Understand first, then move
Photo by Valeria Miller
Why ‘how’ comes before ‘what.’
Last week, we spoke with an executive team. The team had developed a business plan for the coming year. Ambitious goals, clear priorities, concrete actions. They were ready to get started.
Then we asked one question: “What are you going to do differently than last year?”
Silence.
The plan was new, but the approach was the same. The same way of working, the same meeting structures, the same implicit assumptions about how things get done. With the risk of the same results as before.
We see this pattern often. Organisations invest tremendous energy in the ‘what’ - the strategy, the goals, the projects. But they skip the ‘how’. How are we going to approach this differently from before? What does this require from us as leaders? Which patterns do we need to break?
The action trap
The pressure to act quickly is familiar. Employees expect clarity and answers. Shareholders and supervisory boards want to see results. As a leader, you feel a responsibility to provide direction.
So we get to work. We schedule sessions, assign tasks, and communicate what will change. Action creates energy and the feeling of progress.
But action without understanding leads to repetition. You keep spinning in the same patterns, just with a new plan on top. The real work - understanding why previous approaches didn’t deliver what you hoped for - remains untouched.
Sensemaking: the step we skip
What if we dare to pause before jumping into action? Taking time to understand what’s happening truly. Asking questions. Listening. Looking at patterns and connections that explain why previous approaches did or didn’t work.
We call this sensemaking - the process of creating meaning from what’s happening. In practice, this means: before deciding what you’re going to do, first gaining clarity on what’s really going on.
Which underlying patterns keep us arriving at the same outcomes?
What does this change require from us that we haven’t given so far?
Where are the real obstacles - and where are the untapped opportunities?
What sensemaking reveals
One insight that frequently emerges when teams take time for sensemaking: the plan itself is rarely the problem. What’s missing is attention to what the change requires from people. Their routines, their certainties, their way of working - everything seems to be at stake and in motion. And precisely that requires something different from a good project plan.
Change versus transition
William Bridges makes a clear distinction here. Change is an event - a new system, a reorganisation, a strategic reorientation—something you can plan and put on a calendar.
Transition is the human process surrounding it. How people let go of old ways of working, cope with the uncertainty of the in-between time, and eventually embrace new ways of working. Transitions can’t be planned; they require guidance, patience, and, above all, an understanding of what people are going through.
A new business plan is a change. Ensuring people work differently from last year is a transition. The latter requires more than a good plan alone.
Three questions for your next strategy session
Want to put sensemaking into practice? Start with these three questions:
What have we learned this past year about how we work best - and how do we build on that?
Which way of collaborating could take us further this year?
What fresh perspective on our organisation opens up possibilities we haven’t yet explored?
Take time for these questions. Listen to what emerges. Let the answers form without immediately jumping to solutions.
The courage to pause
Pausing and reflecting takes courage. It requires patience to sit with uncertainty while you explore together. And it requires trust that clarity emerges through the process, not before it.
Leaders who start with sensemaking make better choices. They choose approaches that fit their specific situation. They bring people along because they feel heard. And they break through the patterns that previously stood in the way.
It starts with the willingness to understand first, before you move.