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1. Cynefin framework
Cynefin is a sense-making framework that helps leaders identify the context they are dealing with. It’s science-based approach draws from anthropology, neuroscience and complex adaptive systems theory.
Once we got to understand and use it, it helped us make sense and navigate the many organizational contexts that we usually interact with. Give it a try!
Practical ideas
Ask yourself about the level of certainty about the relationship between cause and effect around your organizational challenge (e.g. is there a certainty that working in sprints improves time to market in all contexts?)
Identify which of the 4 domains of the Cynefin framework - simple, complicated, complex, chaotic - is the closest to your context
Act based on the recommended sequence in the Cynefin framework (e.g. for complicated challenges: make sense of the situation first, then do a thorough analysis, then do the appropriate changes to achieve the desired effects)
Trust equation
As trust is one of the most important elements that makes a human system work, the trust equation adds an insightful level of clarity about the elements that make a person trustworthy: being credible, walking the talk (being reliable), forming a personal connection with others (being empathic) and seeking win-win situations (having low self-interest).
We discovered it in The Trusted Advisor, by David Maister and then used and shared it whenever the opportunity has arisen: advising managers and their teams, working in new projects, communicating and negotiating with others and many other contexts.
Practical ideas
Reflect on a key professional relationship (e.g. with your new hire, with your manager, with one of your business partners etc.)
How high would you rate each of the 4 elements? We like to use t-shirt sizes (from XS to XL)
Which of the 4 elements rate high? What can you do to keep these trust elements high?
Which of the 4 elements rate low? What can you do to improve them?
You can use some ideas shared above for each of the 4 elements of trust
Tweet for Thought
A couple of weeks ago I’ve created a series of top 3 lists: areas of study, most complex projects in 2019, concepts created, concepts discovered, new practices, books, podcasts, Slack groups, newsletters, influencers on Twitter, authors on Medium, sites followed on Feedly, channels on Youtube, learning tools, notes tools and creation tools.
The OrgDev newsletter is curated by Raluca and Bülent Duagi, the team behind Sense & Change. We work as Organizational Development Advisors, helping organizations develop by learning faster what they need and what works for them.
Do you have ideas or tools that could help leaders develop their organizations?
I like the concept of Rapid Prototyping that was ted-x talk by Tom Wujeck, had an opportunity to use it and facilitate the same in a community building set up.