Cynefin - Berlin City Masterclass

This series of half-day workshops provides an introduction to both the theory and practice of surviving and thriving under conditions of irreducible complexity and uncertainty. Overall, the programme focuses on reducing risk and cost while creating innovative and adaptive processes and solutions.

Each module assumes some familiarity with the material covered in the introductory session. There are also virtual training courses and readings that can bring people up to speed if necessary. The programme can also be adapted for in-house training and combined with other material.

SERIES INTRODUCTION

During Covid, the Cynefin Centre and the Future Systems Directorate of the European Union produced a field guide on how to manage complexity (and chaos). The field guide covered how to manage a situation, but how to create an organisation with the resilience to respond quickly and appropriately in the face not only of the unknown unknowns but also the unimaginable unknowns. The underlying science of the guide was the growing field of anthro-complexity: the application of complexity science to human systems, both locally and at scale.

THE PROGRAMME

The programme comprises an introductory overview session, followed by three follow-up sessions that expand on aspects of the introduction with more detailed descriptions and practical exercises for participants.

• The half-day afternoon sessions can be taken as a complete programme or as individual standalone units.
• Each module assumes some familiarity with the material covered in the introductory session. There are also virtual training courses and readings that can bring people up to speed if necessary.
• The programme can be adapted for in-house training and combined with other material.

Our location - Berlin

Berlin isn’t just a city; it's a sprawling, dynamic object lesson in complexity. Its fractured history (division, reunification, constant reinvention) exemplifies path dependence, emergence, and resilience. The Wall was a sudden phase transition followed by a chaotic, adaptive reintegration process that is still unfolding today. Complexity science is not just abstract math, but rather the essential toolkit for navigating the kind of messy, real-world challenges that Berlin thrives on. The clatter of trams, snippets of multilingual chatter, and distant techno bass become the ambient noise of a complex adaptive system at work.This approach grounds abstract complexity concepts in Berlin’s palpable reality, making the training not just intellectually stimulating but viscerally connected to the unique, ever-evolving urban fabric surrounding the participants. The city itself becomes the ultimate teacher.