I was listening to a leader speak about the ebb and flow, or uneven progress within a particular project he was assigned. He was frustrated with what he felt were long delays in achieving results. The coordination of a matrixed work environment that had dotted lines of accountability and alignment was proving to be difficult. This leader wanted synchronicity of thought and action in all of his efforts.

I see this same type of struggle for synchronicity in our personal lives. We want steady flow of measureable progress in our relationships, our experiences and in anything concerning our well-being. When we grow we don’t want the gap of maturity and immaturity to increase with those we love. When we want to rest, play, reflect, cut-loose, or an assortment of other options, we largely want the world around us to be “in sync” with where we are, or want to be.

I am growing in my conviction that the best leadership whether for professional and personal reasons is competence in strategically living the tension of opposites, entanglements, and de-synchronous dynamics. This process is not just about optimizing effect within the external situation, but the deeper changes within the life of the individual leader. Waiting, tension of opposites, lack of things going the way we want, are some of the critical elements for improvement. Maybe results aren’t as much about a smooth, straight, and upward pathway as they are about intelligent leadership within cycles, incongruence, and variation from our own idea, or ideal.

Your thoughts?