Copyright © PMA 2002 Polarity Map ™ 0 CBODN Presented by: Barry Johnson and Cliff Kayser April 30, 2010 This book belongs to _____________________ This

Copyright © PMA 2002 Polarity Map ™ 1

CBODN Presented by: Barry Johnson and Cliff Kayser

April 30, 2010

This book belongs to _____________________

This material is based on work by Barry Johnson and Polarity Management Associates

Tapping The Infinity Factor™ Within Yourself, Your Family, Country, Humanity, Nature, and Spirit


The Infinity Factor

• The energy system within all interdependency in life. If there is an interdependency, the infinity factor is at play.

• Most basic interdependence is between 2 elements = interdependent pairs = polarities.

• “And” is the connecting word between the two elements of an interdependent pair.

• “Or” is the connecting word when the two elements are independent.


Too much

Carbon DioxideToo little

Oxygen

Clean out

Carbon DioxideGet

Oxygen

Inhale Exhaleand


Negative results from too

much focus on activity and

no rest

Negative results from too

much focus on rest and no

activity

Positives results from focusing on rest

Positive results from focusing on activity

Activity Restand

Recorder/

Reporter

Recorder/

Reporter


Competitive Advantage

Can’t Compete

andAutonomousBusiness Units


Key Points

1. Every change effort is part of an infinity loop energy system. The Infinity Factor is at play.

2. Treating a polarity as if it were a problem to solve

a) reduces the attainability

b) slows down the process by increasing resistance

c) even if the resistance is overcome, the goal of the change is inherently unsustainable.

3. If you want to guaranteed the failure of a change effort, tie it to one pole of a polarity

4. To maximize the attainability, speed and sustainability of a change effort, tie it to one or more key polarities because those polarities will be indestructible and unstoppable.


High Performing Organization

Leaders who managepolarities well out perform those that

don’t

Organizations that manage polarities well

out perform thosethat don’t

Low Performing Orgnaization

and Organization Development

Leadership Development


8 Polarities in “The Fundamental State of Leadership”From Building The Bridge As You Walk One It by Robert E. Quinn

Spontaneous; Expressive AND Self-disciplined; Responsible

Compassionate; Concerned AND Assertive; Bold

Mindful; Reflective AND Active; Energetic

Principled; Integrated AND Engaged; Involved

Realistic; Questioning AND Optimistic; Constructive

Grounded; Factual AND Visionary; Hopeful

Confident; Secure AND Adaptive; Flexible

Independent; Strong AND Humble; Open

12 Leadership Polarities From Polarity Management Associates

Conditional Respect AND Unconditional RespectTask AND Relationship Candor AND Diplomacy

Responsibility AND FreedomConfidence AND Humility

Analysis AND EncouragementControl AND EmpowermentGrounded AND VisionaryStructure AND Flexibility

Logic AND CreativityIndividual AND Work Group

Planning AND Implementation

10 Polarities in “Level 5 Leadership” From Good To Great by Jim Collins

Self AND Organization Willfulness AND Humility

Debate AND UnityCandor AND Diplomacy

Reality AND FaithDeep Understanding AND Simplicity

Discipline AND Entrepreneurship Technology Fads AND PioneeringEvolutionary AND Revolutionary

Preserve Core AND Stimulate Change

“I believe that the central leadership attribute is the ability to manage polarity.” Peter Koestenbaum

8 Leadership Polarities

From Lost in Transition by Richard Elsner and Bridget Farrands

To shake things up AND To preserve

To be open to events AND To be intentional about results

To develop bonds AND To keep distance

To seek help to learn about the org. AND To give value by showing how to succeed or avoid failure

To impose AND To facilitate

To go fast to perform AND To go slow to prepare

To clean out AND To develop

To support the team AND To serve the hierarchy and/or the wider organization


11 Important Organizational PolaritiesFrom Polarity Management Associates

Centralized Coordination AND Decentralized InitiativesRecognize the Individual AND Recognize the Team

