What Is Sensemaking? And Why Do We Need It Right Now?
Driving down a two line highway - on the left snow and fog force us to be cautious. On the right clear road ahead. Clarity help us feel safe and in control.
Imagine you are driving down the highway to a place you know well. Your cottage. The town you grew up in. Somewhere you have driven to a hundred times without thinking.
Tonight, though, the weather is bad. Fog rolls in thick. Or heavy snow. Or driving rain. You still know where you are going. That part has not changed. But you instinctively slow down. You grip the wheel a little tighter. You are alert in a different way. You tire more easily because it takes more effort to make the same drive.
Now imagine the fog lifts. The road ahead is clear. You can see the lines again. Nothing about your destination has changed, but everything about how it feels to drive does.
That shift from fog to clarity is what sensemaking feels like.
Most people do not struggle because they are lazy, unmotivated, or incapable. They struggle because things feel unclear, even when they are working hard. You can feel it when:
decisions feel heavier than they used to
conversations take more energy
strategies do not land the way you expect
everyone is busy, but progress feels fuzzy
The usual response is to push harder. Gather more data. Hold more meetings. Look for better answers. But what is often missing is not effort or intelligence. It is sensemaking.
So What Is Sensemaking?
Sensemaking is the process of understanding what is actually happening and what it means for how you should act.
Not in theory. Not in hindsight. In real time.
It is the difference between having information and having clarity. Sensemaking helps you move from:
fog to orientation - noise to pattern - reaction to judgment
When sensemaking is working, problems do not magically disappear. But they become clearer. And clarity changes how it feels to do the work.
Why Sensemaking Is Missing Right Now
Many of our systems were built for a world that felt more stable than the one we are in today. Patterns held longer. Cause and effect were easier to see. Past experience transferred more cleanly into new situations.
Today, change is faster and more layered. Signals arrive from many places at once. From data. From people’s lived experience. From cultural shifts, emotional undercurrents, and institutional strain. The volume of information has increased dramatically, but our shared ability to interpret what it all means has not kept pace.
As a result, many people feel surrounded by information but starved for meaning.
When sensemaking is missing, this often shows up as a quiet but persistent strain. People feel anxious without being able to clearly name why. They stay busy but feel less effective. Decisions feel heavier. Instincts that once felt reliable now feel harder to trust. There can be a growing sense of distance between the effort people put in and the impact they see.
This is not a personal failure. It is a systems gap.
What Sensemaking Actually Does
Good sensemaking does not rush to solutions. It starts by slowing down just enough to understand what is really happening.
That means paying attention to what people are actually experiencing, not just what dashboards report. It means noticing patterns that are forming beneath the surface before they become obvious or disruptive. It means reassessing which indicators matter most right now, rather than relying solely on what mattered in the past. And it means considering which choices align with both current reality and long-term ambition.
When this kind of understanding is shared, it creates shared language. Shared language reduces misunderstanding and misalignment. Over time, that alignment reduces friction, both inside people and across teams and organizations.
This is why it often feels like relief when something finally clicks. Not because the situation has suddenly become easy, but because it has become clear.
What It Feels Like When Sensemaking Works
When sensemaking is working, people often struggle to describe it at first. They do not say they feel “motivated” or “inspired.” They say things like, “That explains what I’ve been feeling,” or “I knew something was off, I just couldn’t name it,” or “This makes the next step obvious.”
What has changed is not the situation itself. What has changed is orientation.
With orientation comes steadiness. With steadiness comes better judgment. And with better judgment, people are able to act with more confidence and less unnecessary stress, even in difficult conditions.
Why Sensemaking Matters More Than Ever
In periods of rapid change, or prolonged constant change, clarity becomes a form of leadership.
Not loud leadership. Not performative certainty. But the kind of leadership that helps people understand the moment they are in, trust their experience, and adjust without panic or overcorrection.
Sensemaking does not tell people what to think. It helps them understand what they are thinking about. When people understand the situation they are in, they make better decisions, communicate more clearly, and experience less internal friction while doing so.
That is why sensemaking is not a luxury.
Right now, it is a necessity.