Innovation Dilemmas
Innovation creates dilemmas, and these dilemmas can either help or hinder your innovation effort. Dilemmas arise when we confront natural tensions between two apparent opposite ideas or concepts. In business we face these dilemmas all the time: cost vs. quality, centralization vs. decentralization, stability vs. change, short term results vs. long term competitiveness. Dilemmas are dynamic but inevitable. They don’t go away. They must be managed over time.
The key is to recognize the difference between dilemmas, which are not resolvable, and problems which are resolvable. Problems differ from dilemmas in that they are decidable. We have independent options to address problems usually through some fixed trade-off between options. Problems can be solved, resolved, and decided – once and for all. Natural tensions are not solved or decided. They are ongoing. Professors Josh Klayman and Jackie Gnepp address this in their course, “Implementing Innovation and Change” at the University of Chicago. The course helps students recognize the difference between dilemmas and problems. They learn strategies to help manage and balance these dilemmas over time.
Here are the innovation dilemmas (tensions) I observe in organizations: