Cynefin: How should you react to different organisational contexts?

We live in an uncertain world, with an even more uncertain business environment. Organisations frequently find themselves in difficult situations that they may not be used to, and must react to these situations effectively and efficiently.

Good leadership is knowing that problem solving is not a “one size fits all” process. For that reason, it is vital for businesses to understand these multitudes of contexts and approach them differently and bridge knowledge gaps that may be missing.

But how do you know what the right approach is to adopt in different situations?

Leaders can use the Cynefin (meaning habitat in welsh) framework to take different contexts into account when making decisions.

What is the Cynefin framework, and how can it help your organisation adapt its decision making to different contexts?

What is Cynefin?

Cynefin is a framework for categorising problems and decisions companies might face and allows them to respond accordingly.

The framework helps organisations avoid using the same management style and decision making approach to different situations where they may not be practical.

By encouraging flexibility and adaptability when making decisions, Cynefin allows organisations to adjust their management style to the problem in question.

Cynefin can help make better decisions in crises and emergencies but also in product development, marketing and organisational strategy.

The framework describes five main contexts: Complex, complicated, chaotic, obvious and disorder.

Let’s look into these contexts in more detail.

Obvious Contexts

Obvious contexts are contexts where the relationship between cause and effect have already been well established.

Your organisation may have been in this situation thousands of times and may know exactly what to do when faced with this scenario.

How should you lead in obvious contexts?

In obvious contexts, there are often explicit steps that dictate the next stage of the process according to established best practices.

An example of this may be problems encountered at call centres which are often predictable and there are processes in place to handle them.

You should assess the situation, categorise its type and base the response based on best practice wherein there is often a single ‘correct’ answer based on existing process and procedure.

There is a danger that obvious contexts may be oversimplified by management. Avoid this by ensuring that there are clear communication channels in place so that team members can report situations that don’t fit into established categories.

Another danger in obvious context is that past experience in them makes teams less receptive to new and innovative ideas. Avoid this by staying open to new, disruptive ideas and pursuing innovative suggestions.

Complicated Contexts

Complicated situations are situations where there may be a clear relationship between cause and effect, but this relationship may not be visible to everyone.

In complicated contexts, most variables are known. You know what you need to achieve, but not necessarily how to achieve it. You may even be able to guarantee a good result, but not the best solution.

Complicated situations may include:

• Improving an existing product
• Coaching a new team
• Adopting new methods

How should you lead in complicated situations?

The leadership approach to take in these situations is to first assess the situation and sense what the problem might be.

Then, investigate several options for how to solve the problem, analyse large data groups if needed and use experts in the field to gain relevant insights.

From this information determine a course of action and execute this plan following the plan, do, check, act cycle.

Do not rely too heavily on experts in complicated situations whilst dismissing creative thinking.

Instead, assemble a team of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and ensure everyone’s voice is heard.

Complex Situations

Complex situations emerge when it may be impossible to identify one correct solution or spot cause-and-effect relationships.

In complex domains, we can only understand why things happen in retrospect. Many organizations today fall into these situations due to the rapid pace of change and uncertainty of our environments.

How Should you lead in complex situations?

Instead of coming up with an action plan right away, it is better to approach complex environments with calm and patience.

Follow the probe-sense-respond model. Look for patterns and wait for the solution to emerge.

As a leader, instead of giving solutions that may be under-researched, should gather a diverse group of people and have them discuss possibilities and innovative solutions.

Business Experiments

It may also be helpful in these particular situations to conduct business experiments because pattern recognition and experimentation are required when there is no cause and effect relationship.

The solutions won’t be prepackaged but come from brand new thinking and ideas.

It may also be useful to use brainstorming tools such as Random Input or Provocation to generate these new, innovative ideas.

Chaotic Situations

Chaotic contexts are those with no cause and effect relationship whatsoever.

These contexts can occur out of the blue and can be hugely disruptive, in chaotic contexts, there is often no time to experiment or probe the situation as these situations are dire and require immediate action.

Paralysing IT failure, terrorist attacks and natural disasters are just some examples of chaotic contexts that can put your organisation at serious risk of capitulation.

How should you lead in chaotic situations?

The approach you should take in these situations follows the act-sense-respond directive.

Events of this nature occur suddenly and are hugely disruptive, thus immediate action is required to stabilise the situation, acting decisively to address the most pressing issues.

Then sense where there is stability and where there isn’t following your direct action.

Finally, respond with novel practices to move the situation from a state of chaos to a state of complexity.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬?

To navigate chaotic situations successfully, consider conducting a Risk Analysis to identify possible risks, prioritize them with a Risk Impact/Probability Chart, and make sure that you have a comprehensive crisis plan in place.

It's impossible to prepare for every situation, but planning for identifiable risks is often helpful.

Disorder

Disorder is the space in the middle of the Cynefin framework. This category applies to contexts where you can’t pinpoint which of the other categories your situation fits into. These particular contexts are challenging for organisations as you have little to no idea how to appraise and react to the situation at hand.

People usually react to contexts of disorder by acting in line with personal preferences, without stopping to deal with the situation at hand.

How do you react in contexts of disorder?

The way to deal with disorder is to firstly gather more information about your situation in order to move into a known domain within the framework.

Another way of dealing with this context is to break the situation down into smaller problems, these problems which can then be applied to one of the known categories.

Conclusion

Cynefin is a useful framework for helping people throughout an organisation understand the importance of reacting to different contexts differently. Effective leadership is knowing that better decisions are made when approaches are adapted to changing circumstances.

Having a good solution is all well and good, but when applied to the wrong situational context, it can lead to outcomes that are more complicated and harmful than the initial problem ever was.

Effective use of the Cyenfin framework can make your organisation’s life a lot easier by structuring the approach to finding the correct solution based on the conditions of the problem.

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