Are we on the same page yet

Getting on the same page is a collaborative and strategic need we have and yet it can take such an effort for us to get there.

Perhaps some transparency might help. That word 'transparency' ... meaning 'easy to be seen'.

How transparent is your thinking? How well can you see what you're thinking so you can communicate it, share it and transfer it to others?

It can take us so long to get our heads around what we’re thinking, let alone understand what others are thinking! In the meantime, thoughts seem opaque, cloudy and thick - rather than transparent, clear and understandable.

And there's no need to over simplify, just to understand. We can tend to resort to lazy methods like lists and clumps of unsorted information, expecting others to do the connecting of themes, the joining of dots and the revealing of patterns.

But oh, that keeps us on different pages.

We can do better.

Today’s cray-cray world of information, ideas, happenings and data needs us to be able to:

🎫 get to grips with information quickly,

🎫 get ourselves (as a group) on the same page, and then

🎫 decide ... so we can get on with it. This is sensemaking.

No, please... not the ‘save as’ strategy

Opening a document from last year, you ’save as’ to update a few things. Save as another name, change the date. Job done.

We’ve all done it. But no, wait.

’Save as’ when working with a document is an option. You don’t have to do it. You can start anew.

In times of crazy change and uncertainty, don’t be a ’save as’ person, leader or a 'save as' organisation. To replicate last year doesn't make (or take) enough of a shift for the change required of us today.

Otherwise the response (and then the solution) won't even be incrementally different ... let alone exponentially different!

A not-for-profit agency planning their strategy day saved last year’s agenda, sent it through and said, ’This is what we want to do.’

’No. No you don’t,’ I said. Not the same agenda, same venue, the same board, same structure and same presentations. Probably the same ideas and insights too!

Longevity, consistency and continuity are important. But automatic replication ... no.

To exist in the new, you will need to do things differently. Allow the project, team and business to gather new insights, so that sensemaking is current, recent ... and informed from the now.

Do you know how you think

Not the 'glass half empty/glass half full' kind of thinking, but how flexible, adaptable and malleable our thinking might be.

Much of what we do is so ruled by habit, routine and bias, that to be able to have 'meta cognition' - thinking about how we think - can be out of reach. We need to learn, to be taught it.

So can we 'get above' our thinking so we know what it is.

That could be mighty helpful:

- in a conflict or argument

- in the depths of a dull meeting

- in a brand new job role

- in a complex decision making process.

Our thinking patterns can open us up to adopt or try new ways, and our thinking can also close us down, snapped shut, blocked and rigid. As much as we might hope we're flexible, adaptable and malleable, are we really?

Could we think some more about how we think?

Let's aim to spend more time 'up there' where we are aware of what we are thinking. Hmmmmm 🤔 

People won't commit if they don't know where they're going

We need big trust to go with someone and not know where they’re going.

'Trust me, it’s a great restaurant.'

‘Believe me, you’ll love this holiday location.’

We may think people will just follow us or they're at fault because they don’t 'engage or buy-in'. How do we lead so people will change with us as we launch something, try something new or zig when everyone else is zagging?

To reduce anxiety and uncertainty and build trust and understanding use sensemaking. We have some of it in our nature (how we make sense of things) but we can learn more so we become insight seekers and rapid sense makers in this world of complexity and uncertainty.

Do this:

1️⃣ Create a map of what’s possible, what the potential is

2️⃣ Talk through that map, share it with others

Like this:

In my recent Sensemaking skills workshop, a participant created a map about change in the educational sector she works in. She shared and talked through the map with the team. A topic that used to create resistance now had understanding, intrigue and curiosity.

✅Ace!

What do you have to convey:

- Your own thinking and ideas?

- A new product or service?

- A plan or vision for the future?

Why engagement is harder to do these days

If you’ve watched a movie, tv series or binge-watched anything, you’d know how compelling and enticing this entertainment and communication medium is. Filmmakers are like sensemakers and storytellers on steroids or high performance supplements.

So every day in the workplace, we’re now dealing with a tougher audience.

Our meetings, workshops, planning and strategy sessions have a tough audience who are used to higher quality productions, scintillating storylines and rich and complex characters who do weird and intriguing stuff. It's engaging and entertaining!

No wonder people are bored in everyday boring meetings and workshops. They’re comparatively... boring. Nothing exciting happens; it’s the same meeting as last time; and it doesn’t engage or excite us the way these other drugs of engagement do.

We must lift our game.

To be engaging we must be more engaging.

We don’t have months to work on a script, lighting, story arc or edits. We need to think, design and engage people in ways they now like to be engaged.

The stuff we used to do isn’t doing what it used to do. Next episode starts in 5 4 3 2 1….