Sensemaking, Leadership, and COVID-19

Mar 31, 2020 | The Indigo Podcast

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Here’s the episode:

COVID-19 is kind of like getting hit by a bus.  This time is stressful, chaotic, and anxiety-provoking. How you respond is based on a number of factors.  In this episode we dive deep into sensemaking and leadership in light of current events. What is sensemaking? It is the action or process of making sense of or giving meaning to something, especially new developments and experiences.  

  • The collapse of sensemaking / a way in which organizations are fragile

  • How to lead the charge and how individuals and organizations can support

  • Emerging new tasks and roles for management due to COVID-19

Shout out to Cliff Scott who contributed greatly to our research and prep for this episode.

Photo by Magda Ehlers from Pexels

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Links and Other Information

If you haven’t already, establish structure for incident command regarding COVID-19 Communication flow and reporting should be clear https://inside.uncc.edu/news-features/2020-03-25/key-principles-leaders-communicating-times-uncertainty?fbclid=IwAR1HJw6Ip__4PUP0bw1CRpZzEp0C3k_Kp5eLDjmH5YMwEvC5I6jpADmSJHI

Weick, K. E. (1993). The collapse of sensemaking in organizations: The Mann Gulch disaster. Administrative science quarterly, 628-652. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2393339.pdf?casa_token=FlXmByKbvzkAAAAA:QszOl-LCNXxNcnofI1fjBNSxHt0kRtRUjj9HYtzUzc_T7HRJ-PRY0W-rlF_yHJLZzFoPowwcqesD_251zWmJOcD4wzWOmnWeyd6DeUF0xw6jIAPrJjKRJA 

Baker, T., & Nelson, R. E. (2005). Creating something from nothing: Resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage. Administrative science quarterly, 50(3), 329-366. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2189/asqu.2005.50.3.329?casa_token=zvtLRb3kB5EAAAAA:FG66p-2N3Nd8rupKkGZMrt7zF7A92Z_w_Qbw09foKtVPQFe9MUUFYH8SvpnwcI-86RmHal81ZMSqK-I 

Weick, K. E. (1990). The vulnerable system: An analysis of the Tenerife air disaster. Journal of management, 16(3), 571-593. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014920639001600304?casa_token=QChVVw04AX4AAAAA:-ZDKRT_IkfApOMCtPQARNPYqvKBxDIro-6M2f1SB6maVZN71kS7JUKJMEPWl8Zj7vFNhUa7DbI_JyFk 

Baran, B. E., & Scott, C. W. (2010). Organizing ambiguity: A grounded theory of leadership and sensemaking within dangerous contexts. Military Psychology, 22(sup1), S42-S69. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin_Baran2/publication/232898026_Organizing_Ambiguity_A_Grounded_Theory_of_Leadership_and_Sensemaking_Within_Dangerous_Contexts/links/579f2c8008ae5d5e1e17632c/Organizing-Ambiguity-A-Grounded-Theory-of-Leadership-and-Sensemaking-Within-Dangerous-Contexts.pdf 

Apollo 13: A square peg in a round hole https://youtu.be/ry55–J4_VQ

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