Kayaker demonstrating participatory knowing in a chaotic domain.
I’ve been reading the first book in a two-volume series of “Design Unbound” recommended by Col Jason “TOGA” Trew, PhD (https://lnkd.in/gTf4_T-r). The authors are using the metaphor of a white water kayaker to describe interacting with complex or chaotic environments/contexts. This reminded me of a couple things:
1. Dr. Preston Cline Ed.D describing navigating risk and uncertainty by Special Operations Forces in the same manner (“Paddle fast while staying focused on the openings.”) in a white paper almost ten years ago.
2. Snowden’s Cynefin framework (https://lnkd.in/gMeTWKRq) to describe the different domains of human endeavor. There's a good short summary of this concept relating to leaders here: https://lnkd.in/gxsvC6xM
3. John Vervaeke’s “Awakening from the Meaning Crisis” video series (https://lnkd.in/g2y9k_PN) where he talks about 4 kinds of knowing:
a. Propositional Knowing: Facts and figures.
b. Procedural Knowing: Step by step instructions and checklists.
c. Perspectival Knowing: Using a base of understanding/experience to deal with a situation/issue.
d. Participatory Knowing: The action of doing is where the knowledge lies.
Vervaeke’s larger point that he’s making through the series is that we have stripped out a lot of perspectival and participatory forms of knowing from our society, which is exacerbating the “meta-crisis”, the combination of environmental, socio-economic, spiritual, and political crises we face today.
5. Story Grid Guild training where Snowden’s complex domain maps to perspectival knowing and the chaotic domain maps to participatory knowing. I can’t tell right now if this is a Shawn Coyne insight or a John Vervaeke insight yet.
**And where that all connects is that today, the big challenges we face are not in the simple or complicated domains (mostly). They lie in the complex and chaotic contexts. These require both perspectival (experience, constant learning/reflection) and participatory (full send, like a kayaker in class IV rapids) forms of knowing.**
AND...... We have to do this in the face of technology and social media robbing us of the very attentional and cognitive bandwidth to do it..... So we have that going for us, which is nice.
As I finished the first volume, one last thing occurred to me. A lot of dealing with complexity and chaos is the Chinese concept of Wu-Wei, or non-doing/striving. More on that at a later date. GEN McCrystal talks about leadership being more like a gardener, setting the conditions for your team to flourish. To be continued…