Reduce Cost AND Improve QualityCompeting with Others AND Collaborating with Others

Stability AND ChangeCelebrating Our Differences AND Celebrating Our Commonalities

Care for My Part of the Organization AND Care for the Whole OrganizationShowing Respect for Every Person AND Showing Respect Based on Performance

Getting the Job Done (task) AND Building RelationshipsTaking Care of the Organization AND Taking Care of the Customer

Work AND Home

10 Strategic Management PolaritiesFrom Strategy Synthesis by Bob de Wit and Ron Meyer

Logic AND CreativityDeliberateness AND Emergentness

Revolution AND EvolutionMarkets AND Resources

Responsiveness AND SynergyCompetition AND Collaboration

Compliance AND ChoiceControl AND Chaos

Globalization AND LocalizationProfitability AND Responsibility

7 Organizational Polarities From Managing on the Edge by Richard Tanner Pascale

(Left column = the 7 areas of “Excellence” from In Search of Excellence)

Strategy ……...Planned AND Opportunistic

Structure…..….Elitist AND Pluralistic

Systems..……..Mandatory AND Discretionary

Style…………..Managerial AND Transformational

Staff…………..Collegiality AND Individuality

Shared Values…Hard Minds AND Soft Hearts

Skills…………..Maximize AND Meta-mize

3 Organizational Polarities From The Three Tensions

by Dominic Dodd and Ken Favaro

Profitability AND Growth

Today AND Tomorrow

The Whole AND The Parts

1 Organizational Polarity From Built to Last by Collins and Porras

Preserve the Core AND Stimulate Progress

1 Organizational Polarity From Firms of Endearment by Sisodia, Sheth, and Wolfe.

Company Interests AND Community Interests


6 Cross-Cultural PolaritiesFrom Building Cross-Cultural Competence by Charles Hampden-Turner and Fons Trompenaars

Universalism AND ParticularismIndividualism AND Communitarianism

Specificity AND DiffusenessAchieved AND Ascribed Status

Inner Direction AND Outer DirectionSequential AND Synchronous

5 Cross-Cultural PolaritiesFrom Cultures Consequences by Geert Hofstede

High Power Distance AND Low Power DistanceHigh Uncertainty Avoidance AND Low Uncertainty Avoidance

Individualism AND CollectivismMasculinity AND FemininityLong Term AND Short Term


Values = positive results of focus on the left pole

Values = positive results of focus on the right pole

Fears = negative results of over-focus on the left pole to the neglect of the right pole

Fears = negative results of over-focus on the right pole to the neglect of the left pole

Deeper Fear from lack of balance

Greater Purpose Statement (GPS) - why balance this polarity?*

**

and

Polarity Map™ © 1992, 2008 Polarity Management Associates, LLC / * Thanks to John Scherer, The Scherer Leadership Center / ** Thanks to De Wit & Meyer BV / *** Thanks to Todd Johnson, Rivertown Consultants

Polarity Management® MapAction StepsHow will we gain or maintain the positive results from focusing on this left pole? What? Who? By When? Measures?

Action StepsHow will we gain or maintain the positive results from focusing on this right pole? What? Who? By When? Measures?

Early Warnings***

Measurable indicators (things you can count) that will let you know that you are getting into the downside of this left pole.

Early WarningsMeasurable indicators (things you can count) that will let you know that you are getting into the downside of this right pole.

Information Sharing

InformationSecurity

Information Advantage

Irrelevance and Insecurity

• Innovation• Creativity• Agility• Attracting Net Generation• Workforce• Collaboration• Effective Decision Making• Knowledge Mgmt• Synchronization• Increased National Security

(Awareness)

• Protected• Reduce loss• More costly for attacker• Increased National Security

(Protection)• Identity Protection• Data integrity• Continuity of Operations• Integrated Security and Risk

Management

• Vulnerable• Identity Theft• Loss of competitive advantage• Information Overload• Data Loss• Loss of Public Trust• Risk to Mission Completion• Lack of data integrity (tainted)• Cost to recover (clean-up)

