From Patterns to Attractor‐Like Modes: A Systems Sensemaking Framework for Recurring Conflict in Healthcare Teams

Abstract

Recurring conflict in healthcare teams frequently persists despite well‐intended interventions (Page et al. 2024; Mazzei et al. 2024). Dynamic systems theory helps to map how such recurrences reflect systemic feedback loops linking individual experience, behaviour, shared beliefs and organisational structures, supporting intervention design at a depth that matches the problem. This methods paper presents a visual framework and facilitation protocol for leadership sensemaking and intervention design. It combines (i) quadrant‐based multi‐perspective mapping (inner/outer × individual/collective), (ii) ecological scaling and (iii) temporal differentiation across events (t 0 ), patterns (t 1 ) and attractor‐like modes (t 2 ). The paper proposes four candidate stress‐attractor modes in healthcare teams— restricting , blaming , compensating and disengaging —grounded in research on threat‐rigidity, attribution, workarounds and employee silence. The framework is intended as a practical method to trace what maintains recurring conflict, align intervention depth with problem depth and identify early signs of both improvement and harm.