Flow In Strategic Intuition: An Exploration of Polarities

Flow In Strategic Intuition: An Exploration of Polarities
By Evan Vandarwarka, Associate

Introduction

Einstein once said you can't solve a problem at the same level of consciousness from which the problem originated. Today's business and societal challenges require a new way of being, allowing us access to new information and resolution to achieve breakthrough and change. In a previous article, we discussed the concept of strategic intuition, the creative spark found between the analysis and action of a strategy. It is strategic intuition that brings all previous analysis and experience into a clear plan of action. When immersed in strategic intuition, we often experience a state of deep concentration and focus, our mind and body in balance, our awareness heightened. We feel a state of optimal experience, or what is known as flow; a new way of being that may be one answer to today's challenges.

Flow most easily occurs when we become aware of certain polarities that are constantly occurring in our lives and are able to hold both at the same time. This balance allows for the expression of our most insightful and significant ideas and often results in the experience of seemingly opposed realities converging together to produce harmony where levels of chaos and uncertainty were previously present. As with everyone else, I have experienced varying degrees of flow in my life. When I am able to witness polarities and how they are informing me, a greater sense of clarity and trust in the process moves through me. It is a sample of these polarities we will explore in this article, those that seem to harbor significance in flow and in part provide for the experience of strategic intuition, purpose and clarity.

Action and Reflection

In human activity (whether we are aware of it or not) there are repetitive cycles of action and reflection constantly occurring. We act, then reflect on our action; reflection that then informs subsequent actions, and the cycle continues. As we grow and develop, these action/reflection cycles become more complex, incorporating more of our surroundings as we take in more of our world and understand it more deeply. In the process, as we develop more complex cycles, the action/reflection process is quicker, more closely knit. When we are children, we often don't realize the consequences of our actions until much later when we are disciplined by our parents, then reflect on what we have done as a result. As adults, we are able to act, then reflect with greater ease and rapidity from our previous experience. It is this process of quicker action and reflection that helps us resolve problems with more fluidity and grace. Bill Torbert's book, Action Inquiry, discusses ways in which these action/reflection cycles occur through various levels of human development; stages of awareness in action and reflection as we mature. In business, we find successful leaders continually take time to reflect on their actions and re-orient themselves to a more congruent plan. When highly mature, this cycle is happening all the time, at the same time, contributing to a state of flow.

Suggestion: take time at the end of each day to reflect or journal on major actions you have taken. How did they manifest, what was the impact on others, what did you learn? Bringing awareness to these cycles breeds greater clarity and purpose for future activity.

Complexity and Unity

As mentioned in our cycles of action and reflection, the process of growth and development brings with it the ability to conceive of deeper and broader systems; we have access to abstract concepts and are able to view the world from a more complex viewpoint. Linear ways of viewing situations or problems give way to a systemic understanding, seeing the problem from many different perspectives. Sometimes this complexity can be overwhelming. There's a point where we can get lost in the various ways of looking at a problem, leading to stalemate where nothing ends up getting resolved. However, when one develops the creative power of flow, this complexity comes together to form a unitive structure, one in which complexity begins manifesting as a more complete, whole understanding of complex structures. In nature, we see unity in complexity, from the fractal formation of a leaf to the organization of human molecular systems. We can begin viewing our life and its challenges as we do with nature; seeing unity and clarity in a problem through deeper understanding of its complexity.

Flow happens when we experience this unity within the complexity. Taking another example from the business world, managers who are able to view unity in complexity see the overall vision and purpose of a project or department within the many processes and systems in place that support that vision. It may seem logical, yet still a challenge to actually hold both at the same time with demonstrative efficacy. In flow, this attunement to both becomes greatly enhanced; systems within systems emerge in one’s perspective and a fuller picture comes into being.

Suggestion: take an object in your immediate environment and examine it for a few minutes. Notice whether you are paying attention to the details of that object or the object as a whole. Try to alternate between seeing the details and the whole until you are holding both at the same time. This practice is beneficial in developing the capacity to bring each into awareness.

Agency and Communion

As humans develop, we alternate between cycles that are dominated by differentiation and accommodation; sometimes we go through periods of agency in the world through our individual expression. In others, we take in our collective environment, which then informs us as individuals. In reality, this polarity of agency and communion, individual and collective is constantly occurring. A pebble dropped in a pond makes ripples that reverberate through, informing the actions of its immediate surroundings. In flow, we are both aware of our individual "pebble" AND the ramifications of our actions in the collective. When we are conscious of this, our action/reflection cycles are quick and we act in accordance with what is most needed for ourselves and our environment. We become an agent of change within the larger environment we are informing. In business and life, this becomes a critical leadership quality. If we are to form something new or resolve a certain issue, holding agency and communion, ourselves and the collective is necessary to create an environment that meets the needs of both. We are in flow when both are happening simultaneously.

Suggestion: the next time you are speaking with someone, notice how you alternate between asserting your own interest in the conversation and taking in the other, through both your thoughts about the conversation and the actual words you are saying. Reflect on how much of your day is spent in either side of the polarity and witness how they may be forming each other.

Conclusion

In practice, holding these polarities at the same time can be challenging. We often find ourselves in one of two positions; acting or reflecting, immersed in details or examining the big picture, asserting ourselves or taking in our environment. Witnessing and becoming aware of both ends of these polarities in yourself provides the experience of holding when and how they either produce positive results and balance in your life or lead to a state of contraction in which you feel immobilized. This witnessing then offers new ways of understanding; we bring clarity to challenges we face and act in accordance with purpose; we flow with greater ease and acceptance. At Krama Consulting, we help to elicit these qualities in projects and leaders, pointing out polarities that are being managed and to what extent they are generating or halting flow, allowing transformative change to occur.