Navigating Complexity in Government
A half-day introduction to complexity thinking and the Cynefin framework for civil servants who make decisions in complex or ambiguous situations.
About This Course
This half-day course introduces complexity thinking and the Cynefin framework to people who work in government. By the end you’ll be able to work out what kind of problem you are dealing with and choose a way of deciding that suits it.
Government is full of complex, ambiguous situations with no clear right answer. In traditional project management you assume you can plan your way through them. Complexity thinking gives you better tools for working with uncertainty.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of the half day you’ll be able to:
- Use the Cynefin framework to tell clear, complicated, complex and chaotic contexts apart
- Use sense-making to assess what kind of problem you are dealing with
- Choose a way of making decisions under uncertainty that suits the context
- Explain how policy, delivery and operations interact as complex systems in government
- Use techniques for dealing with complexity in your day-to-day work
Course Agenda
- Session 1: Introduction to complexity thinking, the Cynefin framework
- Session 2: Sense-making exercises, decision-making approaches, applying complexity thinking to government scenarios
Who This Is For
- Anyone working in government who deals with complex, ambiguous or fast-changing situations
- Delivery Managers and Product Managers who make decisions under uncertainty
- Policy professionals who work at the point where policy intent meets delivery
What’s Included
- 3.5 hours of live virtual training
- Digital course materials and reference guide
- A Mural workspace
- Certificate of attendance
- Email support for 30 days after the course
Format
We run open sessions live on Microsoft Teams and Mural. For a private group we can teach face to face at your premises. Open dates appear on this page when we set them, and we run the course for your team alone on a date we agree with you. A private cohort costs £2,750+VAT for up to 16 people.