“Sensemaking” has become a critical concept in organizational change, particularly within lean and complexity-aware approaches. It refers to an ongoing process through which people identify, interpret, understand, and create meaning when faced with ambiguous or changing circumstances. In other words, sensemaking is how individuals and groups make sense of what is happening around them, especially when established norms or structures are disrupted, as is often the case during transformational change.

In his seminal work on the subject, “Sensemaking in Organizations” (1995), Karl Weick describes sensemaking as the process by which individuals and organizations construct plausible meaning from ambiguous situations which, he argues, is often driven by invention and construction rather than mere discovery. This ambiguity, Weick suggests, arises from confusion due to too many interpretations, a lack of clarity, high complexity, or paradox, unlike uncertainty which stems from ignorance – which he defines as a state of lacking information or understanding. In ambiguous situations, information may not resolve misunderstandings, and the problem itself might be unclear or shifting.

Here are some of the components Weick identified that govern how plausible meaning is constructed:

In organizations, this construction of meaning navigates the tension between generating vivid, unique, intersubjective understandings through interaction and developing generic subjectivity through interlocking routines and shared understandings. Ambiguity becomes particularly prominent when old routines and generic understandings no longer suffice. The continuous communication activity develops and maintains both intersubjective exchanges and generic shared understandings.

Change managers should be “conversational authors,” generating formulations of the problem situation and creating coherent structures from disorderly events in conversation with others. They should encourage talking, discourse, and conversation, which are key ways social contact mediates meaning. They can foster settings where people actively shape each other’s meanings. They can also help by providing, referencing, or collaboratively developing shared frameworks that can categorize data, assign likelihoods, and help locate and label occurrences.

Change managers can support sensemaking in organizations when confronted with ambiguity by focusing on the construction of plausible meaning through social processes and action, rather than simply seeking more information. Ambiguity is a key occasion for sensemaking. In ambiguous situations, additional information may not resolve misunderstandings, and the problem itself might remain unclear or shifting.

Sources:

Weick, K. (1995). “Sensemaking in Organizations”. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

NOTE: This short post is merely a “taste” of this extraordinary volume. It is worth your time and effort to consume in its entirety.