Advanced Dynamics

Meaning making

Advanced Dynamics recognises the importance of meaning making as an individual and social activity that drives behaviour within and between organisations.

 We regularly use the Leadership Development Framework, offerred by Harthill to support and guide our work with leaders and their teams. Understanding the 'action logics' being applied by leadership team members gives insight into their behaviour and how it aligns to the strategic intent of the organisation.This not only helps build synergy within teams and encourage constructive, robust communication that produces results, but also helps understand the development needs of individual leaders. The Leadership Development Framework is both a powerful tool for coaching and development and a diagnostic that enables teams to recognise and extend their capability.

Our 'Learning through doing' approach, and the disciplined framework provided by Systems Leadership theory for understanding systems, symbols and behaviours, arepowerful tools for influencing the way meaning is made in organisations, and so improving their functioning.

Why "Meaning Making"? 

People are constantly seeking to make sense of the world around them. This occurs both at the individual and the collective level. Individuals strive to develop ways of anticipating what will occur if something happens: if the earth shakes, the cave I'm in may collapse - this is 'meaning' in its most basic guise. Groups develop common ways of understanding the external world, which activate roles that have been distributed amongst them: if an approaching group is waving sticks, they are hostile - some of us will stay and fight, while others take the children to a safe place. However, at least in social contexts, no way of understanding is inherently correct - in particular, cultural differences can lead to fundamental misunderstandings about the intentions of  other individuals or groups and what their behaviour signifies.

In organisations, these ways of understanding and the associated beliefs about what are the appropriate actions to take in specific circumstances, can be seen as 'mythologies', and represent the culture of the organisation. As in any other social context, none are inherently 'right' - they have value only insofar as they produce behaviour that helps achieve the purposes of the organisation, in a way that is aligned with the values and aspirations of its members, and given the context in which the organisation finds itself.

There is an extensive body of literature about the way people make sense in organisations (in particular, see the work of Karl Weick). This suggests not only that the making of meaning is a fundamental driver of organisational functioning, but that it involves everyone in the organisation in a constant interplay of 'sensemaking' and 'sensegiving' that occurs in the context of leadership behaviours (see Gioia and Chittipeddi, Bartunek, amongst many others). The field of adult development has also produced some fundamental work on individual cognition (in particular, see Kegan), building upon which Torbert and Rooke were able to identify different 'action logics' used by leaders to make sense of the world. The Leadership Development Framework is based on this research. Furthermore, the doctoral research of Advanced Dynamics' Associate Garth Britton developed ways of understanding cultural interactions within and between organisations based on different ways of making meaning*.

All this work suggests that influencing the ways individuals and team make meaning is not merely a matter of 'equipping' them with the 'right skills'. Mythologies can be influenced by addressing the symbols, systems and behavioours that hold them in place. Individuals can learn new ways of understanindg the world through taking a reflective approach to direct experience. Appreciative Inquiry approaches are well-adapted in both cases.

* Britton, G. M. 2007 'On Reading Lines in Shifting Sands: making organisational culture relevant' Australian National University