Organizations today face a barrage of challenges—some straightforward, others chaotic, and many sitting somewhere in between.
Yet, decision-making in these environments often defaults to rigid processes or gut instincts, neither guaranteeing success. Enter the Cynefin Framework, a sense-making change management model that helps leaders categorize problems and determine the best course of action based on their nature.
Originally developed by Dave Snowden, the Cynefin Framework provides five domains—Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, and Disorder—each representing a different type of situation requiring a distinct approach. For instance, a problem in the Clear domain has a well-defined best practice, whereas Complex issues require experimentation and adaptability. By understanding where a challenge fits, organizations can avoid costly missteps, improve strategic thinking, and guide teams with greater clarity.
This article explores the five Cynefin domains with real-world examples, demonstrates how leaders can apply the framework to organizational decision-making, and examines its role in change management and business process management. We’ll also take a critical look at its benefits and limitations—because while the Cynefin Framework is a powerful tool, it’s not a magic bullet.
What Is the Cynefin Framework?
The word Cynefin, pronounced ku-ne-vin, means “habitat” in Welsh. In 1999, Dave Snowden, a long-time leader at IBM, used this concept to develop a conceptual framework for decision-making that accounted for the unique and dynamic circumstances surrounding problems and influencing how we approach them.
This framework is divided into different domains, into which its users can categorize a problem to begin understanding the problem, how it came about, and what information is already known. The domains differ based on the problem-solver’s details on the problem’s cause and effect. Once the problem is placed into one of these domains, the framework provides an introductory course of action to resolve the problem.
This tool has proven so effective that IBM established the IBM Cynefin Center for Organizational Complexity in 2002. The framework was eventually adopted by other industries and even introduced into Welsh school curricula by the Welsh government.
Cynefin Framework’s Five Domains
The Cynefin Framework is divided into five domains into which the user categorizes their problem. The four domains, Clear, Complicated, Complex, and Chaotic, are arranged into four quadrants, with the fifth domain, Confused, in the center.
On the left side of this map are Complex and Chaotic. These are considered the “unordered” domains, containing problems for which the cause and effect are unclear. The domains on the right side, Clear and Complicated, are ordered because problems in these domains have known causes and effects.
Let’s break down each domain into more detail, as well as provide best practices for how to approach each domain and a workplace example:
Clear domain
Also known as simple or obvious, the ‘clear’ domain encompasses the known knowns. Problems in this domain are well-defined and stable, and the causes and effects related to these problems are known. They also are the most straightforward to resolve, falling under the purview of established protocols and best practices. Avoid overthinking here and simply apply the solution you know will work.
Approach: sense, categorize, respond: in other words, get a feel for the problem, categorize it, and then apply the established solution.
Example: A new employee needs to submit their first expense report. To resolve this problem, they access their company’s internal knowledge base for relevant documentation and follow their company’s standard procedures.
Complicated domain
The Complicated domain contains problems that require some analysis, often to choose from various possible answers or solutions. This domain contains the known unknowns, meaning the problem and its context are clear, but the solution will take some additional work. Problems in this domain often require an expert or individual with previous experience.
Approach: sense, analyze, respond: assess the problem, identify and weigh potential solutions, and then apply the chosen solution.
Example: A property manager has collected vendor proposals for a construction project in their building and needs to select the best contractor for the job. They make their choice after weighing the pros and cons of each proposal.
Complex domain
This domain includes problems that may not have resolutions and whose causes and effects can only be understood after attempted resolution. These problems are considered unknown unknowns because the problem itself is unclear. Searching for patterns can be extremely helpful here.
Decision Approach: probe, sense, respond.
Example: A small business owner needs to design a marketing campaign for a new product. This challenge can be addressed by conducting market research to get a sense of the demographics to target and what campaign formats might work best.
Chaotic domain
Characteristics: Problems that are so confusing they require immediate action – even before analyzing the context of the issue. The goal here is to apply constraints until the problem becomes manageable. Once some order is established, more rational actions can be taken.
Decision Approach: act, sense, respond.
Example: An IT manager receives word that their company has been subjected to a robust cyber attack, resulting in a data breach. To address this problem, the IT manager immediately mobilizes their team to identify and contain the impacted servers and alert law enforcement. From there, they can assess the extent of the breach and continue addressing the problem.
Confused domain
This domain sits at the center of the entire framework. Problems placed into this category are almost entirely opaque. However, this does not mean all hope is lost.
