1998). It differs from the Japanese concept of Ba, which is a “shared space for emerging relationships” (Nonaka & Konno 1998) in that it links a community into its shared history – or histories – in a way that paradoxically both limits the perception of that community while enabling an instinctive and intuitive ability to adapt to conditions of

When we understand the dispositional state of a system, we can also recognize Kairos moments, opportune times when the system is poised for change.

Ontology, Ontological Related to the philosophical study of being (existence, reality, becoming and being). Or, the study of “what is.”

Elephant paths, or desire lines, are informal paths that pedestrians prefer to take from one location to another rather than using a sidewalk or, in our case, the paved garden paths.

You can better see now that the typical (and usually linear) problem-solving orientation that dominates many workshops and projects is not helpful in complex socio-technical systems. In ordered contexts, we are dealing with solvable problems; in complex ones, we are dealing with emergent and entangled patterns. Cynefin methods propel us to see and

I close my eyes and inhale deeply. Hold for ten seconds. I breathe out. Hold for ten seconds. This is a sequence I repeat whenever I start to feel anxious or tense - emotions I experience much too often for my liking these days.

In short, Cynefin methods are based on finding the evolutionary potential in the present, setting a broad future direction, and moving towards ‘adjacent possibles.’ The best way to describe this is by crossing a river by feeling the stones. The intent or direction is to cross the river. We are not aiming for a particular spot (in contrast to the id

Methods, tools, and frameworks, however, are not universally applicable; there are no silver bullets. We articulate this in Cynefin with the term ‘bounded applicability’ i.e., we believe that most things are useful within certain boundaries.

Phenomenology The philosophical study of consciousness and experiences from the first person perspective.