Nutshell: Dave J Snowden’s Cynefin® Framework

Understanding our context will help us choose what type of decision we need to make.

One of the reasons we find decision-making so hard is the sheer number of decisions we need to make every day. Understandably, our brains have developed shortcuts to protect us from the cognitive strain of having to think everything through before we respond and act.

Daniel Kahneman’s System 1 thinking gives us those energy-efficient shortcuts just to get on and get things done.

But while we can often act before we think – sometimes sub-consciously and entirely successfully – there are times when our decisions need us to be more active participants. This is when we need to bring into play Kahneman’s System 2 thinking, expending the time and effort to explore and consider our decision in more detail before we make our choice.

And there’s the rub. Understanding when to act then think or think then act is a fundamental of decision-making.

It’s a conundrum at the heart of Dave J Snowden’s Cynefin® Framework ('ku-nev-in', the Welsh word for 'place' or 'habitat'). His model helps us take different approaches to decision-making based on the situation we find ourselves in, and how complex and predictable (ordered or unordered) that situation is.

By understanding Snowden’s five different 'domains', we can match how we respond – the kind of decision we make – to the situation we find ourselves in through a process of what he calls “sense-making”. This helps us to develop better awareness of what is or isn’t complex and to be flexible and adaptable in how we respond.

That awareness means that “no energy is wasted in overthinking the routine” (keeping things simple where we can) while, at the same time, we also avoid the trap of making “the complex fit into standard solutions” (stopping to think when we need to). It’s a framework that helps us to know when to speed up or slow down when we have a decision to make.

Clear contexts: the domain of best practice (ordered)

In clear contexts, our options are clear-cut and cause-and-effect relationships are easily understood by everyone involved. The decision-making is not entirely unconscious, but we can probably use past experience and/or established processes to know what to do next.

That means sensing (assessing our situation), categorising (what type of situation is this?) and responding (choosing the best option).

We can all relate to this kind of context, where we’ve created 'best practice' for dealing with, for example, workflows or routine tasks, or perhaps have checklists or procedures to guide how we act.

We need to be sure that this best practice stays up to date, though. We can’t become complacent and need to regularly sense-check whether what’s worked in the past is still fit for purpose as things change.

Complicated contexts: the domain of experts (ordered)

Complicated decisions might have several 'correct' solutions. Cause and effect is still clear, but because the issue is complicated, the solution may not be obvious to everyone.

The decision-making approach here is to sense (assess the situation), analyse (what do we know; who can help?) and then respond (choose the best option, often having taken expert advice).

To make the most of this approach, we need to verify what any experts may tell us and involve a range of people with different outlooks to help us work the problem through.

Complex contexts: the domain of emergence (unordered)

Complex contexts are often unpredictable, which means it may be impossible to identify a 'correct' solution or easily identify cause and effect. We may be working with imperfect or incomplete information. Snowden believes that most workplace decision-making falls into this category.

Rather than trying to control the situation and make a quick decision when the situation is so fluid, we need to be patient, to look for patterns and to allow solutions to emerge. This means probing (fact-finding and experimenting), before we sense (assess the situation) and respond (choose the best option).

To do this effectively, we need to have in place good decision-making processes that can guide our thinking.

Chaotic contexts: the domain of rapid response (unordered)

In chaotic situations, there is no relationship between cause and effect, so our primary goal is to establish order and stability. We might, for example, be facing a crisis or an emergency situation.

The sequence for decision-making in these contexts is to act first, to decisively address the most pressing issues. Then we can sense (assess the situation) and respond (choose the best option) as we move the situation from chaos to complexity.

Disorder

The fifth domain is disorder, a context where it’s not clear which of the other four domains we’re facing.

In this context, we need to gather more information before making a judgement about the complexity – or not – of the decision concerned and which of the four other approaches we need to take.

The Cynefin Framework helps us to tackle some of the thorniest aspects of making decisions: managing the uncertainty and ambiguity that comes with the territory and understanding the type of decision we need to take as a result. We know that not all decisions are equal, but it’s often hard to make a judgement about when we can simply respond and when we might need to stop and think.

Understanding the five Cynefin domains can help us make the right choices.

Test your understanding

• Outline the five domains of Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework.

• Describe the three-stage decision-making approach in the framework’s clear contexts domain.

What does it mean for you?

• Reflect on two decisions you will have to make in the next week. Use the Cynefin model to identify how complex/predictable they are. How might that information affect your decision-making process?