• Stifles creativity• Inflexibility• Negative workforce attraction• Creating stovepipes• Lack of Information• Lack of choice/access• Increased time to collaborate• Increased costs (inefficiencies)• Technology restrictions

1. Marketing (understand imperative to share)

2. Training (how/why to share)3. Integrate security solutions into

sharing activities4. Implement Intel Community

Information Security marking (IC ISM) standards

5. Implement good governance and oversight

6. Implement the DoD Net-Centric Data and Services Strategy by mission area and community

7. Implement ABAC

1. Marketing (understanding the value of security)

2. Training (practicing good security hygiene)

3. Providing good security tools4. Implement good governance and

oversight5. Develop better metrics to measure

security vulnerabilities6. Implement ABAC

1. Loss of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) up

2. Successful Intrusions/Data exfiltrations up

1. Information in newly fielded systems not visible/accessible outside of the enclave

2. Time to get required information up

3. Access to information denied


Higher Purpose = Why Balance This Polarity? Synergistic value – achieve the company vision. Greater value to company

Deeper Fear from Lack of Balance? Some of the existing BU’s will not exist

Fortune 100 Company - USA

* Thanks to John Scherer, Center for Work and the Human Spirit ** Thanks to The Strategy Academy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

*** Thanks to Todd Johnson, Rivertown Consultants

*

**Positive results from focusing on this

left pole:

1. Reason to believe – further along on the life cycle – operational

2. More clear goals/focus

3. Brings in cash

4. Speed/nimble

5. Easier for employees & customers to be connected (more traditional)

6. High level of control within the BU

7. BU initiative and creativity

8. Products/services better defined

9. Aligning ee interest/skill sets w/BU

Positive results from focusing on this Right pole:

1. Synergy/coordination

2. Strategic advantage (distinctive)

3. Greater leverage of capabilities and broader skill set

4. Integrator

5. New revenue streams

6. Insulation of ingredient sales

7. Different customer relations

8. More emphasis on intangibles (IP)

9. Less capital intensive

10.Knowledge generation/sharing

Negative results of over-focusing on this left pole to the neglect of the Right pole:

1. Higher costs/duplication of effort

2. Focus is too narrow/siloed/myopic

3. Loss of biz opps

4. Less sustainability of value

5. Lessened ability to integrate techs

6. Less leverage of capabilities

7. Less competitive advantage

8. More intense external competition

9. Less knowledge sharing

10.Less employee networking/career opps

Negative results of over-focusing on this Right pole to the neglect of the Left pole:

1. More overhead

2. Bureaucratic and slow

3. Lack of clarity (internally & externally)

4. Lack of focus on ingredient sales

5. Narrower customer base

6. Slower to market/slower dev of new ingredients

7. Loss of cash flow

8. Loss of some specific capabilities or individuals (specialty ingred skills)

Action StepsAction steps to gain or maintain the positive

results from focusing on the Right pole.

1. Merging common functions and assets (quantifying and creating synergy value) – see budget mtg action list (end of April)

2. Specifically plan projects that grow ingredient sales – Sal by June 1, 2003

3. Target key BU customers and take an integrated/systems approach to unseat the incumbent

4. BUs forwarding project ideas and/or customers for solutions approach for the company (Corp. Steering Team)

5. Within BUs, develop ingredients or derivative systems that achieve company goals (i.e. achieve consumer needs) – Bob and Bruce initial discussion by May 14, 2003

6. Share/assign xxx contacts between BUs and CST, identify ee within BU to lead sales effort with specific customer – Bob to get xxx list compiled by June 15, 2003 – Mary and Sam to assign appropriate sales contact for target customers by May 14, 2003

Action StepsAction steps to gain or maintain the positive

results from focusing on this left pole.

