Following World War II, high schools were geared to help turn out qualified workers to support the need for manufacturing laborers. Individuals learned the skillsets to be told what to do, and how to do it. PROCESS skills became the main method taught for workers to achieve desired, KNOWN outcomes.
However, external forces of globalization, technology, and social change require different approaches, especially where the outcomes are UNKNOWN or UNCERTAIN.
New methods and tools are needed for UNCERTAIN and AMBIGUIOUS situations. Are you well equipped?
Resiliency+ (Change Champions Get Unstuck) idea of APPROACH, adapts David Snowden’s Cynefin® Framework, to hint at how to apply appropriate approaches to changing situations.
David has an excellent video introduction to Cynefin®, about the different domains, their approaches, and types of practices.
Resiliency+ has a variant which aligns Cynefin® domains (Obvious, Chaotic, Disorder, Complicated, and Complex) to their appropriate R+ skillsets (methods, tools, and ideas) to make you worth more to those who pay you to help them in change.
SIMPLE DOMAIN. In the original framework, the SIMPLE domain is one which is stable, and the outcomes are predictable. (Sense-Categorize-Respond). With the R+ variant, we align these BEST PRACTICES with PROCESS SKILLS. Business method examples include: LEAN, to reduce waste or Six Sigma, to increase accuracy and quality.
Add to your resume deliverables, like: job aids, on-the-job coaching, or apprenticeship. These are vehicles to deliver the best practices.
SIMPLE types of jobs can become routine, and thus may be outsourced to vendors, or automated. Your value as a worker increases as you help your team become better (method), faster (automation), or worth more (innovative ideas).
COMPLACENCY CLIFF. When people act as if “Current action predicts future success” they become complacent. During the great disruptions of COVID era in the 2020’s, many people did not prepare for their ‘new normal’. They were surprised when they were laid off, even though they suspected their skills were outdated, or knew work orders had dropped.
SURPRISE! CHANGE IS HERE. As people become complacent in expecting their current job to continue to pay them, without learning new skills or roles, they may not be ready to shift, when circumstances change. Losing a job, having diminishing clients, facing overseas competition can mean loss of income. Suddenly, a transition period is more difficult in a crisis.
SHAPE YOUR CHANGE. This COMPLACENCY may lead to CHAOTIC situation, and result in expensive or difficult circumstances: loss of home or savings, sleeplessness and stress-related illnesses, or strained relationships. It is better to move yourself from SIMPLE (Process Skills) through the transition of DISORDER (Learning Behavior Skills) into mastery of COMPLICATED (Collaboration Skills), getting ready for COMPLEX (Systems Thinking Skills).
CHAOTIC DOMAIN. In the original Cynefin® framework the situation is unstable, and unordered. It is a legitimate state (Act-Sense-Respond) requiring NOVEL PRACTICES to be discerned and implemented. When entered into this state deliberately, it can use Agile or Scrum methods, to bring out innovative solutions. When entered by accident, it can be a crisis, requiring action. There may be little time for deliberation or mitigation of impacts.
ACTION SKILLS. In the the R+ variant NOVEL PRACTICES require ACTION SKILLS. These can include decision-making skills, bringing in experts, or taking risks. Courage and decisiveness can be shown to your customer through deliverables like: introducing new partners/experts, business cases for action.
CONFIDENCE FROM MANY CHOICES. One of the big benefits from Resiliency + program is that you will have multiple options (even expertise) in confidently leading yourself and others through change.
DISORDER. The normal situation for most people is DISORDER. David Snowden suggests it is the situation of not knowing what state you are in. David writes,
“All in all disorder is the state of assuming you are in the domain in which you feel most comfortable, so at best you have a 25% chance of being right! Another way of saying this is the following well known quote:
“We do not see things as they are.
We see things as we are.”
It’s mostly attributed to Anaïs Nin but she herself references it to the Talmud so if I am to believe quote investigator the attribution should be Rabbi Shemuel ben Nachmani, as quoted in the Talmudic tractate Berakhot (55b.)”
