Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA, is next in my series on the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit 2010. The subject was foreign to me, as I have always tended to resolve tensions and keep my personal space in a “zero drama zone”. I was quite proud of my conflict resolution skills. Apparently he had something important to learn.
Andy began by saying that in every organization there are problems that should not be resolved and tensions that should not be resolved. My curiosity was piqued, but I didn’t expect to be convinced of this. Andy’s point was that if you resolve these tensions, you are only creating new and different tensions, thus creating a barrier to progress. In simpler terms, moving from one stress to the next keeps you focused on stresses rather than the future. Progress depends on successfully managing these tensions.
Obviously, there are some problems that need to be solved. The tricky part is figuring out what issues or stresses need to be handled and what issues or stresses need to be resolved. Andy had some key ideas for discerning that as well, and these are the questions he suggested we explore when we need to determine which category a problem or stress falls into.
Is this a problem or a tension that keeps popping up? Background issues that keep popping up over and over again may be based on personal preferences or styles. People will always have different opinions on some topics, and finding creative ways to accommodate different styles can make a lot of progress toward developing programs that will appeal to the majority of your target audience. These are tensions that you want to maintain and manage, not resolve.
Are there mature advocates on both sides? When there are, it naturally follows that these are two valid schools of thought. There is not always a right way and a wrong way. Sometimes there are only two or more different strategies to achieve the same goal.
Are the two (or more) sides really interdependent? The concerns of those who market a product, service, or idea are very different from those of the people who produce or deliver that product, service, or idea. In this case, the tension is simply the result of each party’s inability to connect with the role of the others. I’ve certainly experienced this in organizations where sales, technical support, customer service, and management seem to always be at odds with each other, blaming the other departments for all the tension that is felt in their own department.
Problem solving is not always the best course of action. According to Andy, strong and ultimately successful leaders will harness tensions to the benefit of the organization, while adding value to all parties. They won’t make decisions based on their own personal biases and they won’t let strong personalities win the day. It is a constant leverage of one and then the other, finding a rhythm rather than seeking a balance.
Of all the summit speakers, Andy Stanley was definitely the hardest to understand. I have reviewed my notes many times and continue to find a useful nugget of wisdom with each return. I have discovered once again, when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Through the teachings of Andy Stanley, I know that I am becoming a much wiser leader.
Ready to dig deeper to hone your leadership skills? You should be. There is a great demand for leadership!