1. Making Sense of…
community engagement,
partnering, impacts and outcomes
Viv Read and Marcia Dwonczyk
Metropolitan Water Directorate
Showcase
May 19 2015
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2. Collaborative Engagement and
Decision making
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Sam
Kaner

3. What do we know about the way
People ‘see’ the world?
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¨ Decision making by ‘first fit’ pattern match
¨ Move between multiple identities to make sense of
the world
¨ Look for intention & cause, even where none exists
(retrospectively)
¨ Learn better from failure than success
¨ Create order by preference

4. Why Complex Methods?
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¨ Increasing acknowledgement of complex or
‘intractable’ problems
¨ What do we mean by ‘complex’?
¨ The focus of transformational partnerships
¨ If we keep doing things the same way we will keep
getting the same results..
¨ Need a way to better understand if we are to act
appropriately
¨ Agenda for reform and innovation

5. Key characteristics of
complex systems
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¨ Where parts of the system are so interdependent
that the relationship between them will be at best
partially known
¨ Where the characteristics or attributes that arise
from the interaction are not predictable or
controllable
¨ Context will determine what options emerge in a
particular situation
¨ There are multiple options and possibilities

6. Understanding Complexity-Cynefin
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Complex
Complicated
Obvious
Chaos
Cause
&
Effect
separated
by
space
and
2me
• Systems
thinking
• Domain
of
experts
• Good
Prac2ce
Sense-­‐
Analyse-­‐
Respond
Cause
&
Effect
rela2ons
repeatable
&
predictable
• Process
re-­‐engineering
• Rules,
procedures,
standardised
• Best
Prac2ce
Sense-­‐
Categorise-­‐
Respond
No
Cause
&
Effect
rela2onships
perceivable
• Take
ac2on
immediatley
• Crisis
management
• Novel
prac2ce
Act-­‐
Sense-­‐
Respond
Cause
&
Effect
coherent
in
retrospect,
do
not
repeat
• Complex
adap2ve
systems
• Mul2ple
op2ons
• Emergent
Prac2ce
Probe-­‐
Sense-­‐
Respond
Disorder
O
R
D
E
R
E
D
U
N
O
R
D
E
R
E
D
©Cogni6ve
Edge

7. Sense-making
q Cynefin is a sense making framework not a
categorisation model… how do we make sense of
the world so that we can act in it
q Naturalising sense-making
q revert to the natural sciences
q Work with humans as they evolved to be
q bounded diversity: most things are right, but within
boundaries
q Critical Sense making questions
q Do we see the data?
q Do we attend to it?
q Do we act on it?
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8. Organising a Children’s Party
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¨ Baking a cake
¨ Building a rocket ship
¨ Raising a child
h9p://
www.youtube.com
/watch?
v=Miwb92eZaJg
Link
to
Dave’s
youtube
re
a
children’s
party
3-­‐5
minutes

9. q Narra6ve
works
to
create:
q Emergent
meaning
(instead
of
already
deciding
on
what
meaning
we
would
like
people
to
have)
q Serendipitous
search
(we
don’t
know
what
we
are
looking
for
yet)
q Pre-­‐hypothesis
research
(we
need
to
work
out
what
we
need
to
do,
but
want
to
make
sure
we
are
on
the
right
track)
q Weak
signal
detec6on
(what
are
we
missing
that
we
don’t
know
about
yet?)
q Impact
measurement
(how
do
we
know
that
something
is
working?)
Narrative & Sensemaking
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10. Narrative/ micro narratives
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!
!
!
!
!
!+!
!
+!
+!
+!
+!
+!
Tell!your!story!
=!
Making!sense!of!
complex!issues!
Stories tell much more than any survey or questionnaire.
They can be told by everyone involved and can be written, pictures,
or spoken and recorded.
Everyone takes some time to explain their own story.
Its not someone else trying to guess what it means.
New understanding comes from putting all the stories together.
This helps design new strategies to change things for the better.
People continue to tell stories and everyone can see whether the
strategies are working by watching for the changes in stories.
!
Others!tell!
their!stories!

