In leadership and strategy, one-size-fits-all thinking can lead to costly mistakes. What works beautifully in one context may fail completely in another. That’s where the Cynefin Framework comes in—a practical tool for navigating uncertainty by helping you understand what kind of problem you’re facing before deciding how to act.
Developed by Dave Snowden while working at IBM, the Cynefin (pronounced kuh-NEV-in) Framework helps leaders diagnose situations and apply the right decision-making approach. It’s especially useful in fast-moving environments where complexity, risk, and uncertainty are always in play.
The Five Domains of the Cynefin Framework
At its core, the Cynefin Framework categorizes situations into five domains:
- Clear (formerly “Simple”)
- Complicated
- Complex
- Chaotic
- Disorder (when you’re unsure which domain you’re in)
Let’s break down each domain—and how to respond accordingly.
1. Clear (Simple): Obvious Cause and Effect
Example: Following a standard operating procedure (e.g., processing payroll, onboarding new employees)
- Characteristics:
- Clear cause and effect
- Best practices are known
- Problems are predictable
- Approach:
- Sense → Categorize → Respond
- Apply rules, follow procedures
Advice: Don’t overthink it. Just apply known solutions. But watch for oversimplification—this domain can slide into complacency.
2. Complicated: Multiple Right Answers
Example: Engineering a new product, drafting legal contracts, diagnosing a mechanical issue
- Characteristics:
- Clear but not obvious relationships
- Experts are needed to analyze and solve
- Multiple viable solutions
- Approach:
- Sense → Analyze → Respond
- Bring in expertise, compare options
Advice: Respect the role of knowledge and skill. Avoid rushing; take time to weigh alternatives.
3. Complex: Unknown Unknowns
Example: Building company culture, responding to market disruption, launching a startup
- Characteristics:
- Cause and effect only clear in hindsight
- Emergent patterns
- High uncertainty
- Approach:
- Probe → Sense → Respond
- Experiment, learn from feedback, adapt
Advice: Let go of the need for control. Instead, create safe-to-fail experiments, listen deeply, and iterate. The goal is not to find the perfect solution but to enable emergence.
4. Chaotic: No Time to Think
Example: Natural disasters, cybersecurity breaches, PR crises
- Characteristics:
- No clear cause and effect
- High turbulence
- Immediate action needed
- Approach:
- Act → Sense → Respond
- Take rapid action to stabilize the situation
Advice: Leadership must assert control, make fast decisions, and bring order. Once stability returns, you can shift the problem into another domain (e.g., Complex or Complicated).
5. Disorder: You Don’t Know Where You Are
This is the default state when teams or leaders can’t agree on how to frame a problem.
- Approach: Break the problem into parts and assign each to a more appropriate domain. Avoid reacting based on personal bias (e.g., engineers framing everything as Complicated; HR seeing everything as Complex).
How to Use the Cynefin Framework in Practice
- Pause and Diagnose: Don’t default to solving. First ask: What kind of situation is this?
- Avoid Mismatched Responses:
- Using best practices in a Complex situation can stifle innovation.
- Overanalyzing a Clear situation leads to wasted time.
- Ignoring a Chaotic problem delays urgent action.
- Build Decision-Making Agility: Teach your team to recognize domains and shift their thinking accordingly.
- Map Problems Visually: Use a whiteboard or digital tool to sort parts of a challenge into different domains. Often, a single initiative has components in multiple zones.
Final Thought: In the Cynefin Framework Context Is Everything
The power of the Cynefin Framework lies in its ability to reveal a truth often ignored in leadership: not all problems are created equal. By diagnosing the nature of the challenge before rushing to solve it, you dramatically improve your chances of making the right decision at the right time.
In a world that demands both speed and wisdom, Cynefin is a map—not of solutions, but of how to think more clearly.
Want to workshop a decision you’re facing using the Cynefin Framework? Drop a comment or message—I’m happy to help you map it out.
Read more about the Cynefin Framework here from the team behind it.
For another framework that helps organise your thinking try this post about the OODA loop.