DISORDER is not CHAOS.
CHAOS is a stable state of being UNORDERED, where PROBING is a key strategy using ACTION skills.
DISORDER, on the other hand is an unstable state. It includes Inauthentic or Transitory parts. This means it can be incorrectly identified, or transitional.
Resiliency+ variant matches the DISORDER domain with LEARNING BEHAVIOR Skills. When one knows how to learn, and sets this as a habit, then they use this transitional time to learn more, and build the skills for more appropriate approaches to COMPLEX or COMPLICATED domains. Cynefin® Dynamics illustration below, shows the changing flow between states. Situations change in and out of states.
You become more valuable when you not only know appropriate methods, tools, and ideas of the different domains, but you also can apply or adapt approaches, even as situations change. On your resume, show your LEARNING BEHAVIOR SKILLS. Change the section title from EDUCATION to CONTINUAL LEARNING, show your thinking methods (Critical vs. Creative, or Strategic vs. Tactical), and document the number of classes you have taken, or list books/videos that you enjoy.
COMPLICATED DOMAIN. In the original model, COMPLICATED domain is one which is ORDERED, with expected outcomes. (Sense-Analyze-Respond). There are multiple good ways to reach the desired benefit. A key approach is to use Analysis to spot trends, note impacts, and choose a sweet spot. There may be many GOOD practices.
In the R+ variant, this is not the time to argue if ‘my way is better than your way’, since there are several successful paths. It is best to build COLLABORATION SKILLS. Gain as much divergent (complaints) viewpoints, and address the areas of concern through ANALYTICAL or CONFLICT RESOLUTION methods for decision-making. To help you make good analysis, it is helpful to have a small team of experts give advice. Thus, team building skills are highly prized by your customers.
On your resume, or performance review, show your value by analytical skills and deliverables, such as decision trees, analytical reports, graphs and comparison charts, or ranking methods. Be known for giving your managers several options (low, medium, high) and not being too invested in your one, best solution.
Demonstrate your collaboration and team skills, through meeting agendas, project schedules, contact lists and RACI charts, and the ability to cold call or ask others for advice.
COMPLEX DOMAIN. In Snowden’s Complexity Domain, there are many different systems impacting the problem. In this state (probe-sense-respond) it is important to find your way through these tangled influences. This is an UNORDERED state, which benefits from EMERGENT PRACTICES, which are discovered on the journey.
In Resiliency+ variant, we match the COMPLEXITY DOMAIN with SYSTEMS THINKING SKILLS. Often complex situations require multiple groups of experts, or cross-functional teams, with different strengths.
Show your unique value by being able to identify people with different thinking methods expertise (strategic vs. tactical, systems vs. design, linear vs. spiral thinkers). Come to our class to find out how to identify them, and use words that connect with their thoughts.
In your resume, or performance management report, list examples of
cross-functional teams, (enterprise-wide programs, diverse audiences),
complexity management tools (databases, mind mapping, report generators), or
extensive networking experience (able to talk to people you don’t know and ask for their help.)
Think back over your life’s journey. Use your new Cynefin® vocabulary to show the difference between states, and the approaches appropriate for those states.
- SIMPLE. Individuals in situations, where there are clear outcomes or desired action. (Use PROCESS skills to deliver BEST PRACTICES.)
Example: Do job, improving it with LEAN methods. - COMPLACENCY CLIFF. Unawareness, (denial, apathy) of impacts of change. Thinking that what you do now, will continue to give same results in the future.
Example: Company loses orders to overseas competition. - CHAOTIC. Individuals in situations, where it is more difficult to recover, and harder to work together. (Use ACTION skills to deliver NOVEL practices.)
Example: Department gets laid off and everyone has to do their own job hunting. Use a job hunting plan to find new work. - DISORDER. Individuals not able to discern which state they are in. Using LEARNING BEHAVIOR skills, they transition to more highly-valued situations.
Example: Improve your Analytical skills and Systems Thinking skills, to more easily work together with small or large teams. - COMPLICATED. Small teams work together to ANALYZE paths to desired KNOWN goals.
