Matt's Muzings
Leadership and Tension
The life of the organization is held in "tension". Without tension there can be no ongoing life in any group.
The main purpose of tension is to tell you and others working with you, where you are at. It is a reality check and keeps you grounded in what is going on. The more clearly you know where you are at, the easier it is to know how to get to where you want to go. "Be at peace with all men" does not mean there cannot be tension, it means there should be no misunderstanding.
If there is too little tension then there is often apathy. If there is too much tension then there is often stress. The challenge for any leader is the maintenance of the right amount of tension in a group.
Let me explain this. Remember, we are dealing with paradoxes in leadership.
We are working on our identity here at the University right now. We are creating a focus to reach out to the nations God has put on our heart. We are called to work together so we are creating a strong sense of community identity. 'We are all in this together', Yet if we exclusively make this a focus we will lose out on creativity as creativity only comes through individual expression. Groups are never creative, individuals are.
Almost everyone has seen a tight rope at a circus with two small platforms high above the ground and a wire strung between them. The challenge for the tight rope walker is in his movement across the wire. Using the metaphor of a tight rope walker, one platform is individual identity and the other platform is group identity (UofN/YWAM). The platforms are safe places to be. However the life of the group is found out on the wire, but when we are out on the wire we are vulnerable. The paradox for any leader of a team or organization is how do I create an organizational identity (we are UofN/YWAM) and yet still maintain the freedom for individual expression (creativity)?
Some would use the word balance here. 'We must be balanced'. But that is not exactly true. In order to move, for example walk, you must take a risk and allow yourself to be off balance for a split second before you catch yourself with the other leg. So it is with paradoxes. There are two truths in tension with each other. Each has an emphasis for a brief 'moment' before the other value is expressed. I like to describe this as 'ordered imbalance'. We are not to seek 'balance' but 'ordered imbalance'. It is through the tension of ordered imbalance that there is movement and life in any team, group or organization.
So how do you lead this way? There are two ways of dealing with this tension. Through control or through relationship. If you lead through control you seek to get power, using your power to create the necessary tension. If you lead through relationship, you manage people through communication.
Life and death are in the power of the tongue.