Enabling Constraints

Context-free constraints In the Cynefin Complex domain

• Enabling Constraints: Unlike the traditional view of constraints as limiting factors, enabling constraints promote variety and possibilities
  • Example: The Welsh Future Generations Act, which provides five ways of working but allows flexibility in how they are implemented
  • Phenomena that we see in Natural Science that have been tested and proved
    • Because they are repeatable, they enable us to do things with certainty

[Chris Corrigan]

• Constraints in complexity can be quite tight and still contribute to emergence and creative action
• Think of the way the rules of the haiku form don’t tell you what to write, but instead offer guidance on the number of syllables and lines to use: three lines of five, seven, and five syllables
• These simple constraints give rise to tremendous creativity and inspiration as you work to create beauty within a distilled form