Example: Improve your team work and conflict resolution skills to analyze different paths to KNOWN outcomes. - COMPLEX. Many diverse teams, use different SYSTEMS THINKING skills to find EMERGENT practices on journey through UNCERTAIN situations.
EXAMPLE: Be a focal point for other teams, to bring work to your team’s are of expertise. See how your work impacts others, and how you are dependent on their work to complete your own.
- SIMPLE. Tell about a time when you: learned repeatable PROCESS SKILLS, improved the work you did by yourself, or wrote a job aid for BEST practice.
- COMPLACENCY CLIFF. Describe what happened when you were unaware (or in denial) of change that impacted you.
- CHAOTIC. Discuss what happened in a crisis. What NOVEL practice did you use for your ACTION skills? Describe how you acted, then made corrections, based on results.
- DISORDER. Tell about how you used LEARNING BEHAVIOR skills, in order to transition to a better state. How did you start to learn, and what was the result?
- COMPLICATED. Describe how you built COLLABORATION skills, working with others in analyzing a situation, so you could make GOOD practices. What did you show your team, so they could make better decisions?
- COMPLEX. Discuss a situation with many parts. What EMERGENT practices came out of it when you used with SYSTEMS THINKING skills? How did you work with many teams, to improve how they gave information to you? What reports or tools did you use to coordinate the impacts or dependencies of actions (see risks and avoid them)?
People will pay you to spot problems before they happen. They want you to be good at thinking, so you can clearly talk to different audiences (other view points). They want you to know the ‘big picture’ so you can spot problems early, and get diverse teams take action to lessen the negative impact.
COMPLEX. Cynefin®, complexity management, systems thinking, cross-functional teams, uncertainty, ambiguity, critical thinking, creative thinking,
COMPLICATED. team member, team leader, focal point, analytical, conflict resolution, reporting, decision-trees, matrix,
DISORDER. learning behavior, disorder, transition, change management, continuing education, learning plan, cross-training,
SIMPLE.
policy (Why),
process (What),
procedure (How),
job aids, mentoring, on-the-job-training (OJT),
ANTI-COMPLACENCY. Situational awareness, looking-over-the-horizon, environmental scanning, overcome self-sabotage, being prepared for change, leading self and others through change,
CHAOTIC. Action oriented. Spiral/Agile thinking, Plan, Do, Check, Act, Decisive, Decision-making tools, hierarchy, unknown, Novel or innovative ideas, able to move from CHAOTIC to COMPLEX state and bring in experts, and rapid proto-typing.
Many people don’t like change. It’s uncertainty causes anxiety, and favorite coping mechanisms often lead to inappropriate ‘çomfort-zone’ action or ineffective distractions.
You will stand out if you have the methods, tools, and ideas to show you are better, faster, and worth more.
You are more highly-sought-after if you know which appropriate approach to apply to changing situations.
The Resiliency+ program builds your skills in each of these areas, so you are considered the best choice. Be ready to show you can lead yourself and others through change.
Give an example of how you were in changing situations.
- How did you identify what state you were in, and what were the appropriate approaches especially needed?
- What methods, tools, or ideas helped you adapt and be successful?
SITUATION
ACTION
RESULTS
MISSION
I help workers adapt to their changing work environments, so they transition to new roles (even retirement) with more confidence and ease. When they have diverse skillsets to adapt to whatever comes their way, they stand out from others who expect to do what they are told.
VISION
Using Complexity Management methods, such as Cynefin and Systems Thinking, my books, podcasts, and classes help participants choose how they want to live transformational change.
With words, templates, and practical experience, their resumes and performance reviews, show how they lead them selves quickly to appropriate approaches, not just their most comfortable actions.
SABOTAGE
If they are not competent, and confident, in many different approaches,
then they may get stuck with inappropriate approaches that lead to mediocre results.
Their managers would not be so happy if they spent time improving processes (SIMPLE), if conflict resolution, and the ability to influence management decisions (COMPLICATED), skills were what were really needed.
