U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Chronic issues that are inherently unsolvable, unavoidable, and indestructible can be thought of as “polarities.” The research is clear: Leaders and organizations that manage these dilemmas and paradoxes well outperform those that don’t. This seminar will teach you to effectively balance polarities, helping you to define and solve your most demanding leadership issues and your most complex and chronic organizational issues.

Building on the experience and intuitive knowledge of seasoned executives who understand that leadership involves more than just solving problems, you will learn Polarity Leadership as you practice applying it to the issues you identify in your own workplace. In consulting pairs and work teams, you will move through and learn the seven steps of managing polarities well. Your tacit wisdom will become explicit knowledge and skill development as you create an action plan to anticipate and address the most troubling issues you will face when you return to your office.

• Gain a new perspective and make progress on a personal leadership development issue you identify
• Learn to identify polarities and determine the best ways to manage them over time using the principles of the Polarity Leadership map
• Identify underlying polarities in complex situations to make them more manageable without oversimplifying them
• Convert resistance to change into a resource for change; increase the speed and sustainability of change
• Shift the heart of the conflict from a power struggle to a power- alancing process
• Learn the value of “either/or thinking” and the value of “both/and thinking”

SES members, GS-15s, and their high-performing equivalents

• Building Coalitions
• Conflict Management
• Leading Change
• Leading People
• Team Building