Middle Way Management and (Non-)Linear Thinking

In my last two posts, I discussed managing up and dealing with the difficult team member using Middle Way Management™. The key to managing relationships in both instances is compassion combined with empathy, understanding, sympathy, and a healthy dose of patience. This results in the creation of new, stronger links between you and those with whom you interact. In this post, I will be discussing how linear and non-linear thinking affect your Middle Way Management practice.

Linear vs. Non-linear Thinking
Linear thinkers see the world as a set of absolutes. There are no gray areas. Everything is black or white, you're with us or against us, I'm right and you're wrong. This type of thinking does not entertain more than two options or leave the door open for competing ideas to be held in the mind at any one time. Linear thinking is a fear-based, egoistic way of looking at the world. As you can imagine, this leads to a Middle Way Management practice that is focused upon and driven by expected outcomes that fall within a limited thought space. Rigidity is the norm. Flexibility is not the watchword of the linear thinker.

Non-linear thinkers see the world as a set of options. Nothing is set in stone. Gray areas abound and there is always room for debate, discussion, and dialogue. This type of thinking entertains multiple options at any one time and leaves the door wide open for those options to change as new information comes to light. Aristotle said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." This is also the mark of a non-linear thinker who never feels the need to be right at the expense of others who are wrong. The non-linear thinker does not consider every conversation, meeting, or even competition to be a zero-sum game. The non-linear thinker truly believes everyone can win.

American-style Management
While it is not my goal here to judge one type of thinking as being better than the other, I do recognize that American-style management is all about linear thinking. Examine the language used by American-style leadership and management thinkers and writers and you will see that their metaphors are aggressive, even war-like. The playing field of organizational management is a zero-sum game and, by heavens, they are out to win at all costs.

With these sorts of managers, the end (profit) justifies the means (outright brutality), particularly in the case of people management. If someone doesn't fit into the organizational culture, don't take the time and effort to work with them, simply let them go. I believe the overtly competitive nature of capitalism has driven this attitude. I also believe there is room within capitalistic economic systems and the political systems tightly linked to them for Middle Way Management to flourish.

Thinking in New Terms
Middle Way Managers™ are non-linear thinkers. If American-style management is dominated by linear thinking, how can a Middle Way Manager be effective in an organizational management role? This is perhaps one of the most important questions someone who wishes to make the commitment to developing a Middle Way Management practice can ask herself. As I described in an earlier post, I was once terminated for "practicing servant leadership without a license." While I find humor in it now, believe me, it wasn't that funny back then as they walked me out the door. Rather than using Middle Way Management at the expense of your career or job, think about it in non-linear terms (which I did not do with my former employer).

I think of Middle Way Management as a meta-level approach which I can overlay upon other leadership and management approaches. For instance, organizational operations are largely driven by policies, procedures, guidelines, and rules. Since people are the primary constituents of all organizations, I can practice compassion, empathy, understanding, kindness, sympathy, and patience while still holding my team members accountable to operational constraints. In fact, it is one of the fundamental responsibilities of Middle Way Managers to hold team members accountable to the highest possible ethical and quality standards. In this way, you can practice Middle Way Management in non-linear ways while still maintaining linear organizational norms.

In my next post, I will discuss Middle Way Management and reflective thought. While breathing can help us become centered in the daily storm, reflective thought produces the type of leadership vision that is a moral imperative of the Middle Way Manager.

Go now, and manage well!

Onward! Darin

Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.