Art of Hosting

Make sense of different situations to choose an appropriate response.

Working as a consultant in helping clients to change the way they work, I often struggle to explain to them how the way they usually attack problems is not always appropriate to the situation they've brought us in to help with.

In this edition of our Four Frameworks of Portfolio Management series, we’ll look at sense making approaches to portfolio management, specifically how to use the Cynefin framework for this purpose. Sense Making Approaches During an era of disruption and massive change, business leaders should use...

Team of Teams book. Read 777 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. The retired four-star general and and bestselling author of My Share...

What is the Cynefin Framework and how does it parallel the MG Taylor Methodology? HOST: Jesko von den Steinen Background Cynefin is a decision-making framework within naturalised sense-making. It primarily helps determine the context we are in, prior to taking appropriate action. The context, in this case,is defined by bounded applicability and its enabling constraints.  Recently published by the Publications Office of the European Union, Managing complexity (and chaos) in times of crisis. A field guide for decision makers inspired by the Cynefin framework, the Cynefin framework serves as the foundational basis for managing complexity in our turbulent times.  Rooted in complexity theory and knowledge management, the framework has considerable overlap with several models of the MG Taylor methodology and can serve our community as a tool to aid in decision making.   Our Workshop During the workshop, we will introduce, discuss and unpack the basics of the cynefin framework. We will also introduce the concept of liminal-cynefin and its new domain “aporia”. In our time together, we will get our hands dirty with exercises to help understand the concepts and their applicability to our work as complex-problem solvers, conflict resolution facilitators, and general practitioners of the Value Web. During the workshop we will: Understand basic systems within social structures Use and work with the Cynefin framework at a foundational level Gain awareness of how to manage complexity within social systems  Discuss the parallels of cynefin with models found in the MG Taylor methodology As preparation for the session, feel free to watch an introduction on Cynefin. Host Jesko von den Steinen is the lead of “The Difference” with PwC in Hong Kong. He is also atrainer with Cognitive-edge and contributor to the recently published book, CYNEFIN-Weaving sense-making into the fabric of our world.  Prior to joining the world of consulting, facilitation, and complex problem solving, Jesko had along career as a lead artist with Cirque du Soleil and in theatre.

Tue, Jan 19, 2021, 6:00 PM: 2020 was a very complex year, to say the least. But now we are back, with a new format, new members, and this newish thing called zoom.We thought we'd kick off the new yea...

In this post, I want to share three things I do that you might find helpful in making sound decisions, technical decisions in particular.

