Embodied Cynefin: Teaching with the Body
A pedagogical method for teaching the Cynefin Framework by first mobilizing the wisdom of the body through physical exercises and reflection, enabling deeper understanding of complexity and appropriate approaches.
THE IDEA
Embodied Cynefin: Teaching with the body
Chris Corrigan
The conventional way to teach Cynefin is by showing a PowerPoint presentation. Common sense tells us to engage people’s brains via analytical discourse. However, I believe in, and have experienced, a better way. When we introduce Cynefin through first mobilizing the wisdom of the body and have people reflect on their experience, their understanding of the framework is much deeper and embodied.
I first came across the Cynefin Framework in 2008 through friends in the knowledge management world. As a teacher of facilitation, group process, and leadership, I recognized the power of the Framework to help leaders see a variety of, and decide what approaches to use for, different problems. The Framework helps people understand why complex problems defy orderly solutions. It also helps people make a case for engagement and participation over “command and control” processes for facilitating meetings on complex topics. Consequently, Cynefin found a home in my workshops and courses.
When we try to solve complex problems with the wrong tools and approaches, we often feel stress and confusion, both in our minds and bodies, before we can articulate what is wrong. In my experience, the Cynefin Framework can give people a language that helps them explain their uneasiness. It helps people give words to what they intuitively feel: that working with complexity requires working outside of a traditional linear problem-solving approach. The framework also gives people a way to explain why many efforts to address complex challenges fail. This is why the framework is so powerful once people understand it.
My early experiences teaching the Framework were often met with remarks that it was too heady and abstract to grasp quickly. It was clear to me that I needed to draw on the physical arts to design a good pedagogy for teaching it.
My background is a mix of diverse experiences. I played traditional Irish dance music. I was part of an improvisational theater group, studying and working with Augusto Boal’s Theater of the oppressed. I trained in the martial arts. And I learned about the body’s ability to grasp ideas, long before the mind makes sense of them. These fields became my source from which I began to draw inspiration and exercises to teach the Cynefin Framework – using the wisdom of the body.
When to use it
Leadership retreats where executives need to shift from command-and-control to adaptive leadership mindsets.
Team-building exercises to help groups understand collaborative problem-solving in complex environments.
Teaching agile methodologies by having teams physically simulate sprints and retrospectives.
Training facilitators to design workshops that engage both cognitive and somatic learning.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Physical Movement to Differentiate Cynefin Domains
A facilitator asks participants to physically move to different areas representing the Cynefin domains (Simple, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic) based on their description of a problem. This helps them tangibly experience the differences and understand appropriate responses.
Improvisation to Simulate Complex Problem-Solving
Using a theater exercise where a group improvises a complex situation, such as a project with shifting requirements. The exercises highlight the need for experimentation and adaptive strategies rather than rigid planning.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What physical sensations do you experience when facing a problem that seems to have no clear solution? How might those sensations guide your approach?
How can you incorporate more embodied experiences into your teaching or facilitation of abstract concepts?
Why might analytical discourse alone be insufficient for understanding complex adaptive systems?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Cynefin - Weaving Sense-Making into the Fabric of Our World ED02 (Dave Snowden Sonja Blignaut Zhen Goh)