{"id":283,"date":"2019-12-07T13:41:51","date_gmt":"2019-12-07T13:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/?p=283"},"modified":"2020-01-04T13:33:51","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T13:33:51","slug":"sensemaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/?p=283","title":{"rendered":"Sensemaking"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sensemaking has been defined as the process by which meaning is given to an experience or situation.\u00a0Literally, it\u2019s when an individual or team makes sense of an event or situation, past or current. \u00a0Dr. Weick eloquently described sensemaking as, \u201ca diagnostic process directed at constructing plausible interpretations of ambiguous cues that are sufficient to sustain action.\u201d\u00a0 Taylor and Van Every described sensemaking as \u201ca way station on the road to a consensually constructed, coordinated system of action.\u201d\u00a0 In short, sensemaking is a springboard for action, or in the case of a high-reliability team, effective<\/em> sensemaking is a springboard for effective<\/em> action.<\/p>\n

When does one use sensemaking?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Typically, sensemaking is deployed when the situation is, or the event was, unexpected, unusual or ambiguous.\u00a0 The reflective or post-event retrospective sensemaking is critical to learning.\u00a0 Sensemaking in the midst of a high-stress, high-risk circumstance, which drives relatively quick and effective action, is critical for a high-performing team to effectively act in an unexpected or complex situation effectively.\u00a0 This sensemaking is still retrospective, but the real-time nature of it allows for the action to impact that specific circumstance.\u00a0 Prospective sensemaking isn\u2019t as well defined in the literature, but it speaks to anticipating future events and circumstances for the purposes of framing a mental model and creating understanding in order to proactively prepare.<\/p>\n

What makes sensemaking effective?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Effective sensemaking is facilitated when wisdom, originating from practical knowledge of theory and meaningful experience with best practice, is tightly coupled with thoughtful and honest learning of accumulated experiences, as well as sufficient current situational awareness and mindfulness.\u00a0\u00a0 Effective sensemaking can be recognized when its there, but its hard to insert when its missing.\u00a0 It can be nurtured when leaders support training, professional development, provide time for open reflection, and have a plan for recognizing, and retaining senior people.\u00a0 \u00a0Yet, individual commitment to excellence over time as experience accumulates is perhaps the most important element.<\/p>\n

The more wise the leaders and influencers of a team the more effective the sensmaking of that team.\u00a0 However, there are attitudinal as well as behavioral elements that influence the quality of the sensemaking.\u00a0 For example, when reviewing a safety event, if a just culture attitude and approach isn\u2019t taken, the sensemaking will be limited and not balanced.\u00a0 Another example is during a rapid response or code situation.\u00a0 If there isn\u2019t a designated leader and clarity among team members as to what their roles are, the sensemaking isn\u2019t organized and therefore is less effective.\u00a0 Without psychological safety, a team can\u2019t collectively do effective sensemaking, and can\u2019t get better at it over time.\u00a0 Someone senses that something isn\u2019t right, but doesn\u2019t speak up, and thus doesn\u2019t leverage the team to sensemake and formulate an actionable picture of what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is it? Sensemaking has been defined as the process by which meaning is given to an experience or situation.\u00a0Literally, it\u2019s when an individual or team makes sense of an event or situation, past or current. \u00a0Dr. Weick eloquently described sensemaking as, \u201ca diagnostic process directed at constructing plausible interpretations of ambiguous cues that are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":284,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions\/284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadingachildrenshospital.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}