Moving from Fuzzy to Feasible™: Phase 1 – Sensemaking
- Matt Arnold
- May 1
- 3 min read
This is the first of five articles to highlight each of the five phases of the Fuzzy to Feasible™ framework.
Innovation doesn't fail because teams lack ideas or technology — it fails because organizations struggle with uncertainty.
The Fuzzy to Feasible™ framework is a practical approach to help teams move from fear and ambiguity to action. We start by acknowledging the uncertainty, understanding the stakes if it’s not addressed, and providing a structured path forward.
Every great innovation journey begins with a crucial first step: Sensemaking.
What is Sensemaking?
Sensemaking is the process, note a single event, of figuring out what’s going on so you can decide what to do next.
Drawing from the work of Karl Weick and Abby Covert, among others, it’s about how people collectively create meaning, especially when things feel messy or unclear. It’s less about finding the “one right answer” and more about building a shared understanding that can guide smart, coordinated action.
In a world filled with noise, assumptions, and rapid change, Sensemaking helps teams and organizations slow down just enough to see the landscape clearly — before they sprint into building solutions. Whether it’s a gunslinger from the Old West or Major League Pitcher, you need speed and accuracy. Speed alone won’t get you very far. As decision-making expert Annie Duke reminds us, good strategy requires an “archer's mindset” — aiming carefully with the best available information, knowing you'll never have perfect certainty.
Why We Start with Sensemaking
Skipping Sensemaking may feel faster, but it almost always creates costly rework, friction, and frustration later.
Innovation — and strategy itself — demands a clear diagnosis of the problem before prescribing action, as Richard Rumelt emphasizes. When teams move too quickly toward "solutions" without shared clarity, they often end up:
Solving the wrong problems
Pulling in different directions
Burning cycles and opportunity costs that could have been avoided
This isn’t just theoretical — it’s visible across industries. At one major global financial services company, an innovation office operated for two years before leadership realized they didn’t even share a consistent definition of innovation. It cost them significant time, trust, and momentum to reset expectations and realign stakeholders. Another example: while supporting a large consumer packaged goods company’s innovation strategy, early friction surfaced because key stakeholders couldn’t agree where the innovation team should report — or even what innovation meant for the company. Yet "innovation" appeared over 100 times in their annual report.
The lesson is clear:
Absent a shared understanding, even well-intentioned teams drift — and drift is expensive.
Sensemaking in a Complex World
Sensemaking becomes even more critical when tackling complex problems — where no "best practices" exist, only emerging practices. Frameworks like Cynefin teach us that complexity requires different approaches: probing, sensing, and responding rather than assuming clear answers from the outset.
Modern innovation leaders like Amazon model this through practices like Working Backwards — requiring teams to write press releases and FAQs before a product is built. If you can’t clearly explain the future you want to create, you’re not ready to start building.
Systems thinkers like Jay Forrester warned us decades ago: Managers are often good at spotting problems — but without disciplined Sensemaking, they tend to push the wrong lever, unintentionally making things worse.
How to Spot a Sensemaking Gap
When Sensemaking is missing, the symptoms are easy to recognize:
"Wonky behavior" — teams moving in different directions, out of harmony
Talking past each other in meetings
Disagreements rooted not in strategy, but in unspoken assumptions
Rework, frustration, and costly resets after months of effort
Without shared mental models, organizations spin their wheels — wasting precious time, energy, and goodwill.
A First Step: A Reflection
If you're wondering whether your team is investing enough in Sensemaking, here’s a simple place to start:
Ask yourself:
"Do we have a shared definition of the problem or opportunity we’re trying to address?"
Not a slogan. Not a vague agreement. A real, working definition — one that aligns stakeholders and can guide smart action.
If the answer is unclear, you're not alone. You’re simply standing at the true starting line for potential, meaningful innovation.
If you’d like help navigating the journey or would like a fresh lens on how your team frames and tackles complexity, let’s connect. There’s no better investment than building the clarity and trust that fuels real progress.
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