1. Higher capital authority level (increase amount for BU) and processing speed – Bob and Dave will make recommendation – May 14, 2003

2. Take a common customer approach with 3-5 selected customers (where we have them between BUs and/or w/company, work together synergistically) – Sam – May 14, 2003

3. Mary & Ed meet to share customers and have a common sales approach

4. Joint sales training (more sophisticated) – have initial design discussions

5. Joint development of ingredient systems (look harder when we go to a customer about other systems we have access to in the company – work together with the company to figure out how we are going to develop ingredient systems) – SEE COMPANY UPSIDE 4 and 5 GREEN FLAGS

Early Warnings***

Measurable indicators (things you can count) that will let you know that you are getting into the downside of the left pole.

1. We don’t address the duplication of effort (trend line on SG&A as a percentage of gross profit)

2. Platform “the approach” revenue goals are not met

3. Less knowledge sharing (how measure? Call reports?)

Early WarningsMeasurable indicators (things you can count)

that will let you know that you are getting into the downside of the Right pole.

1. Meeting audit (measure of value, speed of decision making)

2. BU revenue goals are not met

3. Shrinking BU customer base

4. Engagement survey q’s that relate to lack of clarity

and CompanyBU


Competitive AdvantageContinuityCore ValuesTap Past and Present Wisdom

New Energy and DirectionCreativityTap New Wisdom

StagnationLoss of EnergyMissed Opportunities

Lose ContinuityLose Core ValuesFoolish Risks

Well Managed Polarity

Can’t Compete

Managing Well and Managing Poorly





Overemphasis on Stability

Can’t Compete





Overemphasis on Change

Can’t Compete

Stability Change

Stability Change Stability Change








Capitalizing on Both Points of View

Can’t Compete

Managing Well and Managing Poorly

ContinuityCore ValuesTap Past and Present Wisdom


Stability Centered Point of View

Change Centered Point of View

Stability Change

Stability Change Stability Change


Getting Unstuck

Lose continuityLose core valuesFoolish risk

ContinuityCore ValuesTap past and present wisdom

StagnationLoss of energyMissed opportunities

New energy and directionCreativityTap new wisdom


Can’t Compete

1 3

2

4

5

ChangeStability


Anticipating the Learning Curve

Lose continuityLose core valuesFoolish risk

ContinuityCore ValuesTap past and present wisdom

StagnationLoss of energyMissed opportunities

New energy and directionCreativityTap new wisdom


Can’t Compete

and ChangeStability


Problem Solving Shadow Work

Future SearchAppreciative Inquiry

Past/Present Present/Futureand


CBODN seeks experienced professionals with proven speaking ability to present at its 2010 Annual Conference in Washington DC. The 2010 Conference Theme is “Leading Transformation in Complex Times.” We seek presentations that build upon the Conference theme and focus on topic areas such as: 1.Changing technology: Ever-changing technology; influence on OD scholarship and practice; social networking; the benefits and challenges of a virtual workforce 2.Environmental stewardship: How can organizations incorporate and honor environmental sustainability goals and achieve business results3.Leveraging differences in a changing world: Beyond diverse populations, how do OD practitioners help organizations implement and sustain inclusionary practices and strategies 4.Ambiguity is the norm!: Embracing and working with increasing ambiguity and polarities in organizations and in our OD practices 5.Global OD: Introduce new and reinforce traditional skills and competencies OD practitioners need to help transform global, transnational, multinational, and international organizations during complex times 6.Transformational leadership: Discuss leadership styles and competencies needed to help client systems navigate and evolve in complex times 7.Shifts in problem-solving: Introducing and exploring organic, linear, and traditional systemic problem-solving capacities and processes to navigate complex, dynamic environments8.Case studies examining organizational transformation processes and the mechanisms that measure results


Higher Purpose = Why Balance This Polarity?

Deeper Fear from Lack of Balance?

Generic Part & Whole Polarity

* Thanks to John Scherer, Center for Work and the Human Spirit ** Thanks to The Strategy Academy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

*** Thanks to Todd Johnson, Rivertown Consultants

*

**Positive results from focusing on this

left pole:

FreedomUniqueness

Positive results from focusing on this right pole:

EqualityConnectedness

Negative results of over-focusing on this left pole to the neglect of the right pole:

InequalityIsolation

Negative results of over-focusing on this right pole to the neglect of the left pole:

Loss of Freedom

AndUniqueness

Early Warnings***


1.

