What a great way to begin the day! But don’t worry. I’m not telling you this story to guilt you into starting to exercise. Although…it’s not a bad idea.

Remember when I said that the parking lot was pretty full when we arrived at 6AM? Did that surprise you? It shouldn’t have. Why? Because it’s the middle of January. Everybody and their brother is back to the gym working on their New Year’s resolutions.

As a matter of fact, my goal is to lose 7-10 pounds by the end of March. That’s one of the reasons why I am there.

But what will the parking lot look like in February, or even better, in July? If the numbers shown by the Statistic Brain hold true, in February the parking lot may only be a little more than half full. And by July it will be less than half full.

That’s the life of most people in the fitness business. Maybe that is your situation, or something similar. Is this a problem to be solved, or a tension that needs to be managed?

There are two simple litmus tests that will help us to distinguish whether this a problem or a tension.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

1. Do you have mature leaders on both sides of the table? Do you have two capable leaders (or more) who are locking horns on an issue, and neither is able to move the other? Have they consistently demonstrated the ability to win or lose graciously over time? Are they committed to the team’s best interests? If so, you probably have a tension that needs to be managed on your hands.

If the leaders involved are capable, and not the type to win at all costs, there is a reason they are still hanging on and not giving in. Your job as the leader is to manage that tension.

The first thing to do, as I mentioned last week, is to call it out, or name it. This helps everyone become aware of what they are dealing with.

Encourage both leaders to bring the full force of their argument. They are mature, so you should be able to invite that. Just keep an eye on the exchange to make sure it doesn’t degenerate to a harmful conflict. Everybody’s human.

Finally, enlist the rest of the team’s help in extracting the premium value from both sides of the argument to arrive at the maximum upside and determine the action plan.

2. Does the issue keep resurfacing? If you have an intelligent and competent team that typically comes up with good solutions, but this “problem” just keeps coming back, it is very likely not a problem to be solved, but a tension to be managed.

One of the most common causes of a tension that needs to be managed is an organizational rhythm – or cycle – that exists or develops. As mentioned above, the fitness industry is one good example of this. There are many others, especially in the trades, where winters create a work slowdown. I have multiple clients like this.

Then there are the business cycles that have nothing to do with weather, but other rhythms like holidays, such as the Christmas season or Valentines Day, or the “Back to School” rush when school supplies are flying off the shelves. The common denominator is heavy cyclical demand for the product or service.

There are other reasons that an issue may continue to resurface. The final answer in this type of situation varies widely depending on the factors involved. The primary point here is to recognize that you have a tension that needs to be managed, not a problem to be solved. When this is identified the team can approach the situation by finding the maximum benefit of each side of the tension.

LET’S DIG DEEPER

Back to our original example. Fitness centers face this situation every year. Their business has a cyclical rhythm to it that just is the way it is. It is a situation created by the realities of human dynamics – and New Year’s resolutions.

Let’s pretend we didn’t already know about this reality and January hits. People begin coming through the doors in droves. “Oh, we better hire, hire, hire to keep up with the demand. And, maybe we should rent the space next to us and build that out too.” But then April, May and June come and everyone is gone so it’s time to lay off, lay off, lay off, and our nice, big building is just about empty. Then January comes and the cycle begins all over again.

In this case there are at least three tensions that need to be managed. First, how many full-time staff should we carry? Second, and closely related, how do we retain our best people year-round, both without taking an unnecessary hit to the bottom line? Third, what is the optimal space for our business.

A consistent challenge in these circumstances is retaining our best people. It’s expensive to hire, train and develop good talent. We don’t want to lose them in the “off-season” and have to hire again. But, what if we don’t have the business to support all of our best people? There is a lot more that could be said, but that’s another post.

Another very quick example, from the nonprofit world, is churches. Many churches go through huge swings in attendance in December/January (upswing) and then in June (downswing). Staffing and facilities again often become tensions that need to be managed, not problems to be solved.

Now that you know what to look for and why it’s important (from last week), I am confident that you and your team will be even more productive as you charge into 2016.

Question: What do you see as your biggest challenge to managing tension effectively?

Seize the day!