优秀管理者秘诀：处理好“截然对立的领导艺术”

“透视领导力”是一个在线社区，我们将邀请最有思想、最具影响力的商界人士在此回答关于职业与领导力的问题。今天，我们的问题是：要成优秀领导者，最困难的是什么？以下为好时公司北美区总裁米歇尔•巴克的回答。

首先我想说的是，我喜欢领导者这一身份。我与一些最聪明的商业精英共事，这支团队每天都能给我带来启发。我们齐心协力取得的成绩，让我每天早上醒来时都精力充沛。作为好时公司北美区总裁，如果没有团队的支持，我不可能取得成功。因此，我认为作为领导者，最大的挑战是处理好“截然对立的领导艺术”（polarity of leadership）。

作为领导者，要想实现自己的目标，你必须有能力成功平衡各种相互对立、看上去相互矛盾的力量。例如，你需要富有远见，并专注于未来，但与此同时，你必须日复一日地实现卓越的运营绩效。另外一种矛盾关系是，在鼓励和激励团队的同时，也要用必须的“严厉的爱”来管理团队。

作为领导者，你必须时刻“在状态中”，同时你也要拿出时间自省，评估事情的发展情况，展望未来。

为了领导公司获得有形的业绩，你需要采取不同的方式激励员工，给他们不同的支持，并充分考虑他们对领导策略的不同反应。

我相信“敏捷学习”（learning agile），并且坚信要时刻保持着进一步提升的强烈渴望。在我的职业生涯当中，最好的学习方式是观察我所尊敬的领导者们，如何与同事、团队和外部利益相关者互动。此时，你要面对的“矛盾关系”是，你既要承担发展团队的责任，又必须通过联系外部同行，“借鉴他山之石”来拓宽自己的思路，比如向消费者、客户或外部同行学习等。

领导者在制定愿景时也会遇到矛盾关系，你既需要设定一种乐观的基调来激励团队实现卓越，同时还需要一定的偏执狂和怀疑精神，以保证你将执行合适的计划，实现预期结果。

我喜欢这些矛盾关系所带来的挑战。问题在于：你如何掌握平衡？

我认为，每一位领导者都必须决定哪种方式最适合自己，在我的职业生涯当中，我发现了一些能够实现恰当平衡的技巧，并形成了自己的风格。

首先，我会持续认真地思考，如何最有效地利用我的时间，我在哪些领域可以增加最多的价值。这需要认真评估自身的优势，以及每一位团队成员的优势，才能确定最有效的切入点。我会问自己：“在当前这些选择中，把我的时间花在哪些领域最有成效？”一天的时间是有限的，你必须信任自己组建的团队，并清楚应该在什么时候介入、什么时候后退一步。这意味着你需要不断拿出时间进行自省，评估自己在“跷跷板”上的位置，若有必要，修正自己的路线。

我还会向“值得信赖的人”积极寻求诚实的反馈。这些人可以是直接下属、人力资源部的同事或与自己平级的人，通过他们的反馈来确定自己在“跷跷板”上的位置。利用这样的机会，你可以密切关注人们提供的“线索”，确定你是否偏离了方向，打破了平衡。

最后，领导者处理的最重要的矛盾关系是，在担负起重担的同时，也必须享受挑战带来的每一个令人激动的时刻。（财富中文网）

译者：刘进龙/汪皓

审校：任文科

The leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question: What’s the most difficult part of being a great leader? is written by Michele Buck, president of North America at The Hershey Company.

Let me start by saying I love being a leader. I work with some of the smartest people in the business and a team that inspires me every day. I wouldn’t be successful in my role as President of Hershey’s North America business without waking up every day energized by what my team and I can accomplish together. So when I think about the biggest challenge of leadership, I believe it’s the “polarity of leadership.”

As a leader, you must be able to successfully balance a number of opposing and seemly contradictory forces if you are going to achieve your objectives. For example, you need to be visionary and future-focused while at the same time delivering exceptional and consistent operating results day in and day out. Another polarity is encouraging and inspiring teams while also providing tough love when necessary.

As a leader, you need to always be “on” in the moment while making time for introspection to assess how things are going and to look in the future.

You are leading a business with tangible results as well as people who are motivated by vastly different things, need different levels of support, and respond differently to leadership tactics.

I believe in being “learning agile” and having a strong desire for continuous improvement. Some of the best learning throughout my career has been watching leaders I respect interact with their peers, teams and external stakeholders. Here, the polarity comes from your responsibility to develop your teams while also taking the responsibility to broaden your own thinking by connecting with external peers and “bringing the outside in,” whether it’s learning from consumers, your customers, or peers outside of your company.

There is even polarity in setting your vision. You need to motivate your teams to aspire to excellence by setting an optimistic tone. At the same time, you need a healthy degree of paranoia and skepticism to ensure you are putting the right plans in place to deliver results.

I actually love the challenge of these polarities. The question really is: how do you master the balance?

I think each leader has to decide what works best for them, but over the course of my career, I’ve found techniques and developed my own style to strike the right balance.

First, I constantly scrutinize exactly what is the best use of my time and where can I add the most value. This requires a careful assessment of my strengths and those of each of my team to determine where I can be most effective to “flex in.” I have to ask myself, “At this point in time and given the options, where can I best devote my time?” With only so many hours in a day, you have to trust the team you have built and know when to step in and when to step back. This means continuously taking time for introspection to assess where you are in the balance and course correcting as needed.

I also proactively seek honest feedback from “a trusted source.” This can be a direct report, a HR colleague, or a peer to see where I am in the balance. It’s an opportunity to carefully monitor the “cues” that tell you you’ve swung too far one way or the other.

In the end, one of the most import polarities is feeling the weight of your responsibilities on your shoulders while also enjoying every moment of the exciting challenges you face.