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Thinking Frameworks

2022-05-19 by cense

You might have heard or read about concepts like Systems Thinking and Design Thinking (both with and without capital letters) and asked yourself: what do they mean?

We see both of these are frameworks for thinking about problems. It’s somewhat confusing, but both systems thinking and design thinking are more than just ways of thinking, they often refer to a constellation of methods, tools, and approaches to problems.

For that reason, we tend to prefer using the terms systems practice and design instead. However, as frameworks for understanding problems, situations, and issues we see much benefit in using the term thinking.

Just like the image above: our thinking frameworks can help us determine whether we’re looking at the land, the sea, or both, together.

Why Thinking Frameworks?

Our mindset — the mental models, habits of mind, or ways of thinking about something — is the primary factor influencing what we do (or do not do). It shapes how we see the world around us, what we attend to, and determines what has value. When we become aware of how we think we reveal the biases (everyone has them) that direct our attention so we’re better able to direct them to where we want intentionally.

We use thinking frameworks in our work by starting out with identifying what kind of ones our clients are using. Ask yourself: what central ideas are useful to us in doing our best work?

This might include concepts such as: evidence-based practice, learning organizations, ethics stances (e.g., ‘green’), values-based frameworks, use-centred (e.g., words like ‘practical’ and ‘user-centred’). Any of these provide guides to what is valued in an organization. There are many more of these.

Exploring Thinking Frameworks

Once we’ve done that, we start to interrogate it (see what we mean by that narrative here). This process involves asking questions that connect what someone says, what they do, and what they accomplish. This helps to see where there might be alignment or misalignment.

In dynamic markets or communities it’s easy to see how an organization can be misaligned. Policies, strategies, and organizational practices are designed for a certain time and place using a certain kind of thinking framework and as things change so does the potential utility of what we’ve created.

By identifying how we think, we are better able to determine the benefits of it and make modifications.

A great tool is using visual thinking and simple sketch notes to illustrate our thinking. By visualizing what we think about we can better tell how we think.

Tools like the Cynefin Framework can also focus our thinking (in this case about systems) to help refine our mental models.

Don’t make this complicated. There’s no need to worry about coming up with the correct terms, language or model for how or what you think about. The key is to simply identify and become more acquainted with how you think, see the benefits that confers, and understand its limitations. By seeing the blind spots, you’re better at seeing opportunities.

Cense helps our clients see things differently so they can do things differently. If you want help seeing or doing things differently, reach out and let’s talk about how we can be of service.

Image Credit: Xhulio Selenica on Unsplash

Filed Under: Strategy Tagged With: complexity, Cynefin Framework, design, design thinking, framework, mental model, strategy, systems thinking, toolkit

Practical Systems Thinking: The Cynefin Framework

2022-05-10 by cense

The Cynefin Framework is among the most widely used frameworks for understanding how systems are organized. It might be the most practical means of bringing systems thinking to life. A system, after all, is simply an organization of things within some constraint or boundary.

We rely on The Cynefin Framework (pronounced /kəˈnɛvɪn/ kuh-NEV-in) as a central platform in our training and consulting work for strategy, evaluation, and design. The reasons are many, but its utility is the most important of them.

What makes the Framework so useful is that people can relate to the stories we tell about systems using it. Perhaps the best story comes from the Framework’s founder and chief advocate, Dave Snowden in describing how to organize a children’s party using systems thinking*.

This video has been our most widely-referred source for teaching the fundamentals of systems thinking since it was first made.

The Framework has also been an inspiration informing the development of a centre for studying and intervening in complex systems based in Wales. It’s also developed into a burgeoning practice and learning community centred around the model.

The video below adds detail to help explain how the Cynefin Framework functions and where it came from.

We recommend reading Chris Corrigan’s excellent update on the Cynefin Framework. Chris has been one of the leading practitioners contributing to the thinking on the Framework’s use and development.

Using the Framework

Unlike many other Frameworks, Cynefin is useful throughout a project life cycle, not just at a particular stage.

In the beginning, we recommend using it to orient yourself to the situation you’re facing. What kind of problem situation do you find yourself in? What elements of the situation are complicated, complex, or simple? These questions aided by the Framework can help you identify key aspects of the system and complement systems mapping work.

As you move through the project, the Framework can help serve as a wayfinding tool. When you know where you are, it is easier to see where you are going. Social systems are dynamic, so while we may find ourselves in a quadrant at one stage, this can shift during the project or at particular moments.

The Framework can also be used as an evaluation tool by helping frame the questions you ask and the strategies that link your actions to your outcomes. By inquiring about the way your work and activities are organized within systems, we can ask better questions and assess real influence and possible impact.

We recommend starting any evaluation with the Cynefin Framework.

We also recommend using the framework as part of a strategic assessment approach to planning and sensemaking. The framework can help you to determine the role of evidence and practice — when to look for ‘best evidence‘, practice-based evidence, and innovative problem-solving options.

Moving Forward with Cynefin

We recommend using Cynefin Framework to anyone working in applied systems thinking, check it out. There is a global community of scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers who are working on advancing, testing, and documenting the use of it in practice. A recent book has been published that provides further examples and can be of use to anyone looking to get into Cynefin.

It’s worth the effort to explore – and we think you’ll agree.

* It is worth noting that our use of the term systems thinking is just that: thinking about systems and how they are organized and function. We recognize there are many different definitions and models of systems thinking including those used by Dave Snowden that may not fully subscribe to ours.

If you want help in applying lessons from the Cynefin Framework or building up your systems thinking capacity for action and strategy, reach out and let’s have a coffee meeting. We can help.

Image credit: Mitchell Luo on Unsplash; Snowded, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Filed Under: Complexity, Strategy, Toolkit Tagged With: complexity, Cynefin Framework, evaluation, innovation, strategy, toolkit

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