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The SenseMaker Carrier

Estimated reading: 6 minutes 136 views Contributors

Isn’t SenseMaking the Same as Envisioning?

Not at all!
 
The Visionary sees what’s possible and catalyzes others to build toward it.
 
The SenseMaker helps people work with what’s been built – learning to read it, question it, and make meaning from it together.
 
Both involve facilitation and communication, but they require different orientations and skills.
 
People often think of Visioning & SenseMaking as the same thing – but in my experience with Social System Mapping, it doesn’t actually work that way. I’ve known great visionaries who were as much at a loss for what to do with a finished map as everyone else.
 
I could make a list of dozens of visionaries we’ve worked with on mapping projects, but the budding SenseMakers I know of could be counted on the fingers of one hand. And they’re just beginning to develop a methodology around it.
 
People often think of visioning & SenseMaking as the same thing – but in my experience with Social System Mapping, it doesn’t actually work that way. I’ve known great visionaries who were as much at a loss for what to do with a finished map as everyone else.
 
I could make a list of dozens of visionaries we’ve worked with on mapping projects, but the budding SenseMakers I know of could be counted on the fingers of one hand. And we’re all only beginning to develop a methodology around it.
 
My buddy Aldo De Moor says ‘often it’s the early doubters who end up making the most use of the map’. And it’s often the early-excited that get bored & wander off before the project takes root. When it comes to working with maps, most visionaries I’ve worked with get a little stumped when faced with a room full of ‘so what?’ faces.
 
I have that problem myself. In the beginning, what I wanted to produce was so real & meaningful to me I could taste it. But once the map was done & others didn’t know what to make of it, I didn’t know what to say. It feels a little like not seeing the emperor’s new clothes in reverse – how could they NOT see what was so clearly RIGHT THERE? I felt like a fraud & wanted to go home and hide.
 
Being able to make sense of what I saw myself didn’t make me a sense-maker for the group – that requires not just seeing it oneself (which is STILL only seeing what I, myself, was ready & able to see) but also being able to help skeptical people generate their own questions, find the info that would help them, and make meaning together that they can act on.
 
Plus – we visionaries, catalyzers, initiators tend to be busy re-imagining the world and initiating the next new important thing. They persuade & convince up front. We’re not usually the ones who stick with a thing to make sure it seeps deep into the interstices of a culture – which is where a SenseMaker comes in.
 
Imagining what’s possible is different from making meaning from the evidence of what is. So don’t think that just because both involve facilitation, communication and good people skills that they can be rolled into one function.
 
You might be able to carry both modes, but you’ll have to think differently under each one.
 

Are You a SenseMaker?

I confess – the SenseMaking role is the least developed in this framework. It’s the first one that I noticed the lack of & need for. And it’s the single most pivotal role for the long-term success of a Social System Map. Over time I’ve become convinced that without someone (and eventually several someones) carrying this mode, no map will ever make the difference we believe it has the potential to make.
 
The SenseMaker carrier isn’t about being the one person who understands the map – it’s about cultivating a mode of engagement that can ripple through the network. The goal is helping others develop the capacity to work with the map in ways that generate insight and action.
 
So what might it mean to be a SenseMaker? Based on what I’ve repeatedly sensed the need for, or the lack of, it seems to be someone who can help others learn to:
Navigate and inquire
  • Move through the map with increasing confidence
  • Use selectors and filters to surface what matters to their context
  • Look for patterns rather than just data points
  • Generate questions they didn’t know to ask before
Shift perspective
  • Think systemically about their network using the map as a tool
  • Move attention from parts and entities toward connections and wholes
  • Work with the chaos a Social System Map can present
  • Think clearly and purposefully within complexity
Make meaning together
  • Dig for significance in multiple ways
  • Identify what’s missing and should be included
  • Connect what they’re discovering to decisions they need to make, or actions they could take
That last piece is crucial. We are generally, all, culturally, still so enmeshed in the paradigm of self-sufficiency, separate-self, silos & fragmentation, that we don’t know what questions to ask. The most pivotal attitude we could possibly generate is to be curious and inquiring about the things we can’t already see with our own eyes. And in my observation, most people don’t have that attitude. That’s the capacity a good SenseMaker helps cultivate – the ability to wonder about what we don’t yet see.
 

Between the Map and the Network

The SenseMaker creates the interface between the network and the map. This means working in two directions:
Helping network members engage with the map by facilitating the ongoing practice of working with it (not just explaining it once). This is where the SenseMaking mode of engagement develops – through repeated practice, with support, in the company of others learning the same muscle.
Helping the map evolve to serve the network by taking what members are learning, seeing, struggling with back to the Technicians who maintain it. This ensures that:
  • Visual elements stay consistent and coherent
  • Different views contain what they need to and nothing more
  • The communication elements align with what’s most meaningful to the community
  • The chaos gets focused when it’s overwhelming

Embedding the Practice

Ultimately, the SenseMaker needs to help the network find ways of weaving the map into their ongoing decision-making and coordination work. This means adapting practices to different contexts and helping teams figure out when and how to turn to the map for insight.
 
This role is where a way of thinking gets translated into cultural practice. The SenseMaker helps the network develop what you might call a “SenseMaking mode” – an ongoing way of engaging with complexity that becomes as natural as checking email or calling a meeting. We just have to find the practices that can be reproduced across multiple contexts, and help people develop confidence in using them.
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The SenseMaker Carrier

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CONTENTS


Knowledge BaseContact

sumApp Member View | Connections Page | Filter by Segment

1. Click “Connections” to find members you want to add a connection to. 2. Selec

Steps to Manually Add a Segment in sumApp from ‘Manage Members’ Page

1. From ‘My Projects’, select the ‘Manage’ drop-down for the project you want to

Manage Invitations

See a list of all members in your project. Send an invitation email to your memb

Use ‘Manage’ Button to Access All Your Project Pages

Click ‘Manage’ button to access your project management pages. Edit Survey Form.

Delete a Project

A project you no longer need can be: Deleted completely Deletion is not reversib

Manage Your Subscription

Cancel your subscription. Return to sumApp. Remove a payment method. Add a payme

Editing a Member Record

Once a member has joined your Social System Map, either the member can edit thei

Editing a Member Record as a Map Member from ‘My Preferences’

1. From your project profile, click ‘My preferences’. 2. Make changes to the fie

sumApp Member View | My Preferences

Add Members

Placeholders – Unpublished Folder

The Storytelling Mode

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