the Cynefin sense making framework explained

Firstly I don't accept the post-modern perspective on narrative, or social constructivism in general. That said I am happy to agree that narrative is a form of action, but it is also an interpretative environment.

In any complex system, reality exists (just in case you are referencing the extreme form of social constructivism/post modernism) but it is emergent. That means that stabilities can be induced and create forms of coalescence. By providing a common interpretative framework, but allowing people to self interpret within that framework we create a powerful diagnostic tool for complex environments.

Properly understood complexity allows a Hegelian synthesis of modernist and post-modernism which are defined by support for, or opposition to a restricted form of epistemology.

Dave Snowden

PS. I would read the HBR article and/or some of the material on the web site rather than rely on the sketchcast. I don't think Shawn was attempting to address some of the issues above and I would want to qualify (but not contradict) some of the statements he made in a more academic context.

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your useful comment - it poses a question that is very helpful. Helpful, because one of the biggest challenges we face as a business is around the interpretation of how we use the word "narrative". Because of various reasons, people hear us say "story" when we use the word narrative, and hear us say "storytelling" when we tell them we use narrative in the business context. This is not always the case, and as a business we try to foster greater depth of understanding in the business world of the word, concept and application of narrative. It is a value-laden word and we also try our best to help people understand there is a spectrum of narrative work.

My personal background in narrative stems from being trained as a narrative therapist, and thus as a starting point, I'm in full-agreement with you - narrative is a discursive event that both captures a perspective on reality and creates reality it at the same time.

Within the Cognitive Edge model described in the sketchcast, the pioneering work on narrative in this context was done because of this quality of narrative, I believe. And so, when trying to understand a complex problem, gathering narratives in a naturalistic setting captures important information about the dynamics of the problem as well as framing the problem. I think the term "useful tool" is an understatement :)