Tetralemma and decision balance

Tetralemma and decision balance

Tetralemma & decision balance – clarifying decisions holistically 

When we face an important decision, we usually think in just two categories: for or against. The Tetralemma – a method from Indian logic that is widely used in systemic consulting – opens up the view beyond that. Four positions invite you to look at the decision from the inside in each case: Position 1 (yes) gathers everything that speaks in favour of the decision. Position 2 (no) acknowledges the opposite pole in its full strength – without it being argued away at once. Position 3 (neither … nor) gives ambivalence a space: what is still open, unclear, not yet ready to be decided? And position 4 – perhaps the most valuable place – asks for a view that goes beyond both: what if the question is not the right one at all? This is often where solutions emerge that know neither yes nor no. Finally, a fifth position (“all of this and much more”) takes the meta-perspective: what serves the greater whole? 

The decision balance translates weighing up into an image: each yes and no argument is given a weight from 1 to 5. The balance tips accordingly – not a verdict, but a mirror of the current tendency and a prompt for the conversation: what would it mean to follow it? Ideal for career choices, location decisions, job changes or other genuine either-or situations – for self-coaching as well as for support from a coach or consultant.