sense-making
Understanding what's happening
Sense-making is the process of creating understanding from confusing or ambiguous information.
The term appears in organizational psychology, information science, and crisis management, describing how people interpret situations and construct meaning: The team engaged in collective sense-making after the unexpected merger announcement.
It emphasizes that understanding isn't passive reception but active construction.
Mental comprehension of something
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- comprehensionMental understanding of meaning
- reasoningDrawing logical conclusions
- cognitionMental knowledge acquisition
schema · inference · perception · insight · coherence · clarity · framing · conceptualization
Mental ability, cognitive capacity
- researchSystematic fact-finding effort
- synthesisCombining parts into whole
- curationSelective organization of items
- filteringSelective passage of elements
signal · noise · categorization · visualization · mapping · contextualization · correlation · triangulation
Planned approach to goals
- leadershipAbility to direct others
- managementOrganizing and directing resources
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
- uncertaintyState of being unsure
narrative · storytelling · enactment · retrospection · plausibility · identity · cues · adaptation
Spoken exchange between parties
- discussionExchange of ideas
- perspective-takingUnderstanding another's viewpoint
- negotiationDiscussion seeking mutual accord
- consensusGeneral group agreement
facilitation · brainstorming · co-creation · deliberation · exchange · alignment · workshop · conversation
understanding
Mental comprehension of something
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- comprehensionMental understanding of meaning
- reasoningDrawing logical conclusions
cognition · schema · inference · perception · insight · coherence · clarity · framing · conceptualization · synthesis
intelligence
Mental ability, cognitive capacity
- researchSystematic fact-finding effort
- synthesisCombining parts into whole
- curationSelective organization of items
filtering · signal · noise · categorization · visualization · mapping · contextualization · correlation · triangulation · verification
strategy
Planned approach to goals
- leadershipAbility to direct others
- managementOrganizing and directing resources
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
uncertainty · narrative · storytelling · enactment · retrospection · plausibility · identity · cues · adaptation · coordination
dialogue
Spoken exchange between parties
- discussionExchange of ideas
- perspective-takingUnderstanding another's viewpoint
- negotiationDiscussion seeking mutual accord
consensus · facilitation · brainstorming · co-creation · deliberation · exchange · alignment · workshop · conversation · participatory
- existenceexistence, being, lives, reality, life
- understandingunderstand, comprehend, grasp, fathom, follow
- phenomenologyphenomenology, intentionality, bracketing, lived experience, horizon
- constructivismPiaget, Jean Piaget, scaffolding, schema, equilibration
sense-makingconfusion
Mental disorientation or bewilderment
obfuscation · mystification · incoherence · bewilderment · incomprehension
sense, making, make, makers, senses, sensed, sensing, sensory, sensation