Going beyond Systems Thinking - A Conversation with Dave Snowden

Future Learning Design Podcast

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