Facilitation Guide

Dilemma Navigation

Purpose

The dilemma framework enables the group to shift their orientation from either/or thinking (which won’t work in the given situation) to both/and (which can work) and use Dilemma Thinking and Generative Thinking to produce new options for action which integrate the two apparently conflicting values in innovative ways.

When to use?

This method is especially useful for projects requiring a need for transformative innovation. In trying to make progress, especially on an innovation or change project, we often encounter pairs of conflicting values and demands. These can appear as tensions, polarities and even conflicts. Sometimes these are options and we can make a choice but sometimes they are both essential for success even though they are mutually exclusive or incompatible. This can become stuck in conflict. The dilemma method is a way to re-frame the conflict and tension into a process of learning and discovery that can take you beyond the impasse.

The process allows the people in the room to move from polarised opposition into a generative dialogue. The process respects the importance of opposing values and allows them both to contribute into a collective enquiry into creative opportunities.

The process exposes that there are four failure modes in the situation and only one success mode, making visible that if one party sticks to their own position nobody will get a solution.

NOTE: As well as application in general situations, this has a specific use in Three Horizons (see Three Horizons Mapping) to frame H2 as a dilemma between H1 and H3 in order to construct possibilities for H2+ innovations, and in conjunction with Navigational Scenarios (coming soon) to support a continuous action-learning cycle in the face of uncertainty as the project moves into H3.

Set Up

• One flip chart stand, and wall space for two flip charts fixed side by side
• Three colours of sticky hexagons
• Participants seated in U facing work area – no table or other obstruction to everyone standing in front of the visual work area

Outputs

The simplest way to work with dilemma resolution is to use the representation of the dilemma as a space created by putting the two conflicting or contrasting values on the orthogonal lines instead of thinking of them as polar opposites.  The diagram then provides a way of framing the results of the process.

In the diagram, the vertical axis represents the more fixed values of the dilemma (hence the rock symbol).  The horizontal axis represents the more fluid values of the dilemma (hence the whirlpool symbol). A good outcome needs both values to be fully expressed in the resolution.  The pathway to resolution is represented by the diagonal wavy line.  The line is wavy because the process is dynamic and needs to be constantly adjusted from feedback.  This feedback needs to tell us whether we are heading too strongly towards rigidity or too strongly towards vagueness.  The pathway needs to avoid taking the ‘easy way out’ of compromise; it needs to navigate through the tensions of the conflict zone; it needs to generate self-organising guidance into the resolution zone; and it needs to arrive a shared vision of a transformed situation.

Steps

The main steps in facilitating a dilemma resolution exercise are shown below.  Although they are presented in a sequence through time they also should be viewed as a whole in that the steps are highly interdependent.  In a complex task it may be necessry to reiterate steps.  For example, it can happen that half way through an exercise a clearer dilemma is recognised that is better to work with than the initial one.  Facilitating a powerful dilemma resolution requires you to “ride the bull without falling off.”

Tips

People

• The most challenging aspect of facilitating dilemma resolution is the dominant tendency in the unreflective mind to polarise issues into right/wrong, for/against and superior/inferior. When caught in a genuine dilemma this inevitably leads to contradiction and conflict. So the task of the facilitator is to set the mood for and encourage the group to be in a reflective state in which fixed assumptions can be gently challenged and some space loosened up for considering other perspectives. This is the generic problem of shifting from mindset to perspective.
• This shift is greatly helped if you, the facilitator, are able to be in a reflective state about the issue in question, listen carefully to the different viewpoints and, at least initially, give them all equal credibility. The point here is that the successful resolution of a dilemma will inevitably require some flexibility and accommodation on the part of all viewpoints. However, it is worth reviewing the psychology of the four failure positions in the dilemma space.

See the Dilemma Thinking Tutorial for more guidance.

Process

• A well-stated dilemma is the easiest to work with, take time to get it really clear and simple in the initial steps. It is important to make clear the distinction between a tension arisng from there being different options and tension between clashing but equally necessary values.
• Putting the dilemma on axes causes a mild cognitive shock if done without preparation. The important step is the switch from either/or to both/and thinking. It is worth spending few minutes explaining what is happening to give people time to respond to it and start thinking in this new space. The easiest way is to introduce the idea of dilemma before starting on this method, illustrating it with something from everyday experience that will be familiar to them (e.g. in democratic societies we often find there is a dilemma between civil liberties and security).
• Many dilemmas arise between people and so a ‘rock’ camp emerges with a ‘whirlpool’ camp. The group dynamics tend to develop in a conflict resolution mode. However, in a dilemma we are not seeking compromise (one of the ways to fail) but a transformative innovation
• A significant group of people will find great difficulty in looking at the peaks of the horns of the dilemma rather than the wildest implications especially where they are personally involved in one or other of the situations. They have to be helped to break down the situation and look at bits. Making a list of the parts and then ranking them in terms of their strength o effect in that area helps the individual to let go of the least important parts without having to let go of the whole.
• Generative Thinking (1+1=3) is a challenge but it can also be exciting and fun. Try and keep the mood upbeat and ready to have a go without falling into hasty judgement. In creative thinking we often need to create ‘stepping stones’ on the way to our destination.