Before a leader can make a good decision, they need to know what kind of problem they are working with. Sensemaking is the practice of building that shared understanding — of agreeing on the terrain before choosing the route. The models here are about that first move: reading a situation clearly enough to choose the right kind of action, not just the most obvious one.
- FIG. 01 — CYNEFIN
Cynefin — Dave Snowden
A sense-making frame for matching response to problem type. Five domains — Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, and the disorder at the centre — and each one asks for a different kind of action before it asks for a decision.
Read the model →