Dutch
Dilemma Thinking Workshop
From polarisation and tension to traction
Do you recognise this: discussions harden, people pick sides, decisions stall, and the middle goes quiet. Under pressure, the system swings to one pole, creating more friction and fewer results.
In our workshop we surface the underlying tension, reconcile the opposites, and translate that into concrete choices and everyday behaviour.
Result: renewed direction, stronger cooperation, and real traction, in organisations and in society.
The real problem: tension
Teams rarely get stuck on strategy. They get stuck on opposing demands that cannot be solved by picking a side.
Poor performance is often framed as a strategy, leadership, or execution issue. In reality it’s usually a decisive dilemma. Under pressure, systems still pick a pole, or they compromise. Both weaken the system: optionality shrinks, learning stops, and vicious cycles start.
Examples: speed vs rigour, autonomy vs alignment, innovation vs discipline, short-term vs long-term, purpose vs cost.
For Whom and When?
When tension is palpable and progress is blocked.
Leadership team offsite
To align on choices and make a shared “we” culture concrete.
Leadership Training
To translate values into daily behaviour and collaborate better across differences.
Friction Intervention
When discussions escalate and cooperation stalls, in cooperatives, public organisations, and companies.
Half or full day. Always tailored to the context.
Results after one workshop
What changes concretely?
  • Clarity on the core tension blocking progress
  • Breakthrough options beyond compromise
  • A concrete action plan and supporting behaviours
  • Less energy lost in recurring debates
  • Better alignment between strategy and daily decisions
Dilemmas in practice
Dilemmas are not theoretical. They show up every day, in organisations and in society.
Examples
In Organisations
Purpose vs. cost.
Centralisation vs. decentralisation.
In Teams
Autonomy vs. direction.
Speed vs. zero-defect quality.
In Society
Sovereignty vs. cooperation.
Liveability vs. accessibility.
You see it in Europe’s regulatory burden too: complexity answered with more rules, while agility and entrepreneurship suffer. You see it in migration, in food- and energy transition, where positions harden and room to act disappears.
These are not “right vs wrong” choices. They are tensions to reconcile.
Polarisation accelerates everything
Polarisation pushes systems into camps faster, but it isn’t always bad.
It often signals a real dilemma with legitimate values on both sides.
Social media and algorithmic echo chambers amplify extremes and recruit supporters quickly.
The failure mode is predictable: leaders react too late, intervene one-sidedly, or focus on managing the fight between extremes. Then the silent middle disappears, the conversation hardens, and optionality shrinks.
What remains is conflict or gridlock, instead of direction.
What dilemma thinking changes
It's not about choosing. It's about strengthening.
Dilemma thinking shifts the question
from
“Which side is right?”
to
“How can both values make each other better?”
The key question:
How can we improve value X through value Y, and vice versa?
This is not we see two sides on one line and let’s meet in the middle. No. Let's crack the line for space to emerge for finding a better solution than either side can produce alone.
This leads to:
  • Breakthrough solutions beyond compromise
  • More options instead of fewer
  • Stronger alignment across camps by mobilising the silent middle
  • Outcomes both sides can commit to
From polarisation to traction
If tension is left unresolved, it becomes destructive. If tension is embraced, it becomes productive.
When one pole dominates, the system starts to spin. Predictable pathologies follow: process becomes suffocation, autonomy becomes fragmentation, coherence becomes rigidity.
This rarely comes from a single dilemma. Often it’s a combination, for example central vs decentralised and formal vs informal.
Vicious cycle
The centre pushes for more formality and central authority. Units respond by working around it informally and decentralising further. That triggers even more centralisation and formalisation. Control, escalation, and politics increase. Each step makes the next step worse.
Virtuous cycle
When the poles stay connected, tension becomes productive. Units initiate informally where customers benefit. The centre records what works, shares it, rewards it, and scales it into standards and routines. Initiative and structure grow together. The system becomes more autonomous and better coordinated at the same time.
Breakthrough: identify the dominant dilemma and the vicious cycle it triggers, then reconcile the tension repeatedly in daily decisions. That creates upward spirals: more trust, better decisions, faster execution.
Values to behaviour
Strategy only lives when it shows up in behaviour.
Values only work when they hold real tension and are translated into concrete choices and behaviour.
If you can’t point to what a value means in a trade-off, in a leadership meeting, in hiring, or in budgeting, you don’t have a value. You have a slogan.
Dilemma thinking makes that translation explicit, so strategy on paper becomes daily execution.
Problem-solving workshop
The workshop, in 6 steps
Always built around a real dilemma from your context. No theory-first. We work on what is live.
01
Identify the dilemma
What tension matters most right now?
02
Map out the dilemma
What are the two poles, and who carries the tension?
03
Stretch the dilemma
Name the upsides and downsides of each pole.
04
Create stereotypes of both poles
Infuse humor, prepare for the next step
05
Reconcile the dilemma
How do we improve X through Y, and vice versa?
06
Develop the action plan
Determine actions and supporting behaviour.
By the end of the day
Clarity on the core tension, a breakthrough direction, and behavioural agreements people can actually follow.
No debate. No compromise. Just direction.
Optional follow-up
Where needed we run a values-to-behaviour session to make desired and undesired behaviours explicit, and agree what happens when we deviate. This is often the step that makes change stick.
Accelerate with the Dilemma Solver
Technology that deepens the conversation, without replacing it.
The Dilemma Solver helps teams articulate implicit dilemmas, spot patterns, and generate solution directions in real time. It accelerates insight and options. Dialogue stays central.
About dilemma thinking
The dilemma reconciliation method was developed by Fons Trompenaars, a leading authority on culture and organisational development and co-author of Riding the Waves of Culture. For over 30 years he has worked globally with leaders and organisations to understand and reconcile cultural and strategic dilemmas.
The approach draws on a large database of dilemmas and solution patterns built over decades of consulting practice. That practical foundation underpins both the workshop and the Dilemma Solver.
This website is developed by Bas Kemme in collaboration with Trompenaars Hampden-Turner Consulting.