Summary on Webinar (Assignment)

The webinar I chose to attend for my assignment was from ASTDs website, and the topic
was Getting Unstuck: Addressing the Paradoxes Faced by Managers and HR
Professionals. It was presented by Ralph Jacobson, founder of The Leaders Toolbox
methodology, author of two books, and also ranked as one of the top ten leadership
consultants/developers.
The presenter takes the general form of paradoxes in this webcast, and specifies it to
the HR field, and the problems which crop up with the emergence of paradoxes. Jacobson
starts off the webinar with the word tension. While this does not seem to make any
connection with the topic when he first says it, it soon starts making sense when
Jacobson puts a little light on the subject i.e. paradoxes create tension, which in turn
creates innumerable problems. He elaborates by saying, that when there are two
opposing or polarized views on any subject, it leads to fights, negativity, blame games
and instead of resolving it, the situation reaches an impasse. Why does that happen?
Why cant we deal with this, and how to deal with it?
Unfortunately, egos and paradoxes interfere and blind us in such a way, that we
cannot see the positive potential which our differing viewpoints and ideas present.
Paradoxes are everywhere, we just need to realize it. We arent internally wired in such a
way which allows us to deal with paradoxes, so we need to use various tools and
methodologies to address them. Examples of such paradoxes are: Charge more money
for carbon taxes, but hurts the economy. Needs of customer vs. employees?Explore new
opportunities or exploit what you currently have? Collaborate or compete with
businesses? Etc.
Ralph Jacobson introduces us to many kinds of paradoxes, especially the organizational
paradox which is experienced universally due to hierarchical troubles e.g. whether to
meet the needs of the higher managers or the employees? He says that strategic level
paradoxes exist in organizations. He also introduces us to a few time paradoxes, e.g.
short-term vs long-term? Invest in business or harvest what is left of your business?
Personal time, or professional time, etc. Jacobson was also of the view that there is both
a man and a woman component in each human being, and that success depends on
balance between the two components. Paradox also exists when it comes to terms of
individual vs. team behavior ( i.e. should act in the best interests of yourself, or of the
team?). There are many positive and negative attributes of team and individual: team is
a great way to build consensus, has shared responsibility, variety and quality of ideas,
but is slow and there is lack of direct accountability. While individuals are fast, have
direct accountability, personal sense of ownership, but there is too much responsibility
on one person, with limited scope. So some fine tuning and balance is required between
paradoxes to minimize cons and maximize pros.

Paradoxes move and change overtime, and it is important not to confuse problems with
paradoxes. It is an important distinction. The biggest problem of paradoxes is that there
is no solution to them; a solution can only be found by balancing the two polarised
views/poles. We instead, however, try to solve the paradox even though knowing how
complex it is. The value of the concept of paradox itself is to balance, not solve.
Being aware of paradoxes not only helps people overcome them, but also how to
measure and control employment swings and wastage. The cycle taking place with a
paradox is different from that of a problem, and every 10 -15 years, an organization will
face a paradox.
So, this extremely informative webinar dealt with the issue of what paradoxes are, why
they take place, what are the different types of paradoxes and how to deal with them.
While there was a general overview, the main target were managers and HR
professionals, as this webinar was mainly to show them to how to conquer adversity and
paradoxes.

Link:
http://webcasts.astd.org/webinar/947
www.webcasts.astd.org
Hooriyeh Ali
14143