"Seeing is not enough. We must learn to move through complexity without forcing it into simple shapes."

The Challenge of Application

Understanding The Fractured Lens is one thing. Using it in real-world situations, where meaning is contested, power is invisible, and

change is nonlinear, is another challenge entirely.

Most frameworks offer models, steps, and solutions. The Fractured Lens does not. Instead, it provides a way to see what is shaping reality, so that we can navigate complexity with more awareness, adaptability, and depth.

This article explores how to use The Fractured Lens in practice, in leadership, organisational culture, decision-making, and change-making. The goal is not to provide answers but to equip you with better questions.

Step 1: Recognising The Four Forces in Motion

The first step in using The Fractured Lens is seeing the forces at play. In any situation, ask:

What is being left unquestioned? (Unknowing – What do we assume to be true? What uncertainties are being ignored?)

How is meaning being created, reinforced, or challenged? (Meaning, What narratives shape how people understand this? Who controls the

dominant story?)

Who feels like they belong here, and who doesn’t? (Belonging, What are the hidden rules of inclusion? What are the costs of fitting in?)

Where is power flowing, and how is change being resisted or enabled? (Power & Change, Who benefits from things staying the same? What structures reinforce the status quo?)

Example: Organisational Culture Conflict

Imagine an organisation that claims to value innovation, yet employees feel unable to take risks. The Fractured Lens helps us ask:

Unknowing: Is leadership aware of the implicit fear employees feel? What unspoken norms prevent risk-taking?

Meaning: What does ‘innovation’ actually mean here? Is it just a corporate buzzword, or does it hold real value?

Belonging: Who gets to be seen as ‘innovative’? Are only certain voices heard when new ideas emerge?

Power & Change: Who has the authority to approve or reject new ideas? Are people punished for failure, despite claims of a ‘learning culture’?

These questions reveal the real issues beneath the surface, instead of treating culture as something that can be ‘fixed’ with another initiative.

Step 2: Learning to Sit With Complexity

One of the hardest things about using The Fractured Lens is resisting the urge to simplify. When faced with uncertainty or conflict, people want quick solutions, clear answers, and direct action. But many of the problems we face today, whether in leadership, organisations, or society, are not problems to be solved, but dynamics to be navigated.

How to Engage Without Oversimplifying

Resist the Binary – Reality is rarely either/or. If a situation is framed as ‘us vs. them’ or ‘right vs. wrong’, look for the underlying tensions and assumptions.

Hold Contradictions – The best insights emerge from being able to sit with opposing truths. A company can both value innovation and fear

risk. A leader can be both confident and uncertain.

Follow the Shifts Over Time – Instead of looking for fixed solutions, ask: How is this dynamic evolving? What patterns are emerging? Where is momentum building?

Example: Leadership in Times of Uncertainty

A leader facing market disruption may feel pressured to provide certainty and direction. But a Fractured Lens approach would recognise that:

Unknowing is inevitable – No leader can predict the future with certainty.

Meaning must be co-created – Instead of pretending to have all the answers, leaders should engage teams in sense-making.

Belonging is key to resilience – People handle uncertainty better when they feel part of a strong, connected group.

Power must be distributed – Adaptive organisations empower decision-making at multiple levels, rather than relying on top-down control.

A leader using The Fractured Lens does not rush to eliminate uncertainty, they learn to lead through it.

Step 3: Applying The Fractured Lens in Key Areas

1. Leadership: From Control to Sense-Making

Traditional leadership models assume certainty, authority, and direction. The Fractured Lens challenges this by showing that: A leader’s role is not to provide answers but to hold space for inquiry.

Leadership is not about personal vision but about collective meaning-making. The best leaders help teams navigate uncertainty rather than

pretending to eliminate it.

Key question to ask: Am I trying to ‘solve’ complexity, or am I helping people see and engage with it more clearly?

2. Organisational Culture: Beyond Values Statements

Culture is not what organisations say they value, it is the unspoken rules, power dynamics, and belonging structures that actually shape behaviour.

Using The Fractured Lens, we ask: What assumptions about success, work, and identity are embedded in this culture?

Who gets to shape the dominant narrative? Who feels like an outsider? How does power move through this system? Who has the ability

to challenge it?

Key question to ask: Does this culture actually embody what it claims to stand for, or are deeper dynamics preventing real change?

3. Decision-Making: Beyond Efficiency

Most decision-making frameworks assume rationality, clarity, and control. But The Fractured Lens shows that: Decisions are always shaped by power and belonging (who is in the room, whose voices are valued). Meaning is often contested (people see the same data but interpret it differently). Unknowing must be embraced (what we do not know is often more important than what we do).

Key question to ask: Are we making decisions based on inherited assumptions, or are we questioning the deeper forces shaping our

thinking?

4. Systems Change: Seeing the Hidden Forces

Many social and organisational change efforts fail because they only address surface-level symptoms. The Fractured Lens forces us to look

at:

What meaning needs to shift for real change to occur?

What belonging structures keep the old system in place?

Who holds power, and how does it resist change?

Key question to ask: Are we treating this as a technical problem, or are we addressing the underlying dynamics that maintain the status quo?

Step 4: Developing a Fractured Lens Mindset

Using The Fractured Lens is not about memorising a framework. It is about developing a way of seeing, thinking, and acting in complex environments.

Build a Tolerance for Uncertainty

Practice not rushing to conclusions. Learn to say "I don't know" as a strength, not a weakness.

Recognise that clarity often emerges over time, not instantly.

Develop the Skill of Asking Better Questions

Shift from "What’s the solution?" to "What are we not seeing?"

Instead of asking "Who is right?", ask "How are different perspectives shaping this reality?"

See Patterns, Not Just Events

Look for repeating dynamics over time rather than isolated problems.

Recognise that what looks like resistance is often a sign of deeper structural forces at play.

Embrace Discomfort as a Sign of Learning

When things feel unclear, resist the urge to retreat into certainty.

Engage with perspectives that challenge your own. Recognise that growth happens at the edge of what we know.

Conclusion: Seeing, Thinking, and Acting Differently

To use The Fractured Lens in practice is to shift from:

Seeking certainty → Engaging with uncertainty

Solving problems → Navigating dynamics

Linear change → Emergent adaptation

This is not about replacing one rigid model with another. It is about developing a way of seeing that makes us better at living, leading,

and learning in a world that refuses to stay still.

Now that you see the forces at play, the question is: How will you navigate them?