The Six “Whats” of Sensing & Thinking

8 min readJan 21, 2022

Solving, Sensemaking, Synthesizing, Comprehending, Sensegiving & Wayfinding — Explore the Galaxy of Making Sense of our World

In support of Futures & Sensemaking Series Episode #10 -1pm ET/6pm GMT on Clubhouse Riday, January 21st, 2022

“In the 1970s, the top three skills you needed were reading, writing & arithmetic. At the turn of the millennium, it was teamwork, problem solving and interpersonal skills. Now in the 2020s, it is critical thinking, continuous learning and a growth mindset. Sean Moffitt

The price will be hefty in the next decade and century if we continue to learn like the 19th century and think like the 20th century.

As noted by the World Economic Forum, the leading capacities of the near future are mapped to more deeply tapping into our brains for a universe geared for change, combinations and complexity. Here are the top seven skills of the future that demand us to get better at what follows:

#1 Analytical Thinking & Innovation
#2 Active Learning and Learning Strategies
#3 Complex Problem Solving
#4 Critical Thinking & Analysis
#5 Creativity, Originality and Initiative
#6 Leadership and Social Influence
#7 Technology Use, Monitoring and Control

All mind stuff. Even the last two which aren’t explicitly knowledge-driven, demand the intelligence to steer people and resources according to what is learned, thought or sensed.

We thought it was time to host a forum and event focused on the how we tackle these current challenges. We’ve called it “The Six Whats of Sensing and Thinking” (this follows the Six Whats of the Future conducted earlier in the month). Let’s dive into our cerebrums on the six areas below.

1. “SOLVING” — The Scouting Report

Definition: the ability to use knowledge, facts, and data to effectively solve problems.

Synonyms/Similar to: Cognition, Decisions Making, Reasoning

Activities Involved: Applying, Creation, Conceptualizing, Communication, Experimenting, Introspection, Modelling, Simulation and Troubleshooting,

Outcomes Desired: Discoveries, Insights, Truths, Validations, Concepts, Solutions.

Strategies Used: Abstraction, Analogy, Brainstorming, Critical thinking, Divide and conquer, Hypothesis testing, Lateral thinking, Means-ends analysis, Method of focal objects, Morphological analysis, Proofs, Reduction,
Research, Root cause analysis, Trial-and-error.

Challenges to Solving:

Objectivity, Confirmation biases, Rigid mindsets, Unnecessary constraints
Faulty or irrelevant information, faulty experiments, faulty interpretations
Dealing with pragmatics, the way that context contributes to meaning, sometimes misinterpreted
Dealing with semantics, the interpretation of the problem, sometimes ill-defined
Motives — is research & thinking designed to find truths or support pre-existing hypotnesis

Situations Used:

To make decisions and take actions based on analysis
To present solutions to challenges and problems
To research and analyze relevant causes, factors and data
To identify and define central, secondary and tertiary problems.
To select and use appropriate concepts and methods
To form associations between disparate facts and/or methods

2. “SENSEMAKING” — The Scouting Report

Definition: the action or process of making sense of, or giving meaning to something, especially new developments and experiences.

Synonyms/Similar to: Meaning making, Semiotics, Problem Framing

Activities Involved: Identity Construction, Retrospection, Extraction, Clustering, Recording, Connecting, Reviewing, Labelling, Cognitive experience, Physical Experience, Narrative Interpretation, Ethnography, Sociology, Micro moment Analysis, Visual Sensemaking.

Outcomes Desired: Better Problem/Challenge Framing, Improved Knowledge Process, Complexity Management, Effective Cross Disciplinary Interactions & Culture, Stronger Resilience to Uncertainty

Strategies Used: Knowledge integration, Individual Situational Study, Organization Activity Study, External Mental Models, Collective data Interpretation, Methods of Knowledge Integration, Storytelling, Argumentation, Cognitive Framing.

Challenges to Sensemaking:

Lack of collaboration, imagination and access to previous experiences or knowledge
Obsession for accuracy and a lack of tolerance for ambiguity
Critique is not wanted or encouraged; emotional states are dismissed as lacking relevance
Time pressures force managers and employees into analytical quicker answers or existing frameworks
Ambiguity within the various sensemaking disciplines/ontologies, lag in discovery process and repeatability

Situations Used:

When problems or challenges are not given
When environments become volatile, ambiguous and chaotic, sometimes even in crisis
When emotional and human factors play a big impact on change allowance or resistance
When areas are being studied or discovered that have no known rules, patterns, plans or policies
When it’s important to understand how people construct knowledge and where deep learning occurs

3. “SYNTHESIZING”- The Scouting Report

Definition: connecting the dots/analysis on steroids, connecting and integrating multiple pieces of evidence to pull together into one complete picture

Synonyms/Similar to: Abstract Thinking, Systems Thinking, Integrative Thinking

Activities Involved: Reflection, Conclusion, Inference, Combining, Evaluation, Prediction, Augmentation, Design, Causal Loops, Models, Events, Trends, Underlying Models, Structures, Assertive Enquiry, Composing, Imagination, Creativity.

Outcomes Desired: Alternatives, New Configurations, Projections

Strategies Used: Environmental Scanning, Systems Mapping, Design Thinking & Synthesis, Chaos Theory, Complexity Theory, Interdisciplinarity, Multidisciplinarity, Wicked Problems, Cluster Analysis, Abductive Reasoning, Business & Ecosystem Modelling.