This domain is often a starting point at which a large problem can be broken down into contributing parts that can be addressed individually. This way the problem quickly becomes more manageable.
Decision Approach: Break the problem down into smaller parts to be addressed.
Example: A sales manager becomes aware of a sudden decrease in sales. His team confirms that there have been no discernible changes to the products or sales approaches. The lack of clarity makes this problem confusing, but the manager and their team can break down the larger problem of decreased sales and conduct research into the potential causes for this drop. By investigating each of these potential factors and devising plans that would address each of them, the team can begin experimenting with approaches to bring the numbers back up.
If you are having trouble categorizing your issue, ask yourself the following question:
- Is the situation stable or dynamic?
- Are established best practices actually suitable for this problem?
- Does somebody besides me already know how to resolve this?
- Can I confidently predict the results of my chosen resolution?
- Have I encountered a similar problem before?
How to Use the Cynefin Framework for Organizational Decision-Making
The Cynefin Framework is helpful in any decision-making situation. It is commonly used in business to develop marketing plans, products, and long-term organizational strategies. It is also valuable in emergencies, as it helps users make sense of emerging and unforeseen problems.
No matter the nature of the problem, the Cynefin Framework aids in decision-making by prompting the problem-solver to take a beat and assess the information at hand before jumping to a resolution. Here are some best practices for using the Cynefin Framework in your organization:
Educate leadership and teams
Introduce your teams to this tool during onboarding and upskilling activities and convey the importance of problem-solving skills across job areas. As your workforce gets used to applying the framework, it will become second nature and improve decision-making throughout the company.
Map organizational challenges for each domain
Work with business leaders to apply the framework to their most pressing organizational challenges. This can help illuminate details that may have been previously missed and aid in resolving long-standing and large-scale challenges.
By mapping all of an organization’s biggest issues onto the framework, leaders can take in the full picture of the obstacles their organization is facing and begin looking for patterns that could be useful for resolving potentially foundational issues.
Develop domain-specific decision-making approaches
Here’s how you can create decision-making approaches based on different domains.
- Clear Domain: Create SOPs, checklists, and automated workflows to help employees carry out routine and predictable tasks.
- Complicated Domain: Develop expert review processes and formal analysis protocols to promote consistency in problem-solving and encourage collaboration across departments.
- Complex Domain: Foster a culture of experimentation, iterative development, and agile approaches to issue resolution.
- Chaotic Domain: Build crisis management teams and establish rapid response protocols to empower quick decision-making and help teams handle emergencies with tact and precision.
- Confused Domain: Develop strategies to break down problems and clarify uncertainties through investigation and dialogue.
Establish feedback loops and continuous sensing
Establish automated analytics monitoring of benchmarks and KPIs, conduct regular trend analyses, collect end-user feedback, and implement short-cycle experiments to alert teams of emerging problems for quick decision-making.
Empower teams to act within each domain
The Cynefin Framework has been shown to work in numerous contexts, including business and others. Encourage employees to use domain-specific approaches to address their problems and provide them with the resources they need to be successful.
Build a culture of flexibility and adaptation
Agility is a critically valuable attribute for both employees and organizations. Encourage your workforce to embrace innovation, engage in open dialogue, and adapt to changing circumstances. This will help develop a more agile workforce and organization that is well-equipped to respond to any challenge.
To enter this mindset, employees need support in the form of resources as much as encouragement. Provide them with continuous learning opportunities, communication tools, and technology like replica sandbox environments that allow employees to experiment with different solutions without risking impacting live data.
Monitor and evolve the framework’s application
As your workforce becomes accustomed to using the Cynefin Framework, check in periodically to confirm that employees are using it correctly and help eliminate confusion when possible. As time passes, you may notice certain trends in problem-solving outcomes that prompt you to adjust how it’s used within your company. Do this! The Cynefin Framework is intended to be a tool, so it is important to evolve applications to match the needs of your organization.
Benefits of the Cynefin Framework
The importance of problem-solving skills in the workplace cannot be overstated. Here are some of the key benefits of the Cynefin Framework for problem-solving:
- Enhanced agility: It provides straightforward characteristics to help employees easily categorize problems, and straightforward strategies for addressing problems across the different domains.
- Reduced risk: The Cynefin Framework speeds up response times and increases the likelihood of issue resolution on the first attempt, reducing the risk of escalating problems or creating new ones.
