Cynefin...that's ka-naving to you.


Create a reflection blog based on critically thinking about how the Cynefin Framework can benefit your decision-making. Consider the chart on page 7 of the HBR article A Leader's Framework for Decision Making and discuss decision-making in multiple contexts; include two specific examples of decisions in multiple contexts that you have made. Detail the considerations from the various contexts that influenced your decision.  Critically assess the Cynefin Framework and describe 5 ways it can provide an improved context for decision making.

Based upon the above video on Cynefin Framework, reflect on the 3 ways each quadrant of the Cynefin Framework can facilitate decision-making using examples from your own experience.

The Cynefin Framework has been a revelation to me in the short time I’ve been exposed to it.  Immediately, I think of how this methodology can be applied to a very large problem and issue that we’ve been faced with at work, that is the proper integration of virtual reality/augmented reality (vr/ar) to existing training programs and how best to transform training. 

Of the four quadrants, the two most relevant to our usage is the complicated and complex since we are dealing with multiple layered issues and implications.  Among the many items facing an integration, a primary question to answer is to how best to exploit the benefits of such technology, or if we even fully understand all of its capabilities at such an emergent stage.  Another layer is that of internal expectations, that’s to say, how best to describe the necessity of this technology to leadership or executives who may just see “cool stuff”.  It is necessary to define and arrive a narrative that pronounces the derived value and how best to deliver to customers to managers who are removed from daily exposure. 

The last of the major layers is that of the regulatory implications to such technology.  The old saw of “outdated rules and regulations” may be true to a degree, but they are what any agency will rely upon to ensure compliance and safety.   Like with any new technology, trying to predict the how a government will jump in to regulate an industry is always a bit of a guess.  However, this technology is so new, we’re not sure what is to be regulated – how realistic must it be? How much can if be used?  Can it be used in place of?  Does one earn credit or should it accredited? 

The Cynefin Framework would be a prefect method to differentiate these questions between the context of complex versus complicated.  Since this is a sense making model, it is helpful in maintaining visibility to the subtleties that are invariably to occur even when making sense of these multi-layered issues.  Within complicated, being able to consider several options and in determining improvements may lead to a “good practices” determination, which would help answer the better way in presenting this technology to leadership. 

However, fully understanding vr/ar capabilities will likely entail a lengthy and comprehensive discovery process, with results emerging over time.  This is tailor made for the complex quadrant of Cynefin.  Further, the complex quadrant insists that results or solutions may not be apparent until a process or method has the opportunity to mature.

This really is the benefit to such a methodology - by letting the process mature and progress, solutions will reveal themselves and become inherently obvious.  Imagine that, results that everyone can agree on...



Snowden, D.J., and Boone, M.E. (2007). A leaders framework for decision making (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Havard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making. 

Snowden, D. (2010, July 11). The Cynefin Framework. Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=45&v=N7oz366X0-8

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