In my last column, I discussed the concept of “sensemaking”—which, according to organizational psychologist Karl E. Weick, is the ability to make sense of what is happening to us in the world.
What does it take to become a good sensemaker? In my experience as a finance professional and leadership coach, I have found that those leaders who can honestly call themselves sensemakers possess the following attributes:
- Emotional intelligence: This is the ability to understand your own emotions as well as the emotions of those working with and around you. Social awareness helps leaders make sense of what is happening around them and how to deal with it.
- Effective communication: Communication is more than just exchanging information. When information is communicated to a sensemaker, they understand the emotions and intentions behind it. Strong leaders must not only be strong communicators, but good listeners, too.
- Comfort with complexity and ambiguity: Sensemakers can effectively cope with change, shift gears quickly, decide and act without needing to see the complete picture, and handle uncertainty. Leaders who have these abilities are perceived as agile, adaptable, and flexible. These skills help a leader make sense of new and ambiguous situations.
- Teamwork and cultural diversity: Teamwork is the ability to collaboratively work as a group toward a shared goal, and culturally diverse teams show a respect for differences, innovation, and creativity. To be a good sensemaker, you need to listen to diverse viewpoints, see the world through the eyes of others, and learn from them. Being open to a multiplicity of diverse and different opinions—and moving beyond stereotypes—can create totally different solutions to unseen problems.
- Futuristic intuition: Having intuition about the future can help a sensemaker connect the dots in a tense situation and make it easier to map out a response. For example, an experienced firefighter under huge pressure to put out a forest fire can anticipate how the flames will spread and thus be better able to create a strategy to get the blaze under control.
To master the power of sensemaking, a leader needs to create clarity in the midst of chaos. There are two things they need to keep in mind to master the art of sound decision making.
The first is the importance of integration. Integration involves breaking down a problem into smaller pieces, designing different ways of tackling each step, and joining all those pieces together to create a coherent response. Along the way, a leader can experiment and change up their approach to the smaller steps as they see what works and learn more information. This incremental thinking will take leaders from one stage to another.
The second is being able to see the big picture. Leaders need to see how the situation is evolving holistically—to connect many disparate puzzle pieces to better understand the external and internal context. Clarity of thought and perspective is of the essence. To help in this regard, some leaders and organizations are using facilitation methodologies like LEGO Serious Play (LSP) as a tool.
As finance executives, we will encounter many complex uncertainties and times when it is difficult to arrive at a definite consensus. Leadership sensemaking involves making sense of what is happening around you and understanding the internal and external circumstances that are shaping those developments, which may involve shifting markets, business model disruption, changing politics, the introduction of new technology, culture, climate change, and many other variables. Once a leader understands these influences, they can create structure out of that. Sensemaking is a key leadership practice that can help organizations, and individuals, in their transformation journey.
