Too much binary nonsense!
Are leaders more important than managers? Nature or nurture? Right or wrong? This one or that one? Good or bad?
Organisational conversations and LinkedIn discussion group topics seem to be increasingly littered with this binary nonsense.
It gives me a splitting headache.
Take the leaders versus managers question.
How about they are both important? How about they are blended roles not different individuals? That individuals are both leaders shaping and energising towards future possibility, and managers implementing stuff right now?
Binary questions may have their place in limited, urgent, over-whelming operational scenarios. “Right here, right now, in this pressing moment, do I choose A or B?”
Psychodynamics people will tell you that “splitting” is innate and allows the underdeveloped personality to simplify complexity by labelling some things “good” and others “bad”.
With development comes a world-view and capacity to create and handle paradox, possibility, off-the-wall ideas, inclusion and connectedness. Maturity. Wisdom. As individuals, teams, organisations.
So, what do you notice about the kinds of questions you ask? In what circumstances? And what kinds of answers can you handle? What of the people in your world?
Dave Stewart
The Fresh Air Learning Company
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