11. Differences in Perspectives highlight the need for the
“Voice of the Customer”
Expert
predic+ons
of
most
important
issues
to
local
communi+es
Community
feedback
on
development
issues
most
important
to
them
Experts
and
Implementers(n=65)
Stories
–
the
Voice
(n
=
2530
#1
Food
#1
Social
RelaIons
#2
Shelter
#2
Safety
#
3Safety
#3
Food
#
4Water
#4
Self
Esteem
#5
HIV/Aids
#5
Other
Health
#6
Educa6on
#6
Educa6on
Global
Giving
Sensemaker
®Project

12. Government
Services
Framework
Program
or
service
objec6ves
Input
Process
Output
Outcomes
Impact
External
Influences
Program
effec6veness
Cost-­‐effec6veness
Technical-­‐efficiency
Service
Source:
SCRGSP
(2006)
Context

13. Measuring what matters
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Simple'Order'
Decision(Making: ((
• Sense(/Categorise/Respond(
Performance'Monitoring:'
• Best'Prac7ce''
• Outputs'
• Quan7ta7ve'Measures'
Complicated'Order'
Decision(Making:(
• Sense/Analyse/Respond(
Performance'Monitoring:'
• Good'Prac7ce''
• Indicators'
Complex'unorder'
Decision(Making:(
• Probe/Sense/Respond(
Performance'Monitoring:'
• Emergent'prac7ce'
(innova7on)'
• impacts'
Chao7c'Unorder'
Decision(Making(
• Act/Sense/Respond(
Performance'Monitoring:'
• Novel'Prac7ce'
The Cynefin Framework-
Performance Monitoring
ordered%systems%
un,ordered%systems%
!

14. !
Traditional consultation/ survey
approaches
Complexity/SenseMaker® approach
Research
Seeks opinions;
raises expectations of response Captures stories about actual experiences;
increasing engagement and dignity
Direct questions usually expected; easily
gamed
Respondents decide what’s important to share;
eliciting more revealing answers
Decision- Making
Data comes with little or no context
All data are linked to original stories; providing clear
context during analysis
Require expert interpretation
Visualisation software presents data as patterns,
which decision-makers can directly engage with
Can be dominated by powerful individuals
or agendas
Amplifies weaker voices, which often serve as early
warning signals of emerging opportunities and threats
Monitoring
Assessments come too late to influence
action
Respondents become real-time sensors of what’s
working; creating collaborative cross-border teams
Snapshots in time not easily comparable
Trends in attitudes and behaviours tracked;
increasing sensitivity to evolving situations
Cost No cost advantage in scaling Efficient technology for data collection, storage and
engagement has potential to scale across multiple
locations
What is different about the complexity approach??

15. w w w . c o m p l e x a b i l i t y . c o m . a u
Scoping(
Phase(
Discovery(
Phase(
Making(
Sense(Phase(
Interven6on(
Phase(
Gaining(new(insights(
through(analysis(of(
pa<erns(emerging>(
what(is(and(isn’t(
working;(what(are(
the(key(barriers,(
mo6vators(
The$Complexability$
Process$
Engaging(with(diverse(
stakeholders(to(
develop(a(shared(
understanding(of(the(
complex(issues(,how(
to(partner(and(
collaborate.(Establish(
project(boundaries.(
Complex(needs,(issues(
iden6fied(
Monitoring(impact(
over(6me(
Monitoring(
ongoing(
feedback,(
analysis(
Monitoring(
ongoing(
feedback,(
analysis(
Gathering(‘pre(
hypothesis’(
informa6on(from(
diverse(
perspec6ves(to(
deepen(
understanding(of(
the(current(state(
Moving(from(
insights(to(ac6on(
through(the(co>
design(of(strategies(
to(address(insights(
so(that(impacts(can(
be(monitored(
Partnering/(collabora6on(
Community(/stakeholder(
engagement(
Co>design(project(
workshops(
Narra6ve(capture(
Anecdote(Circles(
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soNware(
Naïve(Interviews(
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Probe(design(
Co>design(of(safe(to(
fail(innova6ons(
Network(s6mula6on(
Repor6ng(
Time(
limited(or(
on>going(

16. Want
to
know
more??
• viv.read@complexability.com.au
• 0414294339
• marcia@complexability.com.au
• 0408602222
• www.complexability.com.au
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