Have you ever had the frustrating feeling that you and your team are unfocused and vacillating? Or maybe you're trying to shift your team in a new direction. Have you considered the health of your team’s Structural and Creative Tension?

Structural Tension is a concept developed by Robert Fritz, author of “The Path of Least Resistance,” and further developed by Peter Senge, who wrote “The 5th Discipline” (one of my favorite books on leadership).
 
Essentially, Structural Tension is the gap between a leader’s vision and the current reality. Fritz describes Structural Tension with the following metaphor: think of a rubber band. Hook the rubber band between both of your hands. One hand is your vision, and the other hand is the status quo – what is. As you move your hands away from each other, the tension in the rubber band represents the tension between your vision and the current reality. Tension desires resolution. There are only two ways to resolve the tension: pull the status quo towards the vision or pull the vision towards the current reality. Which one happens - depends on you as the leader.
 
As a leader, it is vital for you to have a well-articulated vision, share it with your team, and get buy-in. A leader, by definition, presupposes followers. However, poor leaders decree, good leaders inspire. Thoughtful visionaries engage others to create a shared future, bring teams along together, and show how a shared vision can help everyone achieve their long-term objectives. Without a vision, nothing happens. Without a shared vision, resentment, feelings of loss, and frustration happen. A leader must then realize that vision and implement it to bring the vision into reality. A vision without action is air.
 
Therefore, it is equally essential to be in touch with current reality. You must get very clear about what is currently happening with your team and your projects. Do you truly understand what your staff are experiencing? Are you listening to learn the dynamics happening on your team? Do you know the most significant barriers to your major projects? Do you have a process to discover underlying issues that are tough for people to articulate? Creating a Psychologically Safe environment will set the table for honest, candid discussions about the current reality. On the flip side, a leader who lives only in day-to-day realities gives the staff nothing to grab onto to follow.
 
Aspiration vs. the truth.
 
Make both your vision and the current reality visible. Illustrate them in creative ways. Roleplay, be vulnerable, talk about what is working and make space to investigate what isn’t, create safe to fail experiments. How are you creatively making both your vision and the current reality visible?
 
Leadership is often a balancing act. What is the health of your team’s Structural and Creative Tension?