Early WarningsMeasurable indicators (things you can count)

that will let you know that you are getting into the downside of this right pole.

1.

and

Action StepsHow will we gain or maintain the positive

results from focusing on this right pole? What? Who? By When? Measures?

1.

Action StepsHow will we gain or maintain the positive

results from focusing on this left pole? What? Who? By When? Measures?

1.

WholePart

System

Level Six

SpiritNature And

Spirit

System

Level Five

NatureHumanity And

Individual

System

Level Four

HumanityCountry And

Individual

System

Level Three

CountryOrg. And

Individual

System

Level Two

Org.Family And

Individual

System

Level One

FamilyIndividual And

Individual

Part Whole


Polarity Management™ BibliographyReferences on Polarities as important - In terms of the literature, several books have been written that indicate that those leaders

and organizations that manage (polarities/dilemmas/paradox) well outperform those that don't.

Below is a short, annotated list of 19 key books.

Collins, James C. and Jerry I. Porras. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.

Authors identify the "Genius of the 'AND'" as a central variable that distinguished the "Gold" companies from the "Silver" companies. The whole book is based on managing the polarity of “Preserve the Core & Stimulate Progress.” This could also be seen as the generic Stability & Change polarity.

Collins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.

The “Genius of the ‘And’” continues as an important variable in this book and is identified as a key characteristic of leaders moving companies from Good to Great. There are 10 identifiable polarities seen as central to becoming a level 5 leader.

Dodd, Dominic and Ken Favaro. The Three Tensions: Winning the Struggle to Perform Without Compromise. John Wiley and Sons, 2007.

Authors interview executives from 200 companies and identify 3important tensions (polarities) central to their organization’s effectiveness: Profitability & Growth; Today & Tomorrow; and, The Whole & Its Parts.

de Wit, Bob and Ron Meyer. Strategy Synthesis: Resolving Strategy Paradoxes to Create Competitive Advantage. London: Thomson, 1999.

de Wit and Meyer identify 10 paradoxes (polarities) which are at the heart of strategic management.

Elsner, Richard and Bridget Farrands. Lost in Transition: How Business Leaders Can Successfully Take Charge In New Roles, London: Marshall Cavendish Limited, 2006.

Authors identify 8 tensions (polarities) which, when managed well, contribute significantly to being successful in new jobs.

Fletcher, Jerry and Kelle Olwyler. Paradoxical Thinking: How to Profit From Your Contradictions. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1997.

“After more than fifteen years of studying thousands of detailed examples of people performing at their best, Fletcher and Olwyler have found that individuals are always paradoxical when performing optimally and that each person has a particular combination of contradictory and paradoxical (polarity) qualities that work together to produce that person’s best work.”

Hammett, Peter, Unbalanced Influence: Recognizing and Resolving the Impact of Myth and Paradox in Executive Performance. Davies-Black Publishing, 2007.

Ten year of executive research indicates the importance of paradox in executive performance.

Hampden-Turner, Charles. Charting the Corporate Mind: Graphic Solutions to Business Conflicts. New York: The Free Press, 1990.

Charles Hampden-Turner has written several books on the advantage of managing dilemmas in which his research shows that those companies that manage key dilemmas well outperform those that don't.

Hampden-Turner, Charles and Alfons Trompenaars. The Seven Cultures of Capitalism: Value Systems for Creating Wealth in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, and The Netherlands. New York: Doubleday, 1993.

---.Building Cross-Cultural Competence: How to Create Wealth from Conflicting Values. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2000.

Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars identify 6 dilemmas (polarities) which must be managed to support cross-cultural competence.


Polarity Management™ BibliographyBibliography (continued)

Handy, Charles. The Age of Paradox. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994.

