There is a quiet pressure most leaders live under, rarely spoken aloud.
The pressure to decide. To be clear. To be fast. To show certainty when the system itself feels anything but certain.
In many organizations, decisiveness has become synonymous with strength. Hesitation is framed as weakness. Pausing is mistaken for indecision.
Yet in complex systems, this reflex — to decide quickly — is one of the most reliable ways leaders unintentionally damage the very coherence they are trying to protect.
The problem is not that leaders decide. The problem is that they decide before the system has made sense of itself.
This article explores why sensemaking must come before decision-making — and how leaders who learn this shift create calmer, more resilient, and more intelligent systems.
Why leaders feel forced to decide
Most leaders don’t rush decisions because they are reckless. They do it because of invisible forces acting on them:
- Expectation from above to “have an answer”
- Fear of appearing weak or unprepared
- Cultural narratives equating speed with competence
- Anxiety triggered by ambiguity
- The discomfort of sitting in unresolved tension
In simpler environments, these reflexes worked. When cause and effect were clear, faster decisions often meant better outcomes.
But complexity changes the rules.
Decision-making vs. sensemaking
At a systemic level, decision-making and sensemaking are not the same activity.
Decision-making is about choosing between options.
Sensemaking is about understanding what is actually happening — and what kind of system you are dealing with.
In complex systems, the quality of the decision is almost entirely determined by the quality of sensemaking that preceded it.
When leaders skip sensemaking, they don’t just risk making the wrong choice. They risk acting on a false understanding of reality.
Why fast decisions fail in complex systems
Complex systems have properties that simple systems do not:
- Delayed feedback
- Nonlinear cause and effect
- Emergent behavior
- Hidden interdependencies
- Emotional and relational dynamics
In such systems, quick decisions often:
- Collapse weak signals before they can be understood
- Silence dissent that carries critical information
- Create compliance instead of commitment
- Reduce future optionality
- Lock the system into suboptimal paths
As explored in The Leverage Illusion, interventions applied too early often create the appearance of progress while quietly degrading the system’s long-term health.
The hidden cost of premature clarity
Leaders often believe that providing clarity will calm the system.
Sometimes it does. But clarity that arrives before meaning has stabilized creates a different kind of instability.
People may comply — but they stop thinking. They may execute — but they disengage internally. They may align outwardly — but fragment inwardly.
This is how organizations end up with:
- Decisions that must be constantly enforced
- Strategies that look good on slides but fail in practice
- Teams that stop offering honest feedback
- Systems that appear stable while quietly eroding
As discussed in False Harmony, premature agreement is often the enemy of real coherence.
What sensemaking actually is
Sensemaking is not endless discussion. It is not analysis paralysis. It is not consensus-building.
Sensemaking is the process by which a system:
- Surfaces multiple perspectives
- Names uncertainty without panic
- Distinguishes signal from noise
- Allows meaning to converge naturally
- Builds a shared understanding of “what’s really going on”
When sensemaking is done well, decisions become almost obvious. They land with less resistance. They require less enforcement. They travel through the system with less friction.
How leaders accidentally block sensemaking
1. Filling silence too quickly
Silence in groups often means the system is still processing. Leaders who rush to fill that silence shut down emergence.
2. Answering questions instead of reflecting them
When leaders respond to every question with an answer, they prevent the system from thinking together.
3. Over-framing the narrative
Strong narratives too early collapse ambiguity — and ambiguity is where insight lives.
4. Treating emotions as distractions
Emotional reactions are data. Ignoring them reduces the system’s sensing capacity.
What sensemaking leadership looks like in practice
Leaders who prioritize sensemaking do not abdicate responsibility. They shift how responsibility is expressed.
They slow the system without stopping it
They create pauses — not delays — where reflection can occur.
They widen participation intentionally
They invite perspectives from edges, not just centers of power.
They name uncertainty explicitly
“Here’s what we know. Here’s what we don’t know. Here’s what we’re still making sense of.”
This alone reduces anxiety.
They ask orienting questions
- “What are we missing?”
- “Where does this feel misaligned?”
- “What pattern keeps repeating?”
- “What would we regret not noticing?”
These questions stabilize meaning before action.
When decisions finally land
After sensemaking, decisions feel different.
They don’t arrive as commands. They arrive as recognitions.
People often say:
“Yes. That’s it.”
Not because they were convinced — but because the decision reflects a shared reality the system has already come to understand.
This is why such decisions require less policing and generate more ownership.
Sensemaking and resilience
As explored in The Resilience Loop, resilient systems do not rush to resolution.
They allow disturbance to teach. They let meaning reorganize. They act after coherence forms.
Sensemaking is the invisible bridge between disruption and resilience.
The most counterintuitive leadership truth
The strongest leaders are not the fastest deciders.
They are the best hosts of meaning.
They can stay present in uncertainty without collapsing into control. They trust the system’s intelligence enough to let it speak — before deciding on its behalf.
This is not passivity. It is maturity.
Closing: before you decide
Before the next decision lands on your desk, pause and ask:
Has the system made sense of itself yet?
If not, the most responsible action may not be choosing faster — but listening longer.
In complex systems, clarity cannot be forced. It must be allowed to emerge.
Leadership is not about having answers early. It is about stewarding meaning until the right answers arrive.