Going beyond Systems Thinking - A Conversation with Dave Snowden

As you will have heard in previous episodes for example with Ray
Ison, Mette Böll and others, there is a lot of interest currently
in systems thinking approaches in education as a key competency
for our young people. But what systems thinking means once you
scratch the surface is a question that we need to ask. And if
we’re supporting our young people (as well as teachers and
leaders) to navigate complexity, Dave - from his background in
Anthro-Complexity (https://cynefin.io/wiki/Anthro-complexity) -
will definitely have something to say about that! 


Dave is the creator of the Cynefin Framework
(https://thecynefin.co/about-us/about-cynefin-framework/) and
originated the design of SenseMaker, the world’s first
distributed ethnography tool. He is the lead author of Managing
complexity (and chaos) in times of crisis: A field guide for
decision-makers, a shared effort between the Joint Research
Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge
service, and the Cynefin Centre.


He divides his time between two roles: founder and Chief
Scientific Officer of The Cynefin Company and the founder and
Director of the Cynefin Centre. His work is international in
nature and covers government and industry looking at complex
issues relating to strategy and organisational
decision-making.  He has pioneered a science-based approach
to organisations drawing on anthropology, neuroscience, and
complex adaptive systems theory. Using natural science as a
constraint on the understanding of social systems avoids many of
the issues associated with inductive or case-based approaches to
research. 


Dave holds positions as an extraordinary Professor at the
Universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch as well as visiting
Professor at the University of Hull. He has held similar
positions at Bangor University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Canberra University, the University of Warwick and The University
of Surrey. He held the position of senior fellow at the Institute
of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nanyang University and the
Civil Service College in Singapore during a sabbatical period in
Nanyang.


A few additional resources that might be of interest:


An article Brad Carter and Tim wrote about Cynefin in
education:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leading-educating-complexity-overview-cynefin-framework-tim-logan/?trackingId=X8hDDv8ITCaDeafLUlcUHg%3D%3D

A reflection Tim wrote after attending a Triopticon
facilitation at a Cynefin Centre retreat:
https://thecynefin.co/education-is-entangled-retreat-reflections/?srsltid=AfmBOoq8tOFBrNmTHkhYA3bxUsoM9BKjFlMwLjMxWj5b2Ae7fxz-dQuD

A great article Dave wrote about getting over our obsession
with 'mindsets':
https://thecynefin.co/a-melange-of-potential-not-a-mindset/?srsltid=AfmBOor3ecAlfbHUmbN47NtJ8g6KaRfhi80JfZf5unAxLDueX22QB1Kj

Dave and the team's work on Estuarine Mapping framework:
https://cynefin.io/wiki/Estuarine_framework






Social Links


Great thinking on the Cynefin blog:
https://thecynefin.co/our-thinking/


LinkedIn: @dave-snowden -
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-snowden-2a93b/


X: https://twitter.com/snowded