Handy builds on his earlier work, The Age of Unreason, to assert the balancing of paradoxes (polarities) at the heart not just of effective personal and organizational life, but of our survival as a world community.

Hickman, Craig R. Mind of a Manager Soul of a Leader. New York: John Wylie & Sons, 1990.

Support for the benefits of paradoxical thinking also show up in Hickman's book the title of which is a fundamental polarity in leadership.

Hofstede, Geert. Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. London: Sage Publications, Ltd., 2001.

Hofstede identifies 5 dimensions (polarities) of national culture to help us tap national differences as a resource.

Johnson, Barry, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems. Amherst: HRD Press, 1992, 1994.

Johnson shares a number of case examples in which the shift from seeing an issue as a problem to solve to managing it as a polarity added real value for individual leaders and for organizations.

Johnston, Charles M. Necessary Wisdom: Meeting the Challenge of a New Cultural Maturity. Seattle: ICD Press, 1991.

Johnston identifies 5 key polarity domains within culture and asserts the importance of understanding and bridging polarities. Managing polarities are at the heart of wisdom and cultural maturity and how we “must learn to think and act if our future is to be a healthy one.”

Pascale, Richard Tanner. Managing on the Edge: How the Smartest Companies Use Conflict to Stay Ahead. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.

Pascale identifies "managing contention better" as the key variable that separated the 14 companies that kept their "excellent" rating from the 29 that did not when looking at the 43 companies identified in the book In Search of Excellence. What he means by "managing contention" is managing polarities/dilemmas/paradoxes and he identifies 7 giving examples of each.

Quinn, Robert E. Beyond Rational Management: Mastering the Paradoxes and Competing Demands of High Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988.

Quinn asserts that mastering paradox (polarity) is the central to high performance.

Quinn, Robert E. Building The Bridge As You Walk On It: A Guide for Leading Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004.

Quinn identifies 8 polarities as “The fundamental state of leadership.”

Sisodia, Raj, Jag Sheth, and David B. Wolfe. Firms of Endearment: How World Class Companies Profit from Passion And Purpose. Wharton School Publishing, 2007.

The authors discovered that the key indicator for whether a company is a great investment is the degree to which it manages the polarity of taking care of the stockholders & the stakeholders. In other words attending to company interests & the interests of the larger community in which the company exists.

.



• Silos – isolation of the units

• Excess competition

• Inequality between the units

• Redundancies

Can’t Compete

Problem 1

2 Solution

IntegratedBusiness Units

AutonomousBusiness Units

• Integration of business units

• Collaboration and mutual support

• Equality and mutuality

• Efficiencies of coordination

3

Stra

tegy

• Bureaucracy and red tape

• Slow and unresponsive

• Excess conformity and lack of innovation

• Lack of unit recognition

Fears

Gap

VALUES

• Entrepreneurial Initiative

• Speed and responsiveness

• Business unit freedom and innovation

• Business unit recognition


Values = positive results of focus on the left pole

Values = positive results of focus on the right pole

Fears = negative results of over-focus on the left pole to the neglect of the right pole

Fears = negative results of over-focus on the right pole to the neglect of the left pole

Deeper Fear from lack of balance

Greater Purpose Statement (GPS) - why balance this polarity?*

**

and

Polarity Map™ © 1992, 2008 Polarity Management Associates, LLC / * Thanks to John Scherer, The Scherer Leadership Center / ** Thanks to De Wit & Meyer BV / *** Thanks to Todd Johnson, Rivertown Consultants

Polarity Management® MapAction StepsHow will we gain or maintain the positive results from focusing on this left pole? What? Who? By When? Measures?

Action StepsHow will we gain or maintain the positive results from focusing on this right pole? What? Who? By When? Measures?

Early Warnings***


Early WarningsMeasurable indicators (things you can count) that will let you know that you are getting into the downside of this right pole.

Documents

Copyright © PMA 2002 Polarity Map ™ 0 CBODN Presented by: Barry Johnson and Cliff Kayser April 30, 2010 This book belongs to _____________________ This