Leading with Cynefin

This blog is to share a very interesting model I discovered only about a year ago. In a following blog, I will explore more about a concrete situation where this model very much proved its worth.

I am talking about the Cynefin model, developed by David Snowden. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynefin will explain the basics of this model (including the meaning and pronunciation of the Welsh word “cynefin”). It has been around for a while but was popularized in the edition of the Harvard Business Review issue of November 2007 (if you google for it you will find a free PDF version online).

The Cynefin framework classifies the problems of this world in five domains, but I do not address the fifth one, disorder, here:

Simple. Here, the relationship between cause and effect is obvious to all. The approach to solve problems falling in this domain is Sense - Categorise – Respond. The leader can minimize his involvement, delegate and ensure the appropriate processes are applied to the problem. This is the world of best practices.

Complicated. The relationship between cause and effect can be identified but this requires analysis, investigation or expertise. The problem solving approach is Sense - Analyze – Respond. The leader has to make sure expert opinions are evaluated, and also listen to contradictory advice. 

Complex. The relationship between cause and effect can only be perceived in retrospect, not in advance. The approach to this kind of problems is Probe - Sense - Respond. The leader has to keep an open communication and listen to all suggestions (not just those of the experts). He needs to allow for experimenting and look for the emergence of patterns.

Chaotic. There is no relationship between cause and effect for the problem at hand. The approach is to Act - Sense – Respond. Here, obviously, there is no such thing as using past experience and novel practice is needed. There is point in looking for the "best solution": the leader needs to take action and establish control.

The importance of the model is to realize that different problems require different approaches. We all would like problems to be simple, or complicated at the most, where an action has a clear impact. But that is not how things happen in the real world. As a business person, it is important to be aware of the type of problem you are addressing (simple, complicated, complex or chaotic) and then apply the appropriate approach. Each approach results in “respond” which means taking action. But rather than deciding on the action based on a standard formula, the steps leading to the action are very different (Sense + Categorize, or Sense + Analyze, or Probe + Sense or finally Act + Sense) and depend on the typology of the problem.