they work in teams; teams succeed when each individual pulls their weight.

2. Success and Failure: In order for people to succeed, you must first allow them to fail.

3. Work and Rest: To produce their best work, people need to rest. Or as Indira Gandhi once said: “You must learn to be still in the midst of activity, and vibrantly alive in repose.”

4. Hard and Soft Skills: You need both hard skills such as logical intelligence and soft skills such as emotional intelligence. Just as the skilled potter needs soft ways to mould the clay and hard ways to fire it.

5. Efficiency and Effectiveness: The customer is best served when the organization is efficient; the organization is effective when it puts the customer first.

6. Control and Freedom: People need controls to be free. Freedom can only be bought with restraints.

7. Change and Stability: To change safely, we need a stable base. To find stability, we need to change ourselves often. Or as Alfred Whitehead put it: “The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.”

Managing opposites and managing paradox turns management from a science into an art. It requires a different mindset from the management attitudes of old and with it a completely new set of skills. And old as the principles are, for many it is a new way of managing.





Are You Managing Paradox - To learn more about this author, visit Eric Garner's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

Article Feedback
 Article Feedback No article feedback found.
  Leave Your Feedback
article feedback

Article Feedback
Cheryl Matthynssens

Cheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur.  Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well.  A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles.  She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide-  to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being.  Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com

- Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website


To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.

About The Author


Eric Garner
(Visit Eric's Website) Eric Garner is Managing Director of ManageTrainLearn, the site that will change the way you learn forever. Download free samples of the biggest range of management and personal development materials anywhere and experience learning like you always dreamed it could be. Just click on ManageTrainLearn and explore.

Eric Garner is a Platinum author on EvanCarmichael.com
About The Author

View Author Blog
View Author Blog

View Author Video
View Author Video

Free Downloads


Eric Garner's

Complete
List Of
Management
Articles

Name
Email
Author's Free Downloads
Manage, Click, Learn. 2009 Icon Manage, Click, Learn. 2009

More Eric Garner
Conflict The Calm and Confident Approach to Success
Winning At Negotiations
ABCProof Your Writing
Play To Their Strengths
The Magical Mystery Tour
Your Memory Have You Forgotten How To Use It
Slowing Down to the Speed of Life
Create The Greatest Version Of What You Can Be
The ABC of Superlative Leadership
A 2Letter Word Thats So Hard To Say
Free Downloads


 
 
 


Evan Elite Authors
Leanne Hoagland-Smith  
Dave Kurlan  
Staging Diva  
Evan Elite Authors

Become An Author
Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Become An Author

Evan's Latest Video
Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media
Evan's Latest Video

Business Opportunities
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"

How to Start An Online Business

Click Here To Learn More
Business Opportunities



Evan's Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Evan`s Newsletter

Free Downloads
Acronym Soup Icon Acronym Soup
How Search Engines Work Icon How Search Engines Work
Write A Bestseller Icon Write A Bestseller
Marketing ScoreCard Icon Marketing ScoreCard
Law of Attraction Icon Law of Attraction
Free Downloads - Complete List

Entrepreneur Tools and Guides
Fortune Hunters - CBC Entrepreneur TV
Fortune Hunters
CBC Entrepreneur TV
 
Top 50 SEO Posts of the Year
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2008
Top SEO Posts of the Year
 
Entrepreneur Tools and Guides

SEO For Africa
SEO For Africa
MERCY CHRISTIAN Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
MERCY CHRISTIAN
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
SEO For Africa

If I Were A Startup...
Kerry Shapansky, $2.0 to $51 Mil in 5 years
Kerry Shapansky
$2.0 to $51 Mil in 5 years
Adam and Matthew Toren , $200k to $3.4 Mil in 3 Years
Adam and Matthew Toren
$200k to $3.4 Mil in 3 Years
If I Were A Startup... - Complete List

Famous Entrepreneurs
Elon Musk, PayPal
Elon Musk
PayPal
Giorgio Armani, Giorgio Armani S.p.A.
Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani S.p.A.
Famous Entrepreneurs - Complete List

Entrepreneur Advice
Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Start
Guy Kawasaki
The Art of the Start
David Allen, Getting Things Done
David Allen
Getting Things Done
Entrepreneur Advice - Complete List

Popular Articles
(Premium Authors)

     Leadership and Branding - Development Principles For CEOs
By Hemant Karandikar
     Getting New Managers to Deliver Quickly
By Hemant Karandikar
     Leadership Development - A Strategic Need?
By Hemant Karandikar

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

More Evan Carmichael
More Information