Members of an organization can hold opposing and contradictory views and still be effectively and creatively engaged with one another. By being curious about the perspective held by the other side, they can meet the challenge of VUCA-Plus. Their personal and collective polystatic processes can yield thoughtful and appropriate predictions and actions. The sign of a viable, creative organization is that it can live with and manage its dilemmas in real time. This is also the sign of a viable and loving family. The leaders of this organization or parents of this family can address the dilemma without questioning the identity of the organization or family at every turn in the road. These leaders and parents can avoid whip-lashing strategies. The leaders need not confront dilemmas by reactively tearing down and rebuilding their organizational structures. The parents need not scapegoat or exhibit preferential treatment for one of their children. Accurate predictions can be made and continually adjusted to the many competing viewpoints and values of the organization or family. It all depends on the acceptance of diverse perspectives, the encouragement of creativity, the acceptance of mistakes (and learning from these mistakes)—and a climate of appreciation in the organization or family (Bergquist, 2003; Bergquist, 2023).
To return to our landscape metaphor, we may find that we are living not in a complex rugged landscape but in what Miller and Page call a “dancing landscape.” Their term is certainly very appropriate in describing many of our current challenges. The VUCA-Plus conditions of volatility, uncertainty and turbulence speak to the nature of this dance. Clearly, when a world of complexity collides with a world of volatility, uncertainty and turbulence, the landscape begins to dance. We must all learn how to make our families, organizations, communities and societies dance along with this challenging landscape (Kantor, 1989). It is worth noting that dancing is often a source of creative movement—and this movement is a source of joy. We create something new that expresses something that is Essential. This resides at the heart of dance and at the heart of a vital personal and organizational life.
Polarities
There are simple issues, and then there are challenging problems, messes and dilemmas – and then there are really challenging and dynamic polarities! Like dilemmas, polarities are inevitable and predictable. They need not reside in uncertainty. We can predict that they will occur and adjust our baseline in accordance with this recognition. Furthermore, like dilemmas, polarities are multi-dimensional with many moving parts that stand against one another. This means that it is not easy to target just one baseline. Polarities are unlike dilemmas in that these parts (and the perspectives and priorities associated with these parts) don’t just stand there in opposition. They create a dynamic oscillation in the system in which they operate. Furthermore, this oscillation can be quite destructive to this system, bringing about either a state of freeze or a state of instability. Given these dynamic conditions, the baseline might be quite “slippery” and will itself oscillate in alignment first with one end of the polarity and then with the other end.
I bring back the concept of polarity management that I introduced in the previous essay in this series because it is critical to the navigation of a VUCA-Plus environment (Bergquist, 2024). Barry Johnson (1996), the principal architect of polarity management, observes that we are often confronted in our contemporary world with polarities. Two or more legitimate but opposite forces are at work in what I have been calling a VUCA-Plus condition of contradiction. Reflections and debates are engaged concerning the benefits and disadvantages of each side. Organizationally, the two or more opposing and contradictory forces are often embodied in “camps.” For example, the health care administrator’s interest in minimizing expenses is pitted against the primary care department’s need to invest in new equipment. A centralized corporate system has the need to standardize its offerings, but the offices of specific branches of this corporation need flexibility in running their daily affairs.
