Leadership: A Balancing Act
by Kerry Bunker

Reading time: 4-6 minutes

The art of leading others often feels like an impossible balancing act. But when the risks are high and the decisions are tough, leaders face more pressure than ever to strike just the right chord with employees, colleagues and other stakeholders.

Finding the right behaviors, tone and style in times of change and challenge is largely about effectively blending characteristics that appear paradoxical on the surface, says the Center for Creative Leadership's Kerry Bunker, who has studied the human side of leading through transition.

During such times, a leader's job requires setting clear goals and expectations, making the case for transition, communicating effectively and helping people work through difficulty and change. A leader must also create an environment of energy, motivation and trust. Essentially, the leader must find the right balance among multiple pairs of paradoxical leadership competencies. For example, a leader must learn to blend Being Tough versus Being Empathetic and finding the right mix of Selling & Reassuring versus Coping & Modeling.

Being Tough vs. Being Empathetic: Too much toughness can be seen as aggressive, unemotional and even bullying. Leaders who over-assert toughness create an atmosphere where people are driven relentlessly to results, lose commitment and focus, and are dominated by fear and threats. Learning, creativity and openness are stifled.

On the other hand, not being tough enough is seen as weak, wishy-washy and conflict-avoidant. Lacking firmness and pressure, groups led by these managers can become directionless and fall victim to indecisiveness.

Effective leaders, however, are tough and assertive in terms of goals, accountability, focus and perseverance. However, they are also empathetic: listening with an honest intent to understand, setting aside preconceived notions, valuing people as well as results, and acknowledging the emotional impact of work demands.

When the right blend of Being Tough and Being Empathetic is created, the result is a sense of trust and genuine caring, an environment that is charged with energy and confidence, and a leader who is viewed as genuine and authentic.

Selling & Reassuring vs. Coping & Modeling: Selling and reassuring involves understanding and communicating the rationale for change and demonstrating buy-in and energy around the transition. It also means actively working to engage those who offer resistance - and being accessible. The balancing behaviors are coping and modeling: giving yourself and others permission to experience and express loss, to grieve and to be vulnerable.

When these behaviors are in balance, the outcome is a climate and culture able to work through difficult times and, in fact, to gain momentum over time.

Over-selling - pushing too hard or trying too hard to act "together" and positive - creates a perceived lack of concern for the impact of the change on people. They become disillusioned, disconnected and mistrustful. The risk of over-emphasizing coping and modeling is that the leader and the group can become overwhelmed by personal reactions. The direction becomes unclear, people get stuck and the change process stalls.

Maintaining appropriate tension between these opposites is always a subtle and fragile process, and it becomes even more challenging during times of stress. By developing your facility for a range of behaviors and learning to spot the signs of out-of-balance leadership, you will be better prepared to lead in times of upheaval and transition.

The above article is reprinted with permission from the January 2002 e-Newsletter of the Center for Creative Leadership.