Our family has a tiny cabin (or “camp,” as we call it) in Northern Ontario, Canada. It’s been in the family since 1905. No road access. No running water. No electricity. Just a quiet refuge in the woods. It’s perfect—except for one frustrating issue.
The porch roof is sheet metal, and when it rains or snows, the runoff slides off in a narrow stream that often lands directly (and unexpectedly) on the back of your neck. I’ve been going there since I was nine years old, and somehow, I still forget. One minute you’re sipping coffee, the next you’re soaked. Year after year, the same irritation.
“It is what it is,” we shrug.
This year we asked a better question: “Is it?”
On a quick Home Depot run, we grabbed a simple, inexpensive plastic eavestrough. After an hour of work, it was up. Not only did it divert the water and stop the surprise drenching—but here’s the unexpected win: we started capturing the runoff. What once soaked our shoulders was now filling our water jugs. Enough that we no longer had to trek down to the well every day to haul heavy buckets.
We took a chronic issue and learned how to leverage it.
The eavestrough moment reminded me of a leadership reality I see every week: teams and leaders deal with “chronic issues” they’ve sadly learned to tolerate. The pendulum swing between Embracing Change and Preserving Stability. Debates around Structure vs. Flexibility. The tug-of-war between Having Expectations and Extending Grace. Leaders try to avoid these tensions, sometimes ignore them, or mistakenly pick one side and hope it works. But just like the drip from the porch roof, the issue keeps finding them, again and again.
Great leaders take a different path. They don’t ask, “How do we make this go away?” They ask, “How can we leverage it?” In other words:
- Acknowledge the recurring flow (this tension isn’t going away).
- Install an “eavestrough” (a simple practice or constraint that channels the energy).
- Capture the runoff (turn the friction into fuel for results).
Practically, that might look like:
- Change AND Stability: Pair every new initiative with a stability plan (what won’t change, what traditions and strategies remain).
- Structure AND Flexibility: Define two or three non-negotiable guardrails, then let teams flex inside them.
- High Expectations AND Grace: Use clear standards and timelines—and add “permission slips” that allow for context and foster trusting relationships.
The win isn’t in eliminating the tension; it’s in harnessing it. The same dynamic that felt like it was drowning your team can, with a simple “eavestrough,” become a steady source of momentum.
Organizations that learn to leverage unavoidable tensions outperform those that try to fix or ignore them.
