When I entered the class Decision Making for Leaders I was
pretty excited because I thought to myself, how difficult could decision-making
be? I know myself so well, better than most people, because I have taken a
reflective interest in understanding where my motivation lies, what I want, and
what I need to do to get to where I want to be. Making decisions is not simply asking
someone to picking one: heads or tails? I mean, it can be. But that is just the
surface, just the tiny top of an iceberg peeking out of the water not alluding
to its full depth. Decisions can be as wide as they are deep, just like
icebergs. There can be multiple parts to a decision that has a chain reaction
on the effect it has on everything it touches once that decision is made.
Making a decision was much simpler when I was younger because I was faced with
what color I wanted for my braces that month or which CD I am going to buy at
the store. As I have grown into my leadership capabilities I see that managing
personal and professional decisions contain more responsibility than just choosing
based on pure preference.
“In the face of greater complexity today, however,
intuition, intellect, and charisma are no longer enough. Leaders need tools and
approaches to guide their firms through less familiar waters” (Snowden &
Boone, 2007, para. 34). There are many different decision-making categorization
models that are represented in a smart, little tidy chart that you plug
information into the two by two matrix. There are a lot of reasons why those
are great, but sometimes life happens fast. Snowden (2010) says that when using
categorization models you do not understand the subtle differences in a
situation until it is too late. This is where the Cynefin framework shines as a
bright beacon for making sense of situations in multiple contexts.
The Cynefin framework (best pronounced like ku-nev-in) is a
sense-making model that explores the relationships between cause and effect to
obtain the identification of the situation and yields how to work through the
situation to arrive at an effective response. There are four quadrants and a
space in between those. The four quadrants represent: simple, complicated,
complex, and chaos. The space in between is disorder which is where we are most
of the time because we are not sure what space we are within. At first glance
this looks just a categorization model, but it is not.
I have spent a lot of time reading about Cynefin framework because
there is a lot to read about it! That might be my one critique toward my
assessment of its use and effectiveness is that it, in itself, is a bit
complicated. It takes some analysis to fully comprehend its depth and what purpose
it can serve. There is a cliff between
the simple and chaos boundaries because it represents that complacency is dangerous
in its own right the closer we drift toward it until we fall off the cliff and
that can have disastrous, costly effects. The right side of the graphic
represents a direct relationship between cause and effect and the left side is
more disordered (French, 2013). And of course, each space, outside of disorder,
has three steps in which to work your way through that context. Truthfully it
is a lot to learn before you can use it. But once you do, it seems entirely
beneficial because as you experience life, a situation, receive data all of
that can be poured into the framework to make sense out of what is happening.
This is the difference between a flat, unidimensional graphic and this
framework.
Cynefin Framework context responses:
Simple:
Sense, categorize, respond
Complicated:
Sense, analyze, respond
Complex:
Probe, sense, respond
Chaos: Act,
sense, respond
Disorder:
The space in which you do not know which context you are within.
When we make decisions we are often “lost in the sauce” so
to speak, we are in the disordered space and we just do not know it. Often we
approach decisions in the way we are most comfortable being that we are
creatures of habit. If we do this repeatedly but with entirely different
circumstances we cannot possibly end up with the best outcome. I have nailed
down five ways Cynefin Framework can provide an improved context for
decision-making:
1.
It provides instructive directives for how to
work through situations once you determine which context you are within.
2.
Through these instructive directives we can
leave our comfort zone of choosing the approach we naturally gravitate toward.
3.
Through the understanding of the different
contexts, it provides decision-makers with the opportunity to improve their
ability to work in the alternative contexts in which they are not as
comfortable.
4.
If you are unsure which context you are within
the relationship between cause and effect can help you determine the difference
between being in a complicated and a complex context, for example.
5.
It provides the ability for the decision-maker
to reach the best decision possible by working through the appropriate context
and increasing the ability for which the decision-maker can switch between
contexts.
