Feeling Overwhelmed? Adopt a Paradox Mindset

When resources are scarce, what is the best way to survive and maybe even thrive during a crisis?  Yesterday, I talked about stress and anxiety, the creators of today’s discussion… tension.

Tension can lead people, especially those in leadership positions,  to react "with a zero-sum, either/or approach" to solving immediate, visible problems.  Small problems become the proverbial molehills turned into mountains, because no matter what you do, solutions just seem to elude us during a crisis.

We try to focus on one thing, but it seems like whatever we try to do it doesn’t solve the problem.  If you are feeling that way right now, you are not alone.  The problems don’t go away, solutions are needed, what can be done when the tried and true methods and strategies of problem solving just don’t work?

Right now, during this pandemic and for several months and maybe years into the future,  a better approach to solving problems might be adopting a “paradox” mindset. What is it?  First a definition:

Paradox:  (noun) a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true — a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.

In the mind of a leader… a paradox mindset allows the executive/manager to look at a challenge, understanding that a radically different environment requires the need to adapt and uncover a different way of working to solve a problem.

With lockdowns closing schools and offices around the world, it’s become commonplace to see dogs and kids barge into business meetings as the boundaries between work and life have few if any boundaries. A seamless balance in such an environment is impossible. We have to do both – work plus managing our lives, our spouses, kids, pets and home – all at once.  This current crisis is teaching us all how to juggle like never before!

Doing all of it depends on our ability to adopt a paradox mindset, to consider the world with a “both/and” approach instead of an “either/or” one. 

In times like these, times of change, uncertainty and scarcity, we need to do many tasks meshing and merging together constantly. It is an unfortunate fact of our current lives… people need to feel comfort with discomfort – these hurdles aren’t going away.  We need to discover a way to achieve harmonious balance between those work-life realities.

Unfortunately, when we experience tensions and competing demands, we often react defensively with a zero-sum, either/or approach. The uncertainty, fear and anxiety that have emerged across the world in the last several weeks make us crave the certainty and clarity that an either/or approach typically offers us in solving a problem. 

With an either/or approach, we seek to clearly prioritize, for example, between work and family time. However, this leaves us always feeling like we are missing out on something. Not only are resources allocated with this in mind, our “inner talk” – what we say to ourselves about our choices – will reflect that struggle. 

So, when we are investing time in work, we tell ourselves that we’re neglecting our kids, with all the accompanying blame and guilt. This can lead to negative emotions, mental stress, anxiety and unhealthy tension.

The paradox mindset suggests an alternative perspective, accepting and learning to live with the tensions associated with competing demands. It is an understanding that these competing demands are not really resolvable, in the sense that they can’t be completely eliminated. 

For example, work and family life continue, regardless of our choices. Even if these tensions are resolved today, tomorrow will present a different set of challenges. A paradox mindset shifts the focus from the need to choose between work and family, to instead learn how to constantly balance these demands moment to moment, day to day.  Even if working at home is challenging, a paradox mindset pushes us to find new ways to integrate work and family that we wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. 

Learning how to manage these competing demands more effectively is in fact liberating. Those emotional cognitive resources we had allocated to sorting tasks into buckets, making mental lists and feeling concerned that we are not doing enough (not to mention self-flagellation) are now freed up.

In order to succeed, we need to be able to dedicate some time to work but also to family. Constantly balancing the tensions may seem paralyzing or even threatening at first.   With a paradox mindset, you soon realize that one demand enables the other, and that you need both to thrive. This mere realization, frees up mental resources and drives new solutions, helping employees to improve job performance while working remotely and even stimulates innovation.

A paradox mindset can be cultivated.  In this current global lockdown, tensions are increasing. We not only face tensions between work and family, but also between making decisions for the short-term and the long-term, or ensuring physical isolation while enabling social connection. An either/or approach can lead to limited solutions and personal suffering, whereas adopting a paradox mindset actually boosts innovation, creativity and performance. The way we interpret our reality is vital, especially in a time of crisis.

When considering tensions, think in terms of enhancement and enrichment. Some of us are grappling with whether we should be continuing with business as usual or trying to pivot in our roles and our jobs to meet this reality’s new normal. We can reframe this question: “Should I pivot or continue with what I have been doing?” to: “How can I both continue and pivot? How can one help the other? How can the way I have always been doing things provide me with the assets and resources to help me change to something new? How could the energy and potential from adopting something new sustain me as I continue to do the things I still need to get done?” 

By changing the orientation of the question, we discover new ways to do both. Although we sometimes shift between being focused on our current projects or our new projects, at a higher level we understand that these two goals are mutually reinforcing.

Tensions drive new meanings and possibilities, but they can also be paralyzing, especially at extreme levels. When we feel torn between competing demands, we can try to distance ourselves from the problem and connect with others to get a different perspective. 

For those especially extreme moments, input from others is vital as even those with a paradox mindset may have difficulty finding solutions on their own.  When we help people approach tensions with a paradox approach, they become more creative. If we focus on only one demand and not the other, we miss the opportunity to achieve both. Thinking in paradoxical terms pushes us to find integrative solutions to our problems.

In the current crisis, a paradox mindset won’t solve every problem, but it is a helpful and relevant way of thinking. Understanding that tensions are here to stay, we need to learn how to manage them over the long term. The pandemic and our response have accelerated change, as life and work have become more challenging on many different levels, making the paradox mindset even more necessary for productivity, creativity and learning how to live with some level of emotional discomfort.

An either/or approach says we focus better in the office for eight hours. Without this, it’s impossible to be productive. Well, this is no longer possible for many people across our economy. A paradox mindset allows us to look at the challenge, understand the need to adapt and uncover a different way of thinking and working.

________________________________________________

What Makes ENCORE! Different… We Want YOU To Succeed!

We are experienced business owners and senior executives who want to help your organization thrive. We don’t sell training courses, management systems, subscriptions or lists.

We offer a straightforward, personalized counseling approach focused on core assets -- your people, markets and strategies. We encourage you to think through every step of your plan to ensure that you are on the path to success. Our leadership and management expertise helps you stay on track to build momentum and realize your goals.  Interested in how we might be able to help your company?

GET IN TOUCH…

Questions? Call 267.356.1949 to speak to the ENCORE! 2.5 Group 

Founder/President or Email at — encore2pt5@gmail.com