Collective Sensemaking: Training the Leadership-as-Practice Development Trainer for Adult Leadership Learning

Abstract

A gap often exists between adult leadership learning and development practice. This gap seems particularly pronounced when considering training through a collective, practice, and constructionist theoretical lens. Leadership developers need to address this gap in their teaching methods if they are to support learning capable of responding to Complex Adaptive System (CAS) challenges. Drawing from a case-in-point (CIP) train-the-trainer experience hosted by the Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) this study will help trainers understand how primary and keying frames can be used to analyze how facilitators train trainers to use collective sensemaking