Cynefin - Weaving Sense-Making Into the Fabric of Our World ED02

Klein et al., 2006 (1) define it as “Sensemaking is a motivated, continuous effort to understand connections (which can be among people, places, and events) in order to anticipate their trajectories and act effectively.” Whereas, Maitlis and Christianson, 2014 (2) define it as a process through which individuals or groups work to gain insight into

It is extremely off-putting when someone tries to sell you on a new way of thinking by devaluing everything that you have used, or believed, in the past. By applying this principle, we can help decision-makers locate the methods and tools that they have found valuable thus far, validate their usefulness within certain boundaries, and show them how

The attempt to remove (or require) conflict, in many idealistic approaches that value stability or turbulence but ignore context, is the worst of all possible worlds. By always choosing one option or another, we can get the worst of both.”

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

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and between them, there are doors.” – William Blake

Principle 1: We embrace messy coherence

The meaning I prefer is a shortened and possibly more poetic version that I have loved since the first time I heard it: “Place of Your Multiple Belongings.”

“Cynefin is a Welsh word with no direct equivalent in English. As a noun, it is translated as habitat,

Cynefin means the place of your multiple belongings, a multi-threaded and entangled path that makes you what you are and continues to change over time. Learning to live with that and work with it is key to maturity and impact.