5 Paradoxes That Every Leader Will Encounter

Estimated reading time: 4 min 54 sec

As we continue to explore what leadership is and how we can be the leader whom we want to have and follow, in this week's issue, I will explore five leadership paradoxes that you will encounter in your career.

You've heard the phrase "leadership is a paradox." It's true, and it's no surprise when you consider how challenging it can be to lead others. Being a leader means taking on more responsibility than anyone else in your organisation—and being responsible for your work and guiding and motivating others working with you. But leadership is more than just encouraging people to get the job done; it's also about creating an environment where those people feel valued and empowered to do their best work. Leading others requires vision and support—not just from themselves but also from everyone they lead. When leaders take their eye off this balance between their personal development and the growth of those around them, they open themselves up to some unpleasant consequences. These are five paradoxes that every successful leader will encounter at one time or another during their career.

The Competent-Leader Paradox

In the workplace, we expect leaders to be rational and logical. Leadership is not always rational. It's not always logical. It's not always consistent. It's often ineffective or immoral.?

There are times when leaders must act without first considering all of the facts and data at hand, which may mean making decisions that do not seem rational to achieve the organisation's objectives.?

This approach does not mean that leaders should go against their better judgment and gut feeling or ignore what they know about themselves or their organisations. Instead, it means that leaders sometimes have to do things they would never think themselves capable of doing for their company or organisation to thrive during difficult times.

The Free-to-Be Paradox

You can't be a leader if you aren't yourself or authentic.

This is one of the paradoxes of leadership. It's important to recognise that leadership is about self-actualisation, and to achieve this state, and we must become authentic and transparent with ourselves and others. I repeat you cannot lead if you are not authentic.

One way this manifests is when we feel like we are not our true selves when leading others. Many leaders struggle with authenticity because they think they must act differently than they would typically perceive as a leader.

So how do you balance these two seemingly opposing forces? The key lies in understanding that multiple leadership styles exist (and no single style works best across all situations, remember situational leadership?). In short, the ability to adapt your leadership style depends on the challenges and situation at hand—and what's more authentic than being able to adjust your approach based on what works best?

The Caring Paradox

The caring paradox is one of the essential leadership paradoxes. It's also one of the most difficult to master.

Leaders who succeed at this paradox will show they are true leaders, while those who don't can easily be perceived by their followers as selfish and uncaring and ultimately fail in their role.

It may seem counterintuitive that caring for your team members is a sign of strength rather than weakness. It's true. If you genuinely care about your people, then you can set an inspiring example for them by leading through positive actions rather than negative ones or empty threats. You show them how much they mean to you by encouraging them every step of the way and providing support when it's needed most. Not just when things are going well or when everything lines up neatly according to plan, but even during times of struggle or challenge when no one else seems willing or able (or both). A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.

The Freedom Paradox

The freedom paradox is one of the most common leadership paradoxes. The idea is that leaders need to be free to make their own decisions rather than follow others' orders or "the way things have always been done around here" syndrome. This includes having the autonomy to make their own decisions about how work gets done, who does what and when, and how resources are allocated.?

When those decisions are not made well, leaders can still be held accountable for them—and sometimes even blamed for not having "done anything" about it.

If you're a leader and feel like you've lost control over your work (or work-life balance), then maybe it's time to reflect on how much freedom you have—and whether or not this might be part of the problem.

The Moral-Leader Paradox

Leaders must be moral in the moral-leader paradox. Too much morality can get in the way of leadership.

What does it mean to be a "moral leader"? One dictionary definition is "a person who holds themself to a high standard of principles or ethics." For example, if you were the CEO of a company and had just received news that one of your employees was stealing from another employee, you would need to take action immediately. This person's behaviour violates not only your code of ethics but also the code that you have laid out for everyone in your organisation—and therefore threatens everyone's safety and well-being. In this case, being too moral means ensuring justice is served by taking swift action against the thief.

I remembered a case of a colleague that denounced another because they were driving with their cell phones, which our organisation forbade even with hands-free kits at the time. He did it due to the same reasons as the hypothetical CEO mentioned. He showed an example of safety leadership to all, even if it was hard to "whistle-blow" a colleague. I did it to a manager who talked to the competition about pricing and sales, a clear violation of the company's ethical principles and anti-corruption laws and values. However, the organisation never took action. Doing business the right way is one of the duties of any leader.

On a final note, I would say leaders are not always rational.

Leadership is more than just rationality.

Leaders are human, and they have emotions, too. They make mistakes, too. And that's OK! Leaders should be able to recognise their weaknesses and work on them rather than pretend they don't exist or pretend they're perfect.

A leader will often make decisions based on intuition instead of data analysis. After all, no one has all the information necessary to make an informed decision at any given time—that's why we need leaders in the first place! The best leaders can trust themselves enough to recognise when they do not know something (which is most of the time) and to accept that there are other ways of knowing besides logic and rationality: intuition, feeling, and instinct.

Wrapping-up

I hope that by highlighting these paradoxes, I've helped you better understand leadership's complexities and role in shaping our world. We also know that making sense of this information can be challenging when there are so many competing voices, so I encourage you to take time and reflect on what resonates with your own experience as a leader. It may be helpful to turn off the radio or television, cellphone, and notifications for a while so that nothing else distracts from your thoughts!

Have you faced one of these paradoxes as a leader? If yes, which one and how did you handle it??

I am curious to know in the comments below.

About Cas

Cas is a dad, a coach, a business leader, and a speaker. He has more than 20 years of management and leadership experience in the corporate world, and he is a certified leadership, career, executive and team coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

You can talk to Cas?here ?and follow him on Linkedin, Instagram and Twitter.