The SenseMaking Mode

The SenseMaking Mode: An Ongoing Practice of Inquiry

• Approaching the map with genuine questions, not just looking for confirmation
• Being willing to be surprised by what shows up
• Noticing what they expected to see that isn’t there, and what’s there that they didn’t expect

Shifting between scales and perspectives

• Moving from the granular to the systemic and back again
• Looking at the same territory through different lenses (roles, relationships, resource flows, gaps)
• Holding multiple viewpoints without needing to resolve them into one “right” answer

Generating insight through conversation

• Thinking out loud with others about what they’re noticing
• Building on each other’s observations
• Discovering questions that only emerge through dialogue
• Working with the disagreements and tensions that arise rather than smoothing them over

Connecting discovery to action

• Asking “so what does this mean for what we’re trying to do?”
• Identifying where the map reveals opportunities or obstacles
• Testing assumptions against what the map shows

Developing the Muscle

• SenseMaking involves a mental muscle we’ve only begun to have a need for and are just beginning to develop. A muscle that entails a paradigm shift – from thinking in silos and linear cause-and-effect to thinking in patterns and living systems. Developing that paradigm-shifting mental muscle takes practice, repetition, frequent reminders. Ideally in the company of others.
• This is where the SenseMaker carrier becomes crucial. The SenseMaker is the person (and eventually, persons) who helps others develop confidence and capacity in this mode of engagement. Not by being the expert who tells people what the map means, but by facilitating the practice of working with it – helping people move beyond fact-finding into the more developmental territory of genuine inquiry, helping them notice not just what the data shows but what’s emerging through how people are engaging with it.

Beyond the Map

• The capacity you develop through SenseMaking with maps transfers. The same muscle that helps you work with a Social System Map helps you understand change in complex adaptive human systems generally. You start to notice emergent patterns in real time. You get better at holding multiple perspectives simultaneously. You develop comfort with not-knowing that paradoxically makes you more effective at collective action.
• This is actually the whole point of Social System Mapping – not just creating pretty visualizations, but developing the capacity to understand and set conditions for positive systemic transformation.
• A Social System Mapping SenseMaking practice is a two-fer. Two big benefits in one: learning to work with maps, and learning to work with complexity.