Agile leadership requires tolerance of complexity.

Use Contradictions as an Opportunity

• The project order has been signed, all stakeholders are aligned with the project goal. However, you repeatedly experience that the ideas are of different nature and especially the path to the project goal is pursued in various ways. During the course, project conditions often change - you are operating in the typical field of tension of various, sometimes contradictory requirements in the project world.
• Here, the so-called ambiguity or complexity tolerance plays an important role. This describes the ability to think in shades of gray rather than just black and white. If you as a project manager or team member have this ability, you are able to perceive reality differently. Contradictory views or ambiguous information that may seem difficult to understand, even unacceptable, are not judged negatively or unreservedly positively from the outset, but rather used productively. You simply tolerate a certain amount of uncertainty until things become clear (also known as uncertainty tolerance).
• The result: In chaotic and complex situations, such as in internationally and interculturally influenced projects, you remain capable of action. Agile leadership means being able to steer both the project team and the project progress flexibly yet with clarity in such a dynamic environment.

Ambiguity means Uncertainty We colloquially refer to an unclear (ambiguous) situation as "two-sided". This reflects our sometimes "typically German" approach of getting straight to the point as quickly as possible. "Either one or the other," we say. Both? Something completely different? Hardly imaginable. However, an ambiguous situation only means that it is characterized by novelty, complexity, and initially unsolvability. What may seem paradoxical to us is that those who can tolerate contradictions and opposing expectations here, and even consciously incorporate them into their considerations, remain capable of action! Tolerance towards complexity means being able to endure uncertain, ambiguous, and multi-layered situations, tolerate contradictions and potential role conflicts, and remain calm in unclear situations. In this article, I show you how to recognize these situations as opportunities, build complexity tolerance, and lead your project team and manage the entire project progress from this perspective. Creating self-organized, equal collaboration, taking responsibility, making mistakes, and learning from them are desired characteristics of agile leadership. Tolerance for mistakes increases in favor of discovering novel solution designs. This represents a new paradigm compared to the prevailing, strongly hierarchy-oriented traditional corporate culture.

Mastering Future Challenges

Current dynamics of the VUCA world (see box), such as internationalization as well as demographic and value changes, contribute to the fact that leadership will become more lateral in the future (also see: "When the leader pushes the lever: VOPA+"). The superior without a leadership function will appear much more frequently in the future than the line manager. It is likely that the "lateral manager" will represent the most common form of leadership in 15-20 years. The project manager is a leader who, contrary to the line and hierarchy, has their own area of responsibility. Therefore, they are surrounded by interests, needs, and expectations from all sides.

VUCA Volatile: unpredictable Uncertain: uncertain Complex: complex, unclear, multi-layered Ambiguous: ambivalent

Diversity Management Requires Complexity Tolerance

In the future, project managers will primarily need to balance the existing diversity in their own company and in project and customer relationships. Diversity refers to nationality, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and worldview, but also work style, perception patterns, or dialect. The greater the diversity, the greater the need for tolerance for ambiguities. Those who can tolerate contradictions here will benefit! But how can this work in practice? The call is not to abandon your important goal orientation and assertiveness in your everyday leadership for project success. Rather, you should expand and enhance your determination with the abilities to endure tensions, think around corners, and allow for alternative paths. The crucial point is the "coming together" of different stakeholders and the experiences and encounters that this brings.

Example of Complexity Tolerance "In the leadership area of the company ... [Chinese, Ed.] thought patterns have the effect that the leader never feels like they are in a secure environment. Everything is constantly changing. Nothing can be taken for granted. This demands from a leader a high tolerance for ambiguity, the ability to endure unclear situations psychologically, and the patience to wait in the decision-making process until a situation optimally presents itself for a decision. Decisiveness combined with great patience is required - something that Western business schools do not prepare for. Working in China thus offers the great opportunity to experience two cultural patterns and to learn to see one's own with one's own eyes." Hans Jakob Roth, Swiss Consul General in Shanghai, in the ceo magazine, Oct/Dec 2004, p. 39.

How High is Your Complexity Tolerance?

How is your complexity tolerance? Check the correct answer.	Yes	No
You think: Unexpected and spontaneous events enliven the business.
You think: Often something crystallizes as different than it initially seems.
You know: Many problems are more complex than initially thought.
You know: In interpersonal conflicts, it is common to see both sides take a understandable standpoint.
You enjoy ambiguous situations and accept it when people do unpredictable things.
Strict adherence to schedules and clearly structured processes is not important to you.
Even if you don't know what to expect, you handle it well. Sometimes it even motivates you and arouses curiosity about the unknown.

The more questions you answered with "Yes," the greater your ability to think in shades of gray and thus to perceive and cope with culturally induced tensions in the project. Culturally, this includes national characteristics, but also corporate cultures and different work styles of departments or individuals in terms of the diversity approach explained above. This means that you can live with certain uncertainties. Not everything needs to be conclusively clarified and regulated. Don't Stand in Your Own Way! The behaviors in the box hinder uncertainty or complexity tolerance and can thus have a negative impact on the project results.   Want to read more? Click here! More information about Top100 Trainer Silke Weigang: http://www.trainers-excellence.de/redner/silke-weigang.html