Glossary
Sensemaking
What is sensemaking?
Sensemaking is how people form and revise explanations of confusing or unfamiliar situations. What is happening? What should we do about it?
How it works
Weick emphasized that this process is social, ongoing, and often retrospective: people act, then look back to understand what happened. Klein, Moon, and Hoffman also emphasize testing explanations and responding to observations that do not fit.
Example
A team might explain declining sales as a shift toward mobile purchasing. That story could guide action, but it should be compared with alternatives. A regional pricing mistake or a measurement error could tell a very different story.
Why it matters
We often have to act before we understand everything. A plausible explanation can help us do that, provided we keep checking it against what happens.