Cynefin, VUCA, & Salutogenesis

The following graphics are dropped here to begin the process of possibly integrating these concepts into a Salutogenic model for personal resilience, especially in education, and also for economic design.

What is still relevant in terms of salutogenesis in schools? How does this blend with designing a prosocial curriculum (peaceprofits) vs. prosocial schools and prosocial classrooms?

The breadth of activities on my plate make it difficult to go from inspiration and insight to cognitive completion, modeling, and information sharing.

If this sparks ideas or questions for you, great! Please share!

Salutogensis needs a graph here for the central concept of Sense of Coherence. The idea of salutogensis, or health generation, is that it is fundamentally described as “resilience”. Within the framework, resilience arises from three core attributes or life skills.

1. Life has Purpose. (This describes the desire of a person to be motivated to cope.)
2. Life is Comprehensible. (This describes the belief that the challenge is understood.)
3. Life is Manageable. (Describes one’s sense that coping resources are available.)

If it hasn’t become immediately obvious, comprehensibility is currently a critical challenge. How can we understand the problems/challenges we face? Do we have adequate information processing capacity? What is adequate or reasonable? Those are challenges from a cognitive standpoint.

From an economic design perspective, I propose a salutgenic model address the functions of an economy. The economic tools we use (such as money) must be:

1. Purpose-driven. The goal isn’t more money. Money is a tool. The goals must be more specifically stated, so that outcomes can be checked. The measurable goal can evolve, but the purpose reflects values, and, as a North Star with universal cultural relevance, remain the same. If and when there is disagreement, crossover can be found. For instance, peace could also be described as harmony, or trust. The purpose of our economic ecosystems are to design for peace, prosperity, regeneration, and wellbeing for all.
2. Comprehensible. This reflects a basic state of personal and mutual security. That we are working toward and building toward mutually beneficial goals. These reflect our investments, and our problem-solving and communication strategies toward those goals. That an economy is comprehensible also reflects that state to which it is coherent. To me this means that the heart and mind are aligned. For instance, equity in the housing market is incoherent. When I purchase a house, I want the value of that home to increase, so my personal investment increases. There is a level of cognitive dissonance that arises when our main means to future economic security create an out of reach housing situation for the masses. This was the initial impetus of the ideas that came out of Henry George’s book, Progress and Poverty. The ideas fomented a movement, which launched a game, which became Monopoly. Yet, while the original version, the Landlord’s Game, was designed to teach about the winner-take-all housing system as we know it, and offer an alternative (George’s single-tax option), there has been little to no creative thinking on the topic since — expect for the recent movement toward land trusts which is where I believe we have a chance to go back into coherence, and create “Comprehensible” solutions that provide equity and access to land.
3. Manageable. From an economic standpoint, that life is manageable is an indicator of our prosperity in terms of purchase power and meeting needs and wants. Do we have the means to meet our needs and wants? Are the resources available to us, and are the resources available in our communities? Is meeting our needs also manageable to do while regenerating the planet? Meaning, as we seek our own personal thriving, do we see that as interconnected to the planet and one another, and have the means to honor and meet all needs?

Fundamentally, the salutogenic framework is similar to monetary design. Money is used as a store of value (comprehensible) and a medium of exchange (manageable). So we recognize that these two functions are fundamental human needs, and design the tools to ensure those needs are met, including a greater purpose of human flourishing, peace and regeneration.

From a communication perspective, salutogensis is also reflective of Non-Violent Communication, wherein we are looking to find coherence and connection with another person, as in our greater social selves.

The cognitive piece is at the heart of where we are truly challenged right now in what is considered this “VUCA” time. Which appears to overlap with the Cynefin model of how to think about what is before us. I haven’t given this much thought yet, or had a chance to reflect with others (and I tend to prefer group reflection than my siloed brain).

Have you seen these two models overlapped and compared? It seems that, for instance, uncertainty = clear, ambiguity = chaos, likely complexity = complexity, so does volatility = complicated?

If so, I like the clockwise and counterclockwise with a cliff model of Cynefin. (And that they all finally start with the letter “c”!)

How can these models support teenagers and regular people to think about challenges? To address controversy in the civics classroom? To apply Non-Violent Communication? And ultimately, to engage in designing solutions for economic ecosystems that result in peace, prosperity, regeneration, and wellbeing for all?

Some tools I’ve used and will continue to use this year include, OpenMind Platform, Pactful Global Design Challenge, Elinor Ostrom’s Core Design Principles, and Sociocracy.