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Articles
Cutting Gordian's Knot:1
A Practical Approach to Management Dilemmas
David Roitman, Ph.D., Senior Consultant
It is the fault of our rhetoric that we cannot strongly state one
fact without seeming to
believe some other.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Any phenomenon implies and generates its opposite….
the existence
of one side depends on the other.
- Gareth Morgan
Dilemma: Situation with unsatisfactory choices; argument
leading to undesirable
choice. Synonyms:quandary, predicament or impasse.
- Encarta Dictionary
Introduction
Many leadership challenges are perceived as dilemmas. With one client organization, I encountered
the following when interviewing managers in the midst of a major strategic alignment
effort:
- How can we phase change in gradually to keep it manageable, while at the same time
driving a critical mass of change fast enough so that people actually change behavior?
- How can we commit to fewer priorities and at the same time be more flexible?
- How can we continue to cut costs while increasing service quality levels?
- How can I ask my people to take on greater responsibility when they’re already
overloaded?
- How can we give mid-level managers enough lead time to implement strategies, when
it takes so long for leaders to get the strategies right?
- How can we empower people with greater decision authority, while they know
that senior leaders will overrule any decision they think is wrong?
- How can we continue to use management discretion when we’re being told to be
more objective and use standardized Key Performance Indicators to measure performance?
Challenges appear as intractable dilemmas – where any choice seems unsatisfactory – when
they are at the edge of one’s capability to solve them. Another manager might look
at any of these apparent dilemmas and say, “why, that’s easy.” True, one
person’s
dilemma may be another person’s enjoyable challenge. Yet capable leadership coaching
is not always readily available. Are there readily learned ways of thinking that can help
break through apparent dilemmas? This article describes one such approach, a step-by-step
method that quickly teaches people how to move beyond “either-or” to “both-and” thinking,
and turn apparent dilemmas into actionable solutions that produce results2.
Either-Or and Both-And Thinking
Either-or thinking views challenges as problems that by their nature consist of discrete
and contradictory elements, forcing the selection of one element or the other. Either-or
thinking has its place and our intent is not to discredit or abandon it. A great deal of
analysis requires either-or thinking. At the same time, it is possible to recognize the situational
limits of either-or thinking and move beyond them. When one can think creatively while holding
two opposing thoughts simultaneously in ones’ mind, one has moved beyond either-or
to both-and thinking.
To provide further clarity to this distinction, the following are a few common examples
of either-or thinking contrasted with both-and thinking:
Either-Or Thinking: |
Both-And Thinking: |
- It is not possible to reduce costs while improving quality. In order to improve
costs, investments are required.
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- By adopting methods like Six Sigma and Lean Thinking, investments in quality improvement
can pay themselves back in a relatively short time.
|
- It is not possible to achieve mass production’s economies of scale and standardization
while responding to individual customer needs and producing customized products to
order.
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- By implementing the processes and technologies of Mass Customization, economies
of scale and standardization can be achieved while responding to individual customer
needs. By implementing Lean Thinking, additional economies (of flow) can be achieved.
|
- It is not possible for the same two firms to both compete and collaborate.
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- Two firms can compete and collaborate with each other by maintaining rigorous
structures and rules separating those activities involving competition from those
involving collaboration.
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- Improving the environment and the economy at the same time is not possible. Regulations
limiting pollution lead to job losses.
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- Regulations limiting pollution create opportunities for technologies and job growth
in pollution control and related industries.
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For each of these four controversial topics, the “either-or” and
the “both-and” thinking can each spark debate. Whether or not you agree with
the either-or or the both-and statements will depend on your values, assumptions, and interpretation
of facts. Our purpose, though, is not to demonstrate the validity of these specific both-and
statements; we use them simply to provide easily-recognized examples of ways one can move beyond either-or thinking.
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1. Legend has
it that Alexander the Great solved his famous dilemma – to unravel
the massive Gordian knot in a single day – by changing the rules and slicing through
the knot in one bold stroke. Legend also has it that this act enabled Alexander to continue
his exploits and eventually conquer the entire civilized world of his time. (Personal correspondence,
Dr. Stanley Lombardo, Classics Department, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KA).
2. We would like to express our appreciation to David Peter Stroh for the
conversation that initiated this article and for the inspiration from his article co-authored
with Wynne Miller (Stroh, P. & Miller, W., “Learning to Thrive on Paradox” Training
and Development, September 1994.). We would also like to thank the managers who participated
in the interviews and workshop described in this article, and give special appreciation to
those managers who went the extra mile to reflect on their experience and what they learned
three months following the workshop. Finally, a special thanks to my consulting partner for
the workshop. These individuals remain anonymous to preserve confidentiality for their organization.
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