Re-Think Complexity Leadership: Amplify Business Agility with Polarity Thinking

As a leader, we need to be flexible, AND clear. As agilists, we need to welcome change AND deliver. As a technologist, we need to have innovation AND stability. In business agility, we need to serve our clients AND our employees. As humans, we need empathy AND boundaries. Is the answer to these paradigms as simple as "balance?" or is balance exhausting AND stagnating?

In this session, we will expose the dark corners of binary thinking and confirmation bias with a device that creates safety and encourages the articulation of diverse opinions.

In agility, we often talk about "Yes-AND" thinking. In this session, we go further to make this abstract concept action-oriented with polarity thinking. Think of polarities in pairs, rather than two sides of a coin. Polarity thinking is looking at two sides of something and leading (or coaching) through interdependent polarities.

By using polarity thinking, we have the opportunity to
• Discern a problem to be solved versus a polarity to be managed
• Earn trust and facilitate communication by enabling different perspectives while acknowledging what others are saying
• Resolve conflicts with healthy debate and structured conversation

The ability to lead through ambiguity depends on a willingness to re-think traditional problem solving without losing sight of your values and culture. Polarity thinking helps us to see the whole scenario and the people at the heart of them. And, in the words of Barry Johnson, “When I can see someone, I can love them.”

About Julee:
Sipping: Medium roast, light and sweet, never after 3 pm.
Sharing: Outside of work you will find me obsessing about butterfly, bee, and bird gardens, reading and writing, hiking, and practicing plant-based cooking. I value learning curiosity, and kindness.

Fun Fact: I was raised in Idaho in a farming community, known for the world’s best potatoes, and that same valley was the birthplace of television! Like many farmers, our family had diversified interests and was extremely resilient, so my entrepreneur and change agent DNA was ignited through practical application.

My first jobs leveraged that DNA as well as my strengths in system thinking, and I found my way to IT Project Management–the gateway to my career in Agile. Over the years, I explored every role in Agile (including development, which I fantastically failed at.) As the application of Agile frameworks matured into successfully solving large, complex problems, my career also evolved. For the last 10 years, my focus has been on business agility, product, and portfolio management, with a side of people agility.

Connect with Julee on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/julee-everett/)