Hey Sensemaker!
Excited to share that I have just published my latest blog post “The Sensemaker’s Guide to Heuristics” — as expected, this was an especially fun, and nostalgic one for me.
This month I want to talk to you about what it means to be curious.
Specifically what it means to be curious about what’s going on inside yourself. Tackling heuristics this month reminded me how important the sensemaker is to the sense being made.
Whether you are cataloging historical gold (see above), or rearchitecting a corporate intranet — you matter to what happens. Your decisions, your intuitions, your (hard) work. In fact I bet when you step back, it’s all(ot) you. You and your heuristics. The ones that took a lifetime to learn.
When you know who you are and what you believe, you can change what you know. When you are stuck on who you are and what you believe, you will grip what you know tighter, and sense will be harder to come by.
~This next part might sound woo woo but I swear this works. I taught my kid this, and he even says it works ~
Think of untangling something like string or even worse, string lights. If you do so gently and hold in your mind that this is possible, that you are capable, the strings will lessen in tension and release their knots. But if you approach a problem holding in your mind that this is impossible, and perhaps even a waste of your time, you will make that be so. Whether it is string lights or corporate taxonomies you are untangling. What goes on in our mind has everything to do with how we solve problems, and a huge part of that is how we see ourselves, and our own capabilities.
Gaining a stronger sense of self is one of the best investments you can make as a sensemaker. That’s why I spent the last two years working on a program with Alfi Oloo to help fellow sensemakers to get a clearer sense of self, while strengthening their peership skills.
Making Sense of Yourself is a 6 month, self-paced, peer-supported journey that takes you through 6 growth paths. Each meant to help you to further define your own personal information architecture.
This course is for you if:
- You're taking stock of your life path and figuring out your next chapter
- You've made a big change and need to make sense of your journey and explain it to others
- You're thinking about a major shift and need a stronger personal "why" to take that leap
Our first monthly peer match is happening March 19th at 12 PM, and I encourage you to check out the program and see if it fits into your plans for the next six months.
This month we are celebrating a rather large milestone here at the Sensemakers Club. It was one year ago this month that I sent invitations to discussion leaders to lead in this then unknown model. To date we have hosted over 250+ small group discussions with an average of just 9 to 11 attendees per session and 150+ members. I am more proud of this community than anything I have made before.
We will be having a celebration on March 25th at 2 PM ET and I would love to see some new members join in time for the festivities.
If you want to learn with me this month, I have a growing set of workshop videos on demand as well as drop-in tickets to my upcoming workshops in the IA in Practice monthly series.
Until next time, be clear -
Abby Covert
Chief Sensemaker |
