A brief YouTube micro-talk (by Ashish Kothari) explaining that many workplace problems are complex rather than simple or merely complicated, invoking Dave Snowden’s Cynefin Framework to distinguish these domains. The speaker offers three short strategies for tackling complex problems: set direction (not a fixed destination), pause to move faster (avoid reactive stress), and embrace your ignorance by leveraging team wisdom.
Chapters
If you're struggling to make progress on a problem at work where it feels like despite running faster than ever, you're stuck in the same place, chances are high that you might be using an approach that is suited for complicated problems versus one that is suited to a complex problem that this might represent. Dave Snowden, the founder of the Cynefin Framework, highlights key domains that problems can fall into, simple or complicated, which are problems where the cause and effect are very clear. They can be one to many relationships in the case of complicated problems, or one to one in the case of simple problems. However, many of the problems we face today out of a complex nature where the cause and effect don't have a relationship which is linear. So three simple ways in which you can address and better navigate a complex problem. Number one set the direction versus destination no different than how we tack when we are sailing, adjusting to the widths. Second pause to move faster. So this is when we are dealing with a complex problem and using a complicated approach. We can get triggered, we can get stressed and in that moment we are not able to think at our best. And number three, embrace your ignorance. What I mean by that is truly recognize that you might not have all the answers and you need to leverage the wisdom of the teams and those around you to be able to get to the answer.