<img alt="" height="150" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" srcset="https://bjgplife.com/wp-content/uploads/ninja-forms/3/syed-ishaq-husain-profile-picture-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https://bjgplife.com/wp-content/uploads/ninja-forms/3/syed-ishaq-husain-profile-picture-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https://bjgplife.com/wp-content/uploads/ninja-forms/3/syed-ishaq-husain-profile-picture-1-24x24.jpg 24w, https://bjgplife.com/wp-content/uploads/ninja-forms/3/syed-ishaq-husain-profile-picture-1-48x48.jpg 48w, https://bjgplife.com/wp-content/uploads/ninja-forms/3/syed-ishaq-husain-profile-picture-1-96x96.jpg 96w, https://bjgplife.com/wp-content/uploads/ninja-forms/3/syed-ishaq-husain-profile-picture-1.jpg 331w" src="https://bjgplife.com/wp-content/uploads/ninja-forms/3/syed-ishaq-husain-profile-picture-1-150x150.jpg"; width="150" class="alignleft wp-image-13561 size-thumbnail">Syed Ishaq Husain is a GP Trainer at Grove Medical Centre, South East London, and an Executive MBA Candidate at Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School. The culture of medicine, specifically as it pertains to hospital medicine, is stuck under the shoulder of a giant. William Osler brought the Newtonian paradigm of what was then cutting-edge science to the bedside of hospital medicine. Action = reaction, and all that follows from this, culminating in an entrenchment of linear thinking. Modern science has not been in thrall to the Newtonian paradigm for some time, where the inherent nature of uncertainty has been accepted. This is best illustrated by the Heisenberg principle.1 Introduced in 1927 by Werner Heisenberg, a physicist, the uncertainty principle states that the more precisely the position of a particle is determined, the less precisely it’s momentum can be predicted from initial conditions, and vice versa. It crystalises the inherent uncertainty of existence. What does this have to do with general practice? Making sense of the GP consultation can be hard. Ever since Balint2 described some of the psychological undercurrents of the GP consultations, models of the consultation have been put forward, each adding something new to the toolkit that GP’s can access, whether it is the concept of opportunistic health promotion,3 safety netting,4 or the decision to yield or not yield.5 When starting to learn about GP consultations many trainees expect consultations to conform to linear thinking, where cause, effect, and best practice management are clear, while trusted techniques help elucidate ideas, concerns, and expectations with a bit of opportunistic health promotion to boot. This may often relate to the influence of the Oslerian model of medical practice in hospital, personal experience, or the acceptance of media stereotypes of GP consultations. The reality is the consultations that leave their mark on us, that occupy our thoughts and challenge us, usually cannot be shoehorned into a linear model. Some defy easy explanation. Some have a myriad of multiple interacting components, which, with time, effort, and the power of continuity (which itself is only relatively recently being understood and appreciated) can be teased out. Some consultations have significant areas of uncertainty. Some are plain chaotic and it can be difficult to put a finger on why and leave the trainee (and often fully qualified GPs) questioning what they achieved in the consultation and frankly undeserved feelings of inadequacy. Such consultations can lead to significant unease in trainees, especially early in their training when informational uncertainty is high, and understanding and acceptance of the inherent uncertainty that is part of all existence is perhaps underdeveloped. A sense-making framework, applied to these consultations, can be helpful. Initially in retrospect as a reflective tool and, as time passes and familiarity with the framework grows, during the consultation itself. I suggest adapting the Cynefin framework,6,7 which takes its name from the Welsh word meaning ‘the place of your multiple belongings’. This was developed by Snowden in 2003 as sense-making framework in a business and organisational context, whose value lies in enhancing the ability to make sense of situations and improve decision-making capabilities. It helps break out of ineffective ways of thinking and helps look at difficult problems with new eyes. It consists of four domains (Figure 1). The use of the Cynefin framework in general practice has been suggested elsewhere.8 I suggest its particular strength is as an aid to facilitate reflection on consultations, make sense of them, develop a deeper understanding, and ultimately develop greater confidence — leading to better outcomes for patient and doctor. I have shared this approach with GP trainees and GP trainers who have found it a refreshing and novel approach. Once a GP can accept a scenario as known, knowable, complex, or chaotic, it then empowers them to use the most appropriate approach, without any feelings of inadequacy or guilt, which being unable to stick to a linear model can engender. It leads to a deeper understanding of the issues at play and an acceptance of the inherent nature of uncertainty, which are most to the fore in complex and chaotic scenarios. It adds another tool to the toolbox of the reflective GP, striving to improve their practice. References 1. Heisenberg W. The physical content of quantum kinematics and mechanics. In: Wheeler JA, Zurek WH. Eds. Quantum theory and measurement. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. 2. Balint M. The doctor, his patient and the illness. London: Tavistock Publications, 1957. 3. Neighbour R. The inner consultation: how to develop an effective and intuitive consulting style. 2nd edn. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2005. 4. Stott NC, Davis RH. The exceptional potential in each primary care consultation. J R Coll Gen Pract 1979; 29(201): 201–205. 5. Mirza D. The FRAYED consultation model for doctors dealing with unreasonable demands from difficult patients. Better Doctor Training Ltd, 2016. 6. Kurtz CF, Snowden DJ. The new dynamics of strategy: sense-making in a complex and complicated world. IBM Systems Journal 2003; 42(3): 462–483. 7. Snowden DJ, Boone ME. A leader’s framework for decision making. Harv Bus Rev 2007; 85(11): 68–76, 149. 8. Gray B. The Cynefin framework: applying an understanding of complexity to medicine. J Prima Health Care 2017; 9(4): 258–261. Featured photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash.

Chaos, Cynefin, Complexity, Hexagonal Architecture, and Onions...

Watch as Jennifer Garvey Berger from Cultivating Leadership teaches how the Cynefin framework helps identify problems and find solutions.,...

Different problems need different solutions. An approach that aids in decision making is The Cynefin framework, which was created in 1999 by Dave Snowden and wa...

This study examines how social marketing for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention in Zimbabwe can be improved using the notion of ‘emergence’. The research context is that of a community exposed to VMMC promotional campaigns aimed at increasing the uptake of VMMC services.

A reader recently pushed back on my personal mantra: bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think. He pointed out that there are times when every leader needs to react. He also pointed out that planning is essential.

Control the Room Podcast: Douglas Ferguson speaks with Ed Morrison, Director of the Agile Strategy Lab in North Alabama University, about team-based communication models, Strategic Doing, and transformative thinking for hopeless, uncertain futures.