How should resources be allocated among competing individuals or groups? How can an employee’s productivity be improved? How can system errors be reduced?

In today’s fast-paced business environment, leaders are expected to resolve these types of problems quickly and efficiently, regardless of the complexity or scope of the situation. In ordinary cases, they are able to rise to the challenge.

In other cases, however, leaders just cannot seem to make a decision or find a solution that works effectively over the long run. Instead, they wrestle with the same old issues, over and over again. The struggle eventually takes its toll, and these leaders become frustrated and demoralised. Time is wasted, conflicts arise, and business results suffer.

This unproductive behaviour starts with the lack of understanding between of the difference between a problem, which can be solved, and a dilemma. A dilemma can be defined as “a situation where two or more opposing forces exist; each of which has upside advantages and downside disadvantages.” The tension between the forces must be managed because the dilemma cannot be solved. So leaders often spend too many resources on trying to solve the unsolvable dilemma. Examples of dilemmas include balancing the tension between short-term profitability versus long-term growth, between low cost versus high speed, and between global alignments versus local fit.

andré works with leaders to help them:
• Understand the dynamics of dilemmas and why it is so important to manage them
• Differentiate a problem from a dilemma
• Identify and analyse dilemmas
• Develop strategies for managing dilemmas
• Apply these tactics to the existing dilemma they face