The Voice of the

Customera
collaborative narrative
project
Viv Read and Marcia Dwonczyk
June 18 2015
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Government Services Framework

Context

External Inuences

Impact
Service

Program or service
objec6ves

Input

Process

Output

Technical-eciency
Cost-eec6veness

Program eec6veness

Source: SCRGSP (2006)

Outcomes

The$Complexability$
Process$

Com
nee plex(
d
iden s,(issu
es(
6e
d(

Scoping(
Phase(

Monitoring(
ongoing(
feedback,(
Discovery(analysis(

Phase(

Monitoring(
ongoing(
feedback,(
analysis(
Interven6on(

Making(
Sense(Phase(

Engaging(with(diverse(
stakeholders(to(
develop(a(shared(
understanding(of(the(
complex(issues(,how(
to(partner(and(
collaborate.(Establish(
project(boundaries.(

Gathering(pre(
hypothesis(
informa6on(from(
diverse(
perspec6ves(to(
deepen(
understanding(of(
the(current(state(

Gaining(new(insights(
through(analysis(of(
pa<erns(emerging>(
what(is(and(isnt(
working;(what(are(
the(key(barriers,(
mo6vators(

Partnering/(collabora6on(
Community(/stakeholder(
engagement(
Co>design(project(
workshops(

Narra6ve(capture(
Anecdote(Circles(
Sensemaker(
soNware(
Nave(Interviews(

Mapping(to(the(
Cynen(Framework(
Analysis(workshop(s)(

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Time(
limited(or(
on>going(

Monitoring(impact(
over(6me(

Phase(

Moving(from(
insights(to(ac6on(
through(the(co>
design(of(strategies(
to(address(insights(
so(that(impacts(can(
be(monitored(
Probe(design(
Co>design(of(safe(to(
fail(innova6ons(
Network(s6mula6on(
Repor6ng(

Understanding Complexity-Cynefin
U
N
O
R
D
E
R
E
D

Complex
Cause & Eect coherent in
retrospect, do not repeat
Complex adap?ve
systems
Mul?ple op?ons
Emergent Prac?ce
Probe- Sense- Respond

Chaos
No Cause & Eect
rela?onships perceivable
Take ac?on
immediatley
Crisis management
Novel prac?ce
Act- Sense- Respond
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Complicated

O
R
D
E
Obvious
R
Cause & Eect rela?ons
repeatable & predictable
E
Process re-engineering
Rules, procedures, standardised
D
Best Prac?ce

Cause & Eect separated by

space and ?me
Systems thinking
Domain of experts
Good Prac?ce
Sense- Analyse- Respond
Disorder

Sense- Categorise- Respond

Cogni6ve Edge

Measuring what matters

Complex'unorder'

Complicated'Order'

Decision(Making:(
Probe/Sense/Respond(
Performance'Monitoring:'
Emergent'prac7ce'
(innova7on)'
impacts'

Decision(Making:(

Chao7c'Unorder'

Simple'Order'

Decision(Making(
Act/Sense/Respond(
Performance'Monitoring:'
Novel'Prac7ce'

Sense/Analyse/Respond(
Performance'Monitoring:'
Good'Prac7ce''
Indicators'

Decision(Making:

((

ordered%systems%

un,ordered%systems%

The Cynefin FrameworkPerformance Monitoring

Sense(/Categorise/Respond(
Performance'Monitoring:'
Best'Prac7ce''
Outputs'
Quan7ta7ve'Measures'

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Organising a Childrens Party

Baking a cake

Building a rocket ship

Raising a child

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hLp://
www.youtube.com
/watch?
v=Miwb92eZaJg
Link to Daves
youtube re a
childrens party 3-5
minutes

Why Complex Methods?

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

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Key characteristics of
complex systems
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

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Thinking Differently
Order
qEvent prediction

Unorder
qLandscape management

qAnticipate the future/s

qLook for emergence

qStability

qResilience

qRules and regulation

qHeuristics & Habits

qEfficiency

qEffectiveness

qOutcomes

qPatterns and Impacts

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What is different about the complexity approach??

Traditional consultation/ survey
approaches

Research

Seeks opinions;
raises expectations of response

Complexity/SenseMaker approach
Captures stories about actual experiences;
increasing engagement and dignity

Direct questions usually expected; easily

gamed

Respondents decide whats important to share;

eliciting more revealing answers

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

Decision- Making

Can be dominated by powerful individuals Amplifies weaker voices, which often serve as early
or agendas
warning signals of emerging opportunities and threats
Monitoring

Cost
!

Assessments come too late to influence

action

Respondents become real-time sensors of whats

working; creating collaborative cross-border teams

Snapshots in time not easily comparable

Trends in attitudes and behaviours tracked;

increasing sensitivity to evolving situations

No cost advantage in scaling

Efficient technology for data collection, storage and

engagement has potential to scale across multiple
locations

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

Elements of a SenseMakerTM Narrative Capture

Narra+ve Capture
Entry Point
Customised workow for each
applica6on

Promp+ng Ques+ons
Specic to each instrument
Language tailored to target audience
Designed to elicit a range of experiences

Specic to each instrument

Language tailored to target group
from
Designed Experiences
to elicit range of experiences

par+cipants

MCQs about experience

Specic to each experience
Provides context for experience
Lens through which paLerns are recognised

Filters about experience

Specic to each experience

Provides basis for tracking rela6ve nature of
experiences over 6me
Can be either Triads or Polari6es

