Paradoxes & Polarity
Polarity Management separates problems you can solve once from polarities you can only manage, mapping the upside and downside of each pole so attention keeps moving instead of settling permanently on one side.
Two poles sit opposite each other, each split into a positive quadrant above and a warning quadrant below.
Reach for this when…
- The same argument keeps recurring no matter which side 'wins' the last round.
- A team swings between two extremes and neither fully works.
- You suspect you're trying to permanently solve something that only wants managing.
How to run it
- Check whether this is a problem to solve once, or a polarity to manage indefinitely.
- Draw the Polarity Map and name the two poles honestly, not as villain and hero.
- Map the upside of each pole and the downside of over-focusing on it.
- Identify which pole has been dominating, and the early warning signs of that.
- Agree a deliberate rhythm of attention that moves between both poles.
A worked example
Situation. Ramon Villanueva ran Bukid Berde, a family vineyard in Cebu, Philippines, locked in a running fight between his winemaker, who wanted lower yields for quality, and his sales lead, who wanted volume to fill new export orders.
Applied. Mapping it as Quality versus Volume rather than a fight to win, Ramon charted the downside of each pole over-focused, thin precious volumes that missed contracts on one side, diluted quality that damaged the export brand on the other, then set an early warning: any harvest plan over 15% above last year's yield triggered a quality review.
Result. The recurring argument became a quarterly calibration instead of a standoff. Both people started raising warning signs early instead of digging in.
The catch
It is easy to use the map to dodge a decision that genuinely does need making once, dressing avoidance up as sophistication. Naming the poles fairly is harder than it looks, most people load the language toward the side they already prefer. A polarity map with no agreed early-warning indicators just becomes a nicer diagram for the same old fight.
If nobody can name what an early warning sign for over-focus on their own preferred pole looks like, the map isn't finished yet.
Origin: Barry Johnson