Challenges to Syntheiszing:

Not easily connecting sources of data or information
The perils of compromise — taking too much of each part, compromising the whole
Stacking the deck — including too much/many parts into one frame, desirable yet not understandable to others
Lack depth — whereas the combination goes wide, the synthesis doesn’t provide deep understanding of the parts of highest value
Communication — the synthesized outcome or solution may look quite different than a linear interpretation, placing a higher premium on effective communication and feedback on synthesis work

Situations Used:

To deliver new-to-the-wold perspectives/inventions/innovations
To create new intelligence frontiers through combination
To take the hybrid of two or more opposable alternatives, concepts or frames, not just make a choice among solutions
To produce a more nuanced, systematic and.or complex understanding/ result
To pull together original and enlightened outlooks from traditional and non-traditional sources

4. “COMPREHENDING” — The Scouting Report

Definition: the cognitive ability to acquire, grasp and breakdown the meaning, and the process to build knowledge; to decode, make connections and think more deeply

Synonyms/Similar to: Critical Thinking, Learning, Analysis, Information & Media Literacy

Activities Involved: Analysing, Observing, Accessing, Verifying, Recalling, Knowledge Acquisition, Arranging, Defining, Listing, Naming, Ordering, Recognizing, Relating, Classifying, Describing, Explaining, Expressing, Identifying, Locating, Selecting, Translating, Appraising, Calculating, Categorizing, Comparing, Contrasting, Criticizing, Differentiating, Discriminating, Distinguishing, Examining, Experimenting, Questioning, Testing.

Outcomes Desired: Facts, Verifications, Order, Relationships, Hierarchies, Predictions, Hypotheses

Strategies Used: Using Prior Knowledge/Previewing, Predicting, Synopsis, Questioning, Making Inferences, Visualizing, Mapping, Storyboarding, Retelling, Fact Checking, Historiography, Syllogisms, Analogical Reasoning.

Challenges to Comprehension:

Inaccurate or fraudulent sources or originating data
Skewed representation in sources, poor sample sizes
Use of short hand heuristics in interpretation and comprehension that may not always be true
Lack of variety of comprehension tools or approaches continue to produce the same type of conclusions or inferences
The eye of the beholder — level of comprehension is only as good as the practitioner performing it, can often be superficial or derivative as opposed to truly breakthrough

Situations Used:

To establish the basic foundations that lead to higher-order cognitive thinking and sensing processes
To assess meaning and purpose of information and data sources
To assess the veracity of opinions, facts and data
To create new and novel comparisons and connections
To project forward anticipated projections and events
To orchestrate relationships, dependencies and hierarchies between what has been learned

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5. SENSEGIVING — The Scouting Report

Definition: the action of shaping how people understand themselves, their actions, and others engaged in that actions, attempts to preferably alter and influence the way others think and act

Synonyms/Similar to: Change Management, Signalling & Influencing, Cognitive Shift

Activities Involved: Transformational Leadership, Leadership processes, Signals, Language, Symbols, Stakeholder Integration, Stakeholder Engagement, Routines, Practices Structures, Energizing, Metaphorical, Reassurance, Orientation, Balance, Acknowledgement, Onboarding

Outcomes Desired: Cohesion, Influence & Co-Creation, Engagement, Perception Shift, Successful Change Implementation

Strategies Used: Visioning, Purpose, Self-awareness, Leadership theory, Shared Leadership, New Learning Experiences, Social Movements, Framing, Information Process, Rituals, Empowerment, Authority & Control.

Challenges to Sensegiving:

Trust between leaders and stakeholders
Forums for stakeholder engagement and empowerment
Competencies and empathy of leaders, practitioners and managers practicing sensegiving
Traditional prescriptive management paradigms vs. guided, shared power paradigms
Ethics — is sensegiving being performed for the greater/shared good, or for one party’s advancement/manipulation of reality

Situations Used:

Recent mergers & acquisitions, blended cultures
Big shocks to system, personal, team or institutional
Grey & Black Swans — improbable and completely unpredictable, but high impact changes
A touchstone event or change occurrence — turnover in management, layoffs, crisis management

#6 WAYFINDING — The Scouting Report

Definition: the process or orienting to environments, new or changed , navigating time and space (liminalities) and progressing to desired outcomes; an ongoing negotiation of meaning

Synonyms/Similar to: Goal-oriented Direction, Change Management, Liminal Experiences, Metacognitive skills

Activities Involved: Flexibility, Agility, Continuous Improvement, learning Cycles, Fast Iteration, Adaptation, Disclosure, Limited Choices, Learnable & Familiar Language & Patterns, Structured Paths. Identity Change. Transformative Design, North Star Purpose.

Outcomes Desired: Self and Group Awareness & Team Outcomes, Evolving Services & Experiences, Better Mental Health, Artefacts & Cues.

Strategies Used: Human-centred Design, Journey Mapping, Team building, Strategic Planning, Symbolism, ESG. Social organization and Artefect sharing. Learning theory. Discernment. Choice. Confirmation, Introspection, Experimentation.

Challenges:

Understanding is episodic, not ongoing
Not harmonized on lexicon, terms or concepts
Flip flopping, always being in a state of flux, without cementing learnings
Discomfort with uncomfort, want to speed through change and get back to equilibrium
Lack of unstructured time and space to process change

Situations Used:

Personal self-reflection and change
Teaching and mentoring others
Mark and get through critical points, episodes or recurring activities
Reimagine their relationship with interruptions and disruptions
Awaken creative potential of change

We had better understand our own minds before the algorithms make it up for us, Yuval Noah Harari, 21 Lessons of the 21st Century

Grey Swan Guild — Join 50 Shades of Grey Leaders, Thinkers and Doers

Hopefully some of you will think about joining our collective that tries to make sense of thee world and the future. There may even be heroes among us.

We are a post-modern version of the Guild — this is what we like to do: