Using the Cynefin Framework to Navigate Complexity

TLDR: A sense-making framework that helps individuals and organizations understand the complexity of different situations and decide on appropriate responses by categorizing situations into simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic domains and provides corresponding decision models.

Dependent on which space you're in, you should think differently and behave differently. Rather than a 'one size fits all' management theory, the Cynefin framework recommends that we become more context aware. One of the main functions of this framework is to propose actions based on situational analysis using the framework. The framework recognises the causal differences between different systems and presents people with appropriate methods for decision making in these domains. Cynefin, pronounced kuh-nev-in, is a Welsh word that signifies the multiple, intertwined factors in our environment and our experience that influence us (how we think, interpret and act) in ways we can never fully understand. The Cynefin framework is a sense-making framework with 5 domains. It is not a model in that it does not seek to represent reality. It is a framework, and as such it presents a way of looking at reality.

From a sense-making perspective, a model represents reality and a framework provides a way of looking at or approaching that reality.

The framework builds on the original concept of three types of systems; ordered, complex and chaotic. It divides order into two and adds a fifth type called disorder. Disorder is positioned at the centre of the framework. In the diagram below it is labelled 'confusion'.

Confusion is an unhappy place - a state of being ontologically ignorant and not knowing what type of system you are in. The criticality of confusion (or a state of disorder) is that the system may very well be chaotic or it could be ordered - you simply aren't aware. (reminded of Bohm's perception of order and awareness)

The decision models are shown in blue above.

In ordered systems there is a linear relationship between cause and effect, ie. the same thing will happen again the same way twice, not by accident but by the nature of the system. In the diagram, order divides into two; clear (or obvious) and complicated.

The difference between obvious and complicated is that everyone can see what the relationship is and nobody disputes it. For example, in Ireland we drive on the left-hand side of the road. In Germany they drive on the right. We change your behaviour accordingly when we travel between the two countries and we don't question why. The decision model is sense-categorise-respond. 'I'm in Ireland, they drive on the left, so I drive on the left'. This is a standard operating procedure. Where this tips into chaos is when we say that you can never drive on the opposite side of the road.

Even the most rigid system allows for exceptions.

This is an ontologically diverse approach to sense-making, ie. an individual will base their decision making on their own history and preference for action. For example, bureaucrats assess problems as failures of process or assess the need for new process. Experts generally assume they didn't have enough time to do the investigation. Politicians are pretty good at complex - they talk to diverse types of people and look at different possibilities . Fascists love a crisis because then they can be given absolute power to tell everyone what to do.

The creator of the framework reminds us that, from a cognitive science perspective, we tend to assess a situation based on how we have already decided to act. This is why a lot of the Cynefin techniques are about preventing you from having any knowledge of action when you do situational assessment.

The Cynefin framework helps us to understand that every situation is different and requires a unique approach to decision making. It helps us to understand our challenges and to make decisions in context. The framework outlines five situational domains that are defined by cause-and-effect relationships. By distinguishing different domains (the subsystems in which we operate), it recognises that our actions need to match the reality we find ourselves in through a process of sense-making.

Sense-making with the Cynefin framework helps us to cultivate an awareness of what is really complex and what is not and respond accordingly so that no energy is wasted in overthinking the routine. It also helps to make sure we never try to make the complex fit into standard solutions.