- Empowered leadership: This framework helps leaders navigate uncertainty and increase confidence in decision-making skills. By developing confident and adept leadership, you can create a sense of engagement that moves through the entire organization.
- Improved collaboration: When used across an organization, the Cynefin Framework can become a common language for problem-solving, empowering collaborative decision-making, and making communication easier in tense situations.
Limitations of the Cynefin Framework
- Domain misclassification can occur when problem-solvers are unfamiliar with the Cynefin Framework or when working with limited information. To fix this, introduce the framework as a useful tool across organizations and integrate it into training activities with examples to ensure that employees truly understand how it works.
- Team members using the Cynefin Framework can become overreliant on the framework, which is often better used as a jumping-off point for getting a handle on things. Provide teams with the tools they need to put the framework into action and encourage them to take actions that are clearly necessary, even if they don’t exactly fit with the Cynefin domain or response approach.
Case Studies of the Cynefin Framework Impact
The Cynefin framework is used in a wide range of contexts, within and outside of the business world. Here are two case studies that demonstrate the impact of the Cynefin framework
Portfolio Management Decision-making Research Study:
The authors of this study use the Cynefin framework to understand the impact of decision-making complexity in portfolio management. They built a simulation of a portfolio management decision-making process under different levels of complexity using the SenseMaker software, a tool created by Dave Snowden’s action research and development company, The Cynefin Company.
Participants in groups were introduced to different hypothetical scenarios and monitored how they deliberated through the decision-making process and moved problems between domains along the way. They ultimately found that research identifying the sources of uncertainty and the mechanisms to manage uncertainty becomes critical in the event of unexpected changes.
South African Manufacturing Company:
In 2015, the consultancy More Beyond partnered with a South African manufacturing industry to help leaders across the organization become better decision-makers in the face of uncertainty. Over 9 months, they engaged with the Cynefin Framework and Dave Snowden’s SenseMaker to develop problem-solving strategies based on patterns apparent across business challenges.
They used the tool to design“safe-to-fail” experiments and tapped into employee experiences to understand employee perceptions of safety at work. From there, they made iterative changes to culturally and operationally transform the organization into a safer and more open work environment.
FAQs on Cynefin Framework for Decision-Making
At first, the Cynefin Framework can feel somewhat abstract and ambiguous. To help you push through to the benefits of using the tool, we have assembled some of the most commonly asked questions leaders have when adopting the Cynefin Framework:
What types of problems does the Cynefin Framework address best?
The Cynefin framework is well-suited for addressing problems that involve unclear causes and uncertain solutions, such as crisis responses, digital transformation projects, and marketing campaign development.
This framework is designed to help employees choose the right approach to resolving different types of problems, remain calm in complex and chaotic scenarios, and develop innovative solutions to workplace challenges.
How do organizations measure the success of using the Cynefin Framework?
Organizations that implement the Cynefin framework on a wide scale can work with teams to understand which situations they are using the framework for and track performance metrics as proxies for successful use.
By tracking the performance of a project, team, or product before and after using the Cynefin framework, teams can project success rates, and cost savings, and gain an understanding of readiness for different types of problems and challenges.
What is the role of the Cynefin Framework in innovation management?
The Cynefin framework is a tool for helping decision-makers understand the contexts around problems for better problem-solving. Understanding these contexts gives individuals the information they need to experiment and come up with innovative solutions. This is especially true for problems in the Complex domain.
This framework promotes the use of feedback loops and continuous sensing and provides the right balance of structure and flexibility to help leaders build a culture of iterative learning and innovation.
Change Management Clicks Better With Whatfix
The Cynefin Framework can help employees solve a wide range of problems and be a useful tool for guiding organizations through large-scale change projects. To support employees through process updates and digital transformation, use a digital adoption platform (DAP) like Whatfix to provide personalized, relevant support to employees within the flow of work.
Whatfix DAP allows support teams to help employees learn new processes and software features through in-app messaging, guided flows, and personalized task lists. These tools lay on top of any work application to provide support and links to important resources without overwhelming them or pulling them away from their work.
Whatfix knowledge bases allow managers and other support teams to compile important resources for employees or end-users to encourage any-time access and independent problem-solving. Whatfix Analytics tracks user behavior to help leaders understand how employees interact with their work software and adapt support approaches for optimal use.
To learn more about Whatfix, schedule a free demo today!
