In Dave Snowden’s Cynefin framework, there are four operating contexts, simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic. I’m going to discuss the complex context as I believe this is where culture change exists, and adopting trauma-informed care into practice is very much a culture change. In the complex context, cause and effect relationships are not repeatable, can not be predicted, and only make sense when you reflect on them. However, certain patterns can be observed as they emerge and so complex contexts require a form of pattern management. In complex systems, emergent work practices is the goal. Snowden recommends we probe, then sense, and then respond to encourage these emergent work practices.

Probe

This simply means doing something, or making a change in the system. This is where “safe-to-fail” experiments are conducted to uncover hidden paths that demonstrate trajectory. These pattern structures give us an indication of where things are going. We can observe these patterns emerge from interactions between individuals in the system. In a trauma-informed context, this means introducing trauma-informed training or interventions and then taking a step back to allow patterns to emerge. This is like disturbing a flock of birds only to observe them fly away like a wave across the sky, or when you shake a log and all the creepy crawlies come crawling out! It is easier to spot a pattern when a flock of birds move across the sky swooping and diving together, it is a fascinating wonder of nature.

Sense

This is our reflection period. We look closely at the patterns that our intervention has introduced and we observe them for changes in trajectory. We may develop insights based on our pattern recognition. The purpose of the Roots tool was to enable sense-making and to identify these patterns, and also to co-produce insights to move forward with trauma-informed care.

Respond

Once we have reflected on the patterns that have emerged from our intervention, we can respond to them accordingly. If we have identified a pattern indicating positive progress, we may wish to do more of that intervention, or the part of it associated to the positive growth. We can also take away resources or parts of the intervention that are not providing positive growth. Can you guess what we do next? You are correct if you said we start from the top – we probe, sense and respond all over again!

…And Repeat

We might have new information to work on or new interventions to introduce. This is where we again introduce those small and diverse experiments, possible insights we have discovered during the first run through. We then reflect and we then respond. In complex contexts, control over the situation or system is impossible and there is no “problem’. Being prepared in a complex context requires the protection of time and space for patterns to emergence. Pattern recognition activities are the key here!