We all have preferred ways of operating in the world - but how do we sabotage ourselves by favoring some ways of doing/being and avoiding others? Polarity thinking is a thread that has woven itself through all of the presentations this morning. Cliff Kayser of Polarity Partnerships invited us to use the tool of polarity mapping to explore a common polarity we encounter as change agents: transformation and continuity.
Participants used a simple diagram to map both the upsides and downsides of the two poles. By rating ourselves on how frequently we experience both the upsides and downsides of both, we created a visual representation of how much we live in the life-giving qualities of both continuity and transformation.
Cliff showed us how our effectiveness lies in our ability to leverage both sides of the pole. Balance is not the goal, nor is a focus on a pole that we prefer. In fact, if we focus too much on our preferred pole, we'll end up experiencing the downsides of the other. But when we can dance fully with the qualities of both poles, we can move beyond fixes that fail, and move systems toward health and growth.
The surprising conclusion? To be effective agents of change, we must also be effective agents of continuity and stability.
