4 Rich Pictures and The Cynefin Decision Framework
Rich Pictures and The Cynefin Decision Framework
Rich Pictures
Creating a new product or service, introducing a new production methodology, changing culture, creating new ways of working, addressing debilitting problems and challenges, and dealing with complexity, within organisations – requires a holistic, broad perspective. It is very easy to take a local view of what is going on in problem situations during ongoing cycles of organisational change, and to seek to positively influence what is going on. The situation is usually more than just one issue.
There is usually an interrelationship between multiple ideas, events, perspectives, systems, and so on. A very simple yet rich way of understanding the bigger picture is to draw one. ‘Rich pictures’ are useful when lots of different people are involved, all of whom have different ideas of what the problem is and how to improve the situation. They encourage a systemic and cultural view of the problem situation that takes account of interaction effects between different elements of the system – including people! Healthy connections lead to healthy systems. In human systems, the connection points are mostly the conversations that people have with each other.
Here is a short video of how to use the Rich Picture Technique.
Here are some examples that we can share. Each one tells its own story: some are pretty clear, and others probably only have meaning to those who participated in the creation of the images.
A rich picture is an attempt to assemble concepts and metaphors that might be relevant to a problem situation or context.
I encourage you to use this technique as you explore your project and its genesis. What is it that you are exploring? What are the drivers of the situation or context? What are the intriguing or irritating or inexplicable factors, people, ideas – the ‘stuff’ – that you can get out of your heads and onto the storyboard, whether it is tangible or virtual?
What are the conversations that the process stimulates? What are some outcomes and insights?
Here are a few tips about the process. As an aside, as someone who has used this for years, and also facilitated many of such sessions, outstanding artistic abilities are not necessary. Once you get started, it isn’t really about the ‘drawing’. Plus you don’t have to ‘like’ this either. The process itself leads to outcomes and better thinking.
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- Only use words when ideas fail you.
- You don’t need a particular style or structure on the picture – ‘allow’ rather
than force. - Place elements of the problem situation anywhere on the paper
- Include people and emotions as well as the ‘hard’ elements of buildings, structures, numbers etc.
- It’s not a piece of art – it’s a depiction of your view of reality.
- Others might draw ‘reality’ a little differently from you!
David Snowden and the Cynefin Framework
Hopefully, you have just spent some time engaging in what we call an example of ‘serious play’, a rich picture activity. If not, remember this process as we use this at GSB as one of our foundation approaches. You can work alone, or with a group, to explore and even perhaps solve a problem that has relevance to you and perhaps your projects and your workplace.
Let’s hope it was successful. At the very least you now have a new technique to use when you need to focus on a specific issue.
We want you to investigate more thoroughly the nature of a problem. ideally one related to your HIP. You as much as anyone knows that problems are not created equal. David Snowden of The Cognitive Edge has spent many years developing the concept of The Cynefin Framework which is a problem and decision-framing approach. You may have seen this concept in some of your other units.
This complexity-framing model is one of the key thinking models that we use at QUT. If you have used it already keep going as each time you approach a new issue or problem with The Cynefin Framework, it is likely that you will learn something new.
Understanding an industry’s context and its competitive environment is a highly complex task. Decisions must be made with less than perfect knowledge, and often including highly dynamic variables, especially when technological disruption is likely to upend long-held assumptions. David Snowden proposes a decision framework for senior strategists and marketers.
David Snowden, the complexity thinker, notes that when we are confronted with contexts and situations when we need to decide and act, “ … we will interpret the situation according to our personal preference for action” (Snowden, 2010).
To address this, The Cynefin Framework “gives us a very easy way of deciding how to work but it [also] gives us a divergent [way of thinking] – we sometimes call this requisite applicability. It basically says dependent on which space you’re in you should think differently, should analyze differently, rather the one-size-fits-all which has been a tradition of management theory” (Snowden, 2010).
To begin, watch the following video.
Transcript: Cynefin Framework
Now, this might seem a little patronising or rude, but please watch the video again. Here is the link, or go to the YouTube location above. https://youtu.be/N7oz366X0-8
If you prefer, here is a link to the transcript.
Consider where in the decision framework the set of decisions you need to make, should fit. Consider the likely mindset of the organisations that would potentially be making these long term strategic decisions. Ponder this for a moment.
As you watch the video, listen carefully for the nuances about each space, and be careful about the ‘cliff space’ between Simple and Chaotic. Also please have the reflection questions below in mind as you watch.
Consider your observations and reactions in the context of your current, and perhaps, past situations of decisions making, actions and outcomes. The image below summarises the emergent practices for each quadrant.
Reflection
- Consider your observations and reactions in the context of your current, and perhaps, past situations of decisions making, actions and outcomes.
- How does the framework add to your understanding of how you, your teams and your organisation overall see and make decisions?
- How might you use this complexity decision framework in your own work? In your project thinking or as you approach the opportunity or challenge?
- Think about your own view of the world. What is your default approach to issues and decision situations?
- Think about how you might share with your immediate team your insights and preferences. How might you deal with these in your work context? What impact will your preferences
and those of others, have on the outcomes?
As we wrap up this section, we are reminded that the Cynefin Framework by David Snowden suggests that by addressing issues from the place of complexity thinking, we not only have a way to work but it also gives us a divergent way of thinking. This is based on the idea that the more input into our thinking and decisions models, the more possibilities and opportunities we can explore.
To sum up, Snowden says The Cynefin Framework “gives us a very easy way of deciding how to work but it (also) gives us a divergent (way of thinking) – we sometimes call this requisite applicability. It basically says dependent on which space you’re in, you should think differently, should analyze differently, rather than one-size-fits-all which has been a tradition of management theory”.2
Here is a final word that might help you put this lesson in context and get us ready for the next lesson. The famous American General Stanley McChrystal discusses complicated and complex in detail. He represents the differences in this way:
General McChrystal says that complexity occurs when the number of interactions between components increases dramatically. His wrap-up statement is that the world has become in many ways less predictable despite technology and data-gathering and mining advances.
References
- Snowden, D. J., & Boone, M. E. (2007). A leader’s framework for decision making. Harvard business review, 85(11), 68.
- McChrystal, S. C., Tantum; Silverman, David; Fussel, Chris. (2015). Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World. Portfolio Penguin.
An interior scene of the Whitehouse, 2020.