There is a famous saying that wrongly is attributed to the “weeping philosopher Heraclitus,” whose core ideas are based on the unity of opposites and the concept of change. While he did not say “The only thing constant in life is change,” he easily could have given his views on the balance between harmony and strife. It is not surprising that the saying is appropriate in 2025, and it might be particularly applicable to the function of leadership in facility management.
FM professionals have been taught to be dynamic and resolute leaders. They want to be viewed as decisive and in control because they have been schooled to believe both of these traits are valuable attributes that will catapult them into the senior FM management office. Articulate FM leaders talk with pride about their “hustle mentality,” checking all the boxes, being on top of every issue, responding to questions with a quick and definitive answer, and why it is imperative to act in this manner. They are convinced it is critical for their staff, senior management and customers to view them as strong-minded, unwavering decision makers. They have been programmed to accept stability in how their organizations function as one of the single most important factors for success.
Have FM leaders been wrong all these years? Is change on the horizon? In the spring of 2025, the above scenario may no longer be considered the most appropriate strategy. Naomi Rothman a professor of management at Lehigh University has come to a different conclusion after over twenty years of research on how leaders’ decision-making capabilities affect organizational success. Her research results show the most effective leaders are not decisive and resolute. They are ambivalent.
Ambivalent leaders have an extraordinary ability to look at contradictory ideas and hold them in their minds at the same time. This ability means leaders have internal conflicts and to resolve them they require more information and look for multiple alternatives to guide their decision making, weighing outcomes more thoroughly than leaders who go for a quick decision. This initial ambivalence about an outcome allows leaders to seek out additional expertise allowing for more inclusiveness than those who tend to make decisions on their own.
While it might be uncomfortable at first, Rothman encourages leaders to cultivate internal conflict within their organizations. Most leaders have been taught to establish calm and smoothly functioning organizations, so this notion is difficult for already successful leaders to grasp. Rothman counters this idea and offers tips for embracing ambivalent leadership that suggests a new roadmap for FM leaders to consider.
Build ambivalence into the FM organization culture. FM leaders cannot take on the challenge of utilizing ambivalence as a work tool alone. They must lay out a framework for how ambivalent thinking will work within the FM organization and demonstrate how the art of questioning a single-minded pathway to problem solving will work in the organization. This means more collaborative teamwork has to be initiated where it doesn’t exist or work well and that multiple options for outcomes also have to be considered and presented. Building decision making inclusion is fundamental to utilizing ambivalent thinking as a tool.
Document the ambivalent thinking process. FM leaders should encourage teams to document how they arrive at decisions and where questioning a particular pathway leads to a more workable solution. Documenting this type of thinking allows team members to feel more confident in speaking up and taking part in discussions.
Accept conflict in decision making. FM leaders should not discourage their own feelings when deciding by trying to bury the conflict they may be experiencing for veering towards one direction over another. This does not negate a leader’s responsibility for decision-making but reduces the pressure to identify an immediate solution or recommendation before weighing the alternatives.
A recent article from Korn Ferry indicates leaders that apply tried and true measures to achieve success aren’t necessarily seeing plausible results in the new work environment. The headlines for this thinking indicate the best companies are “disruptive.” The term applies to leaders who also are considered ambivalent which parallels the research conducted by Rothman.
Stormy Friday is founder and president of The Friday Group, an international facilities services consulting firm.
What Leadership Means to Facility Managers in 2025
