Paradoxical leadership as sensegiving: stimulating change-readiness and change-oriented performance

Published in: Leadership & Organization Development Journal – March 2022

Written by 

Jennifer L. Sparr, Daan van Knippenberg and Eric Kearney

Summary 

What we found: Paradoxical leadership helps followers to understand and deal with seemingly contradictory, yet interdependent and persistent demands in their work. We find that paradoxical leadership is positively related to follower change-readiness and, subsequently, increased adaptive and proactive performance.

Why it matters: Complex, ever-changing, and uncertain work environments require new approaches to leadership. Our work indicates that paradoxical leadership enables followers to adapt well to change and to proactively initiate change wherever needed. 

What next: We need to incorporate paradoxical leadership into leadership trainings and development programs, thus helping leaders give sense to their followers about complex demands and enabling them to respond with the required flexibility and initiative.