How Can Multidisciplinary Sensemaking Guide Problem Solving?

What do an organisational restructure, raising teens, change management projects, managing an unforeseen crisis, and puppy training all have in common?

These are all situations that require making sense of lots of information as it becomes available. Some of it can be unclear, emotionally charged, and often overwhelming. This information can come from multiple sources, yet as we take it all in, we naturally filter it through our many personal lenses of age, education, experience, and culture, to mention just a few.

For example, when implementing a new software program, watch the various responses of the Gen Zers, Gen Xers, or Boomers. Now imagine what happens when significant volumes of information confront a multi-generational and multi-cultural workforce. Transformations like a policy change or an operational overhaul will bring about significant responses.

    In today’s volatile and uncertain times, the process of gathering and interpreting information, actions, and behaviors is a critical skill. Further than just gathering information, being confident to use existing information while adapting to new information that effectively guides the workforce is a sought-after leadership skill. Sensemaking is a process in an organisation that helps leaders comprehend and rationalise what is happening around them so they can better prepare the organisation to be agile and thrive.

Information gathering and sensemaking process

Here is an example: The healthcare sector is a large and expansive national network spanning. Healthcare organisations like hospitals have defined leadership and management structures and a uniquely skilled workforce. One of the healthcare sectors goals is to provide continuity of quality care to patients. However, the leadership has been faced with numerous challenges, particularly rebounding from the COVID-19 period. These challenges include supply chain disruptions, increasing product costs, regulatory changes specific to each country. Add to this staff shortages and a constant flow of demanding patients and it is a rather chaotic scenario.

From the information they can fathom, leaders have to prepare for the numerous possible scenarios arising during and as a result of the COVID-19 period. Historically, this approach has included gathering together experts from the affected stakeholders and business areas who can assess available data or information and then offer recommendations.

However, at the same time as strategic discussions are happening in one place, there are people and problems in many other organisations and departments across different locations who are interconnected sharing their information and challenges- possibly contributing to or changing the existing status quo.

This time-sensitive connection between the individual stakeholders complicates problem-solving and strategic planning. When information is continuously exchanged between the internal and external organisational environments, new and confusing information keeps emerging. This can complement or conflicts with the leadership’s approach or the expert group’s opinions about what to do- that is if they even know about the new information. There is frequently a disconnect between the reality of what is happening at the front lines with the information used at the ’top’ levels for decision-making and problem-solving.

New challenges arise when leaders are not adaptable to novel information

Limited opportunities for collaboration or feedback between the different levels and departments of an organisation restrain the opportunities to share information. The leaders and the workforce start to believe their dichotomous information and opinions are likely the more correct (or only available) ones.

Therefore, interorganisational or multidisciplinary information exchanges are vitally important to remain realistic about challenges and diverse possible solutions.

Sense Making

Sensemaking or the process of decoding information requires recognising that there are numerous stakeholders or organisation systems involved in each situation or challenge. Understanding the dynamics of a whole system or organisation requires stepping back and looking for new patterns and evaluating the current performance. Remembering that an organisation is responsive to all internal and external stakeholder relationships and that patterns and behaviours will constantly change. Therefore, how do you analyse or make sense of incoming information- what is known and what is also still unknown? Making decisions amidst all the uncertainty seems very challenging, if not overwhelming!

Where to begin?

Sensemaking starts with identifying the different system types the organisations functions in such as simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic systems, and how best to identify information in each system type (Figure 1).

Figure1: The system domains

The concept of sensemaking is a relatively new idea. It was formalised in the mid-1990s, when one of the initial sense-making frameworks, proposed that signals or communications from the environment were perceived very differently between people. However, this becomes a little more complicated when a leader or manager is required to guide the sense-making process for teams, departments, or an entire organisation.

Dave Snowden’s Cynefin Framework is a popular model for sense-making in organisations. In a very simplified way, the Cynefin framework starts by defining the problem based on the system type, takes action, adapts and then respond. Other frameworks such as Dervin's Sensemaking Approach considers contextual factors, information needs, and identified gaps with a goal in mind. (Figure 2)

Figure 2: Dervin's Sensemaking Process

By applying an approach unique to the type of organisational system and industry in mind, leaders are better equipped for the depth and breadth of information collaboration required to solve challenges and create more sustainable solutions.

Applying sense making locally

Sensemaking is a process. It takes time and conscious efforts. Even though it is firmly seated alongside uncertainty and embracing the unknown-there are some fundamental steps to apply when making sense of large volumes of information. Frequently, situations arise that are chaotic where sparse information is available but swift action is required to limit damages and consequences. This is where knowledge and the skills to apply sensemaking are an essential adaptive leadership capability that can help organisations thrive during volatile and complex times.