Just Do It – MOVE!
Calm Action
Sir Issac Newton has been attributed to have said that “something in motion stays in motion.” Newton, in 1687, spoke about motion in terms of the body and its motion as a result of forces. This same motion concept can apply to organizations.
Organizations in constant movement, transformation and evolution will be able to make sense of the organization’s mission, values, activities and even challenges. In Sensemaking in Organization, Karl E. Weick discusses a sensemaking process with seven properties. These seven properties include:
(1) identity; (2) retrospective; (3) environments; (4) social activity; (5) ongoing assessment; (6) cues; and (7) plausibility.
The application of these process properties requires organizations to move themselves towards a different frame of reference. There must be a certain mindset where organizations have “a willingness to use one’s own life as data.” (Weick)
I believe that organized entities must MOVE towards organizational sensemaking. As an organization, views must become retrospective and prospective. Whether it’s the Board of Directors, Executives or staff it is extremely relevant to have a healthy account of organization’s past and an important outlook on opportunity and possibility of the future. The following is an evaluation of the sensemaking properties in comparison to the moves of a New York City organization – we will refer to the organization as THE ACADEMY:
Identity
According to Weick, “the establishment and maintenance of identity is a core preoccupation in sensemaking”. There are several organizations which do not closely monitor their identity. I do not speak of the large organizations of which society at large is aware. I am referring to the small-community based organizations that must understand that your brand is your identity and requires attention. As indicated, this begins with the sensemaker. In most organizations, this is the Board of Directors and/or Executive. At The Academy, they understand that there cannot be just one individual sensemaker. There must be organizational collaboration. Therefore, The Academy created an environment reflective of the people served, a website appearance that is comprehensive and maintains a public presence at community meetings and events. This is all about, as the book states, the enhancement, efficacy and consistency of our identity. The Academy and other service organizations understand that it’s through their identity that people reach them through referrals, word of mouth and publication.
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Retrospective
In 2010, The Academy’s public identity was stained. Regardless of the reasons, repair of this identity became the challenge for the sensemakers mentioned above. Retrospective is the focus of one’s memory on an “analysis of a meaningful lived experience.” (Weick) For The Academy, a meaningful experience was investigative reports, over 100 programmatic and systematic audits, and morale of clients, advocates, employees, colleagues and the general public. Throughout the reading of retrospective, it discusses moments of vision, attentional processes and even responses. The Academy has maintained a retrospective stance, not because of repeat performance that led to this challenge, but as a result of ensuring that their mission, values, and priorities reflect the identity established and maintained. The Academy retrospective views assists the organization’s look forward.
Environment
What is a sensible environment? The book leads me to believe that it’s organizational life that “explains how people cope with entities that already exist.” (Weick) So, then the question becomes: are there different forms of sensible environments? Before there was a new Executive of The Academy was there a sensible environment? For some the answer would be no, but for the visionary moments discussed above the answer would be yes. People will produce part of the environment that they move, function and currently operate within. Today, at The Academy the sensible environment is about change – the change of culture, reputation and service delivery. This sensible environment was developed through retrospection but is a continuous process towards prospective view of all participants. At one point, the Executive would have said that people resist change, but the Executive learned what Weick calls “resistance of environment.” Even though the book mentions that this creates an unfortunate mindset, however, when something counters a sensible environment you can expect resistance of that environment. In 2009, when there was an appointment of a new Executive, there was that resistance of environment. The resistance to change was present in the organizational life. However, with consistent messaging, a positive demeanor and a support network, the resistance to a sensible environment has shifted to people coping within the new entity that exists.
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Social Activity
An organization is “sustained through the development and use of a common language and everyday social interactions.” (Weick) As mentioned, organizations often do not include certain aspects in the organization’s frame of reference. One thing often not included is the fact that the conduct of one is contingent on the conduct of another. The Academy has a mantra of sorts that starts with ‘everybody paddles’. This was developed out of an experience whitewater rafting, where it takes everyone to paddle from one point to another. By conveying the message that teamwork, collaboration and togetherness require a participatory approach, The Academy’s use of language and interactions have developed into a sensible environment.
Ongoing Assessment
The sensemaking priority of ongoing assessment is about the evaluation of the complex situations that organizations sometimes get entangled. As with large corporations, non-profit organizations are thrown into situations at the fault of themselves or others. Weick describes several situations of ‘thrownness’; the one I will discuss is “every representation is an interpretation.” At The Academy, after 2010 every interaction became an essential opportunity of identity repair. The Academy identity repair was an understanding that each consumer, advocate and funder would interpret individual behavior as organization behavior. For example, if a representation prior to 2009 was non-responsive to client’s needs; and then after 2010, people interpreted the organization’s behavior not reactionary to the request of clients and funders The Academy identity would not change. To that end, the leadership of The Academy held multiple clients and staff meetings fully aware that if their reputation did not change or improve the public people would interpret that The Academy did not care about people’s needs. This ongoing assessment creates sensible social activities and environments.
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Cues
Cues become indicators of what are an organization’s best practices and/or improvement areas. Organizations should “pay close attention to ways people notice, extract cues and embellish that which they extract.” (Weick) As mentioned above, The Academy experienced over 85 programmatic audits in 2008. Yet, one would believe that these audits were debilitating, however, this became the The Academy cues. Program reviews and audits allowed The Academy to receive input and recommendations from funders giving them the opportunity to review auditors findings and provide corrective actions. People associate the extraction of cues only from a negative position, but focusing on cues can have a positive result as it did for The Academy.
Plausibility
I agree and disagree with Weick’s position on plausibility – “sufficiency and plausibility take precedence over accuracy.” My agreement is there will be times where an organization will have enough project information to move ahead; but my disagreement centers around how much better prepared an organization can be with accurate project information. For example, The Academy has recently been approved to develop programs for new clients entering The Academy. Under a theory of plausibility, this is enough information for an organization to develop. However, an accuracy theory would require information on male or female, age ranges, functioning levels and similar pedigree information. Which theory is correct? Is there always time in organizational life for accuracy? I would say it depends. Nonetheless, the Executive felt better equipped with accurate information than with plausible information. In the life of The Academy, each project must be based on enough information or exact information.
After reviewing the seven properties of the sensemaking process, I could easily connect each property and the importance of their order to work at The Academy. Throughout the rest of Sensemaking in Organization one reads of how sensemaking is determined by the invisible hand of a changing world. For example, there will be occasions for ambiguity, uncertainty, arguing, expecting, committing and manipulation. This is where Newton’s theory of motion is applicable. Organizations which are constantly moving, through assessment – alteration – application, will be able to structure environments that “comprehend, understand, explain, attribute, extrapolate, and predict” the dynamics of organizational life. (Weick) Unlike what Weick references, I believe that everyday sensemaking is identical to organizational sensemaking and THE ACADEMY is moving in this direction.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Newton, Sir Issac, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, (General Books, 2010).
Weick, Karl E., Sensemaking in Organizations, (Sage, 1995).