General research ques+ons

Not related to experience told
Explora6on of related areas
Op6onal

Specic to each experience

Language tailored to target group
Provide
basis for tracking rela6ve
Demographics
nature of experiences over 6me

stablished
double nega6ve
Not Erelated
to aes xperience
told slider bars

Provided
only once per data entry session

Prompting Questions: to elicit a response about the program

Place people in a context they can understand

Provoke people's memories by creating a context around extreme boundaries (moments of pleasure
and pain)
Allow the question to be answered in the third person
Do not privilege a certain type of experience over another (ie ask for either negative or positive
experiences)
They pertain to the issue at hand without revealing the nature of the study or any hypotheses held by
the project team

Prompting Questions: Examples

Vocational Excellence
Think of a time when you found training really hard but chose to keep going. What happened?

Climate Change
Imagine you are in a lift (elevator) with 2 people who are discussing how people and institutions are reacting to
climate change. One person mentions that several obstacles constrain the extent to which people are able to
prepare for impacts and/or adapt. The other person says that he knows of a few examples in which people and
institutions are already responding. They turn to you and ask for your perspective on what makes preparation /
reaction possible or difficult. How would you respond?

Impact of Executive Education

You have been asked to outline what has happened in applying the learning from your program in your
workplace. What experience would you relate?

Future of Volunteering
A Local newspaper article stated in part.
The government has announced an inquiry into the amount of additional funding that will be needed to deliver
services to the community that are currently provided by volunteers. The competition for peoples time, the
differences in attitudes to community service between the younger and older generations, and increased selfishness
are regarded as key to the level of funding required to the level of additional funding required to deliver services.
How would you respond?

Narrative fragments: material captured in the field in

its original form
Australians wont act till it's too late.
I know very few people who are living an appropriate life for the 21st
century. Hopefully I am, or getting there.
Lack of awareness of the scale and enormity of the issues engenders
apathy and complacency, which is reflected in the (lack of effective)
political responses. For many people, there are strong cultural biases
against the need to restructure the economy and an inability to see a
different future. They are in psychological denial.Vested interests
capitalise on this and the confusion of the complexity of the issue to
stir doubt. Others believe in action, but not action that affects them
materially in any way. We are living in a fools paradise, and borrowing
the future from our children.

Our steps to climate adaptation.

Some individuals and businesses are already trying to "do their bit" so
to speak, which is a step in the right direction.

Act now
It is imperative that all individuals, agencies and business organizations start to plan
for the impacts of climate change now. Credible international science indicates
that climate change is real and we now have benchmark data and preliminary
modelling to start planning for different scenarios. We need to examine the
projected climate change impacts for each of our areas of interest and in the larger
context and to start developing adaptation options to prevent, avoid and minimise
detrimental impacts. We need to change our outlook and to recognise that the
environment or the land and its systems is fundamental to all life on earth. We can
no longer pursue purely narrow economic interests on the assumption that if
things become too difficult or too dirty we can move on to a new frontier
(Boulding, R.G. (1967) 'The coming spaceship earth'). Economic and social values
are important but they need to be considered in the context of the 'a priori' value
of the environment in a hierarchical approach. We need to think outside of the
square and to change our practices from reliance on organizational and
professional standards and structures that rely on past models which have actively
contributed to the current situation. We need to stop theorizing and start acting.
We need to stop describing the problem and to start developing best practice
guidelines to assist in implementation of adaptation measures. Above all we need
political leadership and professional courage to avoid foundering on short-term,
political agendas and inaction based on self-interest.

Signification - Triads:
Assessing the relationship between three competing Interests

Signification - Polarities:
Opposing opposites to uncover layers of meaning
Absence of

Ideal State

Excess of

Triad Interpretation: How three competing themes

relate
Work environment open to new initiatives:

Area of the business most impacted:

Encouraged use of
new learnings

Risk
Averse

Team

Too much else

going on

Me

Difference to the business:

Process

Money

Clients

Organisation

Impact Dashboard: Measurement of Impact over time

Signification Multiple Choice:

The person who provides the experience decides what it means

Collaborative Engagement and

Decision making

Sam Kaner
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What do we know about the way

People see the world?
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
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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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Narrative & Sensemaking

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 dont 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 dont
know about yet?)
q Impact measurement (how do we know that something is
working?)

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Narrative/ micro narratives

!

+!

!
!

+!

+!

+!

+!
Others!tell!
their!stories!

+!
!

=!

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.
!

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Narrative
qWe tell more than we know we tell
qWe know more than we write
qThe importance of people making meaning of their
own stories/ experiences

Note: in Australia story is interpreted as made up/

pretend, better to prompt to tell of experience
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Prompt Questions
Indirect
Unable to gift or game
Stimulate recall a real experience
Set context to trigger identity pattern and emotions
Does not indicate a preferred answer
Positive and negative not privileged
Pre hypothesis
Can be story, picture, film, situation

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Triad design
Drawn from
knowledge in the
field
All positive or all
negative so unable
to game/ gift

Treated
according to
merit
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From insights to ac6on

How do we get more
stories like this/ less
stories like that?
Treated the
same

Everyone on
their own 2 feet

Want to know more??

viv.read@complexability.com.au
0414294339
marcia@complexability.com.au
0408602222
www.complexability.com.au

w w w. c o m p l e x a b i l i t y. c o m . a u