See-Attend-Act

June 11, 2013

I've been using this Gaping Void cartoon for some time to illustrate a key model that originally came out of work Gary Klein and I did in Singapore several years ago.  The phrase See-Attend-Act is intended as a counter to the normal assumption in organisations that if you put the right information in front of the right people at the right time and if they have the right competences and the right training then they will make the right decisions.  Now in practice whether you even see something in the first place is in question, even if it is right in front of you.   Even if you see it you may not pay attention to it and action is a whole different ball park.   The idea of the phrase or model or whatever is to make people realise that in systems design, or anything else for that matter, they need to pay attention to all three and not just make assumptions.

I used the cartoon and the model as the turning point from theory to methods on day one of a sold out four day Cognitive Edge training course here in Melbourne.  Over the last few months we have been working on the modularisation of the material with the aim of creating a more coherent narrative as well as ensuring that each day stands on its own.   So day one is Complexity and how you can manage it, day two is all about Cynefin, day three the organisational and human aspects with day four covering narrative.  

Historically I have always moved directly into Cynefin so it has been an interesting experiment to leave that for day two, which allows a focus on the broad principles of managing a complex environment along with key related items such as coherence, power laws and exaptation.  The morning (which is also a stand alone course) allowed for several discussions on treating complex problems as if they were ordered along with aspects of creating human sensor networks using SenseMaker® and some of the new ideas for innovation based around managed serendipity.  

All of that made it easier to move into two techniques in the afternoon.  Future Backwards, explained in the context of side-casting and ABIDE (attractors, boundaries, identity, diversity and environment) as a perspective question to assist decision making.  I finished off with the new Leadership table but I think that is Cynefin specific so it may go to day two on future programmes leaving a little more time for a full future backwards exercise.

Some of the participants may not realise this, but it was a more relaxed pace in terms of content but its still a lot to take in.  Actually the content is fairly low, but its very different and that takes more time to absorb!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

About the Cynefin Company

The Cynefin Company (formerly known as Cognitive Edge) was founded in 2005 by Dave Snowden. We believe in praxis and focus on building methods, tools and capability that apply the wisdom from Complex Adaptive Systems theory and other scientific disciplines in social systems. We are the world leader in developing management approaches (in society, government and industry) that empower organisations to absorb uncertainty, detect weak signals to enable sense-making in complex systems, act on the rich data, create resilience and, ultimately, thrive in a complex world.
ABOUT USSUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER

Cognitive Edge Ltd. & Cognitive Edge Pte. trading as The Cynefin Company and The Cynefin Centre.

© COPYRIGHT 2024

< Prev

Healthy together!

The wonderful weekend brunches are a real delight here in Melbourne. The breakfast culture is ...

More posts

Next >

The Chaotic domain

So in the last in this series of updates, we move to the chaotic domain. ...

More posts

linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram