Complex Facilitation

How do you know if complex facilitation is for you?

Complex facilitation asks facilitators to work with uncertainty, accept unexpected developments and disruptions, and understand when a brief move toward chaos may be useful. That is what we ask from the participants – and it also applies to the facilitators! When we do this, we enable groups of people to collectively make sense and meaning of complex issues, and we invite the emergence of novelty.

A playbook is not enough: facilitators need to understand why each method works and how its complexity principles guide its use. The session has a purpose, but its substantive outcome is not fixed in advance. Facilitators choose processes that help participants question old patterns and explore unfamiliar possibilities.

The author contrasts the two perspectives as follows:

Traditional facilitation perspective	Complex facilitation perspective
Facilitators are responsible for giving clear and unambiguous instructions so that participants ‘get it right and do not fail.’	* There is no right answer. It is about exploration, insights, discovering options and alternatives, not searching for the ‘right’ answer. We cannot even be sure of what the “right” question is. * Complex issues are not resolved. They are nudged, danced with, managed, and monitored but never resolved.
As a facilitator, I am responsible for the experience that participants have – their level of engagement, comfort, and enjoyment.	* Facilitators are responsible for providing the environment and processes that enable engagement and participation in complexity. * To minimize the realities of disruption, ambiguity, and discomfort would be dishonest. * People may experience the process as frustrating and fail to see the tangible value in the experience for some time – maybe never.
My identity as a ‘good and competent’ facilitator is directly linked to the visible contribution I have made to the outcomes.	You are not the expert in the room – you don’t comment on content, you don’t answer questions and you don’t ensure a particular outcome. If your identity requires feedback about your role in solving problems and being an expert, then complex facilitation is probably not for you.

After encountering Cynefin, and its approach to complex facilitation, I have applied its principles and practice extensively in my work. A common experience for me and my colleagues is that using the Cynefin Framework is an approach you “settle into.” While it is generally uncomfortable at first, the more you use it, the more you trust the process, and it soon becomes your own ‘business as usual.’ In my experience, working this way has led to more effective outcomes for participants.

I have little desire to go back to traditional ‘expert’ facilitation. Facilitators interested in this approach can use Cynefin to consider which methods fit the situation.

References

1. Kaner, S. Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, 2nd Ed. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass, 2007. Editorial: Facilitation for development. 2015. Knowledge Management for Development Journal 11(1): 1-10 (no page number was available for the exact quote.)
2. Quoted from web page without exact page number: https://www.cleverism.com/what-facilitation-really-means-and-why-its-key-to-the-future-of-work/ Bens, Ingrid. Facilitating with Ease!: A Step-by-Step Guidebook with Customizable Worksheets on Cd-Rom. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
3. See International Association of Facilitators (https://www.iaf- world.org)

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Related Framework: Cynefin and The Flow System

John R. Turner and Nigel Thurlow

Authors

John R. Turner researches complexity, leadership, performance improvement, and team cognition at the University of North Texas.

Nigel Thurlow created Scrum the Toyota Way training and has worked on team science and agile practice, including at Toyota.

John and Nigel are the co-creators of The Flow System, and co-authors of The Flow System: The Evolution of Agile and Lean Thinking in an Age of Complexity and The Flow System Guide.

Source Chapter

chapter.png	Full Chapter	theory.png	Theoretical
chronology.png	Chronology: Piece 14 of 18	principles_Turner.png	Cynefin Principles

Cynefin’s Influence on The Flow System

John R. Turner and Nigel Thurlow

Turner and Thurlow compare open and closed systems, tame and wild problems, and the Toyota Production System and The Flow System. They relate the three-helix Flow System model to Cynefin as a way to help leaders work with complexity.