Economic signals are pulling in different directions. Markets are hitting record highs, but long-term unemployment is rising. Global trade is in flux as tariffs shift week by week. Layer in the impacts of AI and it feels like the world is changing by the hour. For leaders, the rules seem to be shifting faster than organisations can adapt.
In this environment, the temptation is to hold back and wait for stability. Yet waiting can be the bigger risk. Strategies now expire in months rather than years, and relying on what worked before often misfires because foundational factors have shifted. To keep innovating, leaders need new ways to understand their environment and chart a path forward.
When conditions are volatile, past experience can be misleading. What worked once may fail when the context changes. Before deciding how to act, leaders need clarity on the type of environment they face.
Sensemaking frameworks help leaders see things from new viewpoints, assimilate complex concepts, address real-world challenges and seize opportunities. They force leaders to understand their current environment before determining the best course of action.
For example, the Cynefin framework outlines four domains: Simple, Complicated, Complex and Chaotic. Each represents a different “reality” for companies and requires unique strategies and tactics to innovate successfully. While no model has all the answers, these frameworks provide a shared language to diagnose situations and align on next steps. That can lead to five strategies for innovation success amid uncertainty:
- Stabilize first, then innovate
- Embrace safe-to-fail experiments
- Develop a dual operating system
- Foster distributed decision making
- Continuously recategorize situations
Dive deeper into these five strategies in the full article with Management Today.