Good leadership requires openness
to change on an individual level. Truly adept leaders will know not only how to
identify the context they’re working in at any given time but also how to
change their behavior and their decisions to match that context. Many leaders
lead effectively—though usually in only one or two domains (not in all of them)
and few, if any, prepare their organizations for diverse contexts. (Snowden
& Boone, 2007, para. 32)
I have begun to practice understanding my decisions through
this framework. Recently I have been contemplating getting another puppy. I have
one dog, Lola, who is eight years old now and a cat, Kittie Minky, who is
almost nine but still looks just like a kitten. Our family used to have two
other cats but unfortunately they are not with us any longer. Lola used to be
playful and loves socialization. It was always our goal to have two dogs so
they could have that companionship. We have had multiple animals in our house
for almost ten years now. The day to day care (simple context) would not change
much in order to provide love and care for a new puppy. Training on the other
hand requires a lot of thought based on the personality of the new puppy, how
quickly they listen, deciding when to trust them to be on their own or if you
can ever leave them unattended as they grow up. It requires a lot of analysis
as the situation unfolds (complicated context).
The main reason for my
uncertainty is it has been a little over a year since my cat James died. That
caused a lot of disruption to both the cat and the dog. Their anguish and
confusion was perceptible. I am completely unsure if they are ready for a new
housemate and how this would change the dynamic (complex context) there are so
many unknowns on how it would change the relationships between all of the
animals and us. I am most concern with providing the best quality of life to
Lola and Kittie Minky because they are already part of the family. As Lola
grows older she seems less inclined to be tolerant to new situations and Kittie
spends more time with me now because she does not have to compete with James to
get attention. She may go back to being completely aloof. I think it would be
best not to add a puppy to the family at this time.
When I choreographed the musical Bye, Bye, Birdie this
framework would have helped me work through the numerous songs I was tasked
with creating. Some numbers were added after I initially agreed to six numbers.
This made juggling the responsibilities a little hectic. We had a cast of over
thirty people with a wide range of ages from 8 to the 70’s. All of the
experience levels were drastically different, too. But that is the most glorious
part of community theatre. I just love it and cannot get enough of doing work
in the theatre.
In this context I am substituting the use of simple for the
word obvious, as I was instructed by Mark Sjoblom in A632.8.2.DQ this week. He helped
me see that the misuse of the term is common. So some of the more obvious
aspects of my work as a choreographer was getting those characters in the scene
into the dance number or choreograph around the scene with those characters.
There is a relationship between who is coming on from offstage and who is
exiting and where in the musical they will appear next. The structure of a
script is very cause and effect oriented.
Working with my diverse group of actors you begin to analyze
(complicated context) who is comfortable and who is more reserved. Sometimes it
takes dragging someone out of their shell or a little coaxing to try something
different. Sometimes it is a matter of letting them know you truly believe in
them. It is a matter of also determining who can do what- can you do gymnastics?
Let’s add it in! There were times when I would have a vision and would teach
the routines but then the sets ended up not turning out in a way that would
physically allow for these movements or routines to occur or with the sets
being on stage and not moveable allowing maximum space it would not visually accommodate
for all of the actors to be in the scene although they needed to be (complex
context) and this was not in our favor. Luckily through probing and sensing
there was an answer. Some of the actors had to get on top of the set pieces
instead of crowding around them. It made it more interesting and there was a
way to fix it. Other times I explored what modifications would allow the use of
the sets in the routines and collaborate with the director to see if they could
be made.
I am resolved in that I am going to synthesize situations
that come up in my life into the Cynefin framework so that when I am in over my
head in a chaos or even intensely complex situation contextually that I will
already be adept at feeding the data through the framework. “A deep
understanding of context, the ability to embrace complexity and paradox, and a
willingness to flexibly change leadership style will be required for leaders
who want to make things happen in a time of increasing uncertainty” (Snowden
& Boone, 2007, para. 35). I strongly believe in doing better than I have
ever done before and that is going to take new thinking and different
approaches. I want to grow beyond being a one decision-making wonder. I want to
be able to zip between simple, to complex, to complicated and act quickly to
move from chaos with lightening precision and I believe this framework is going
to help me with that.
References:
French, S. (2013). Cynefin, statistics and decision
analysis. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 64(4),
547-561. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/jors.2012.23
Snowden, D. J. & Boone, M.E., (2007). A leader’s
framework for decision making. Harvard Business Review,
85(11), Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2007/11/a-leaders-framework-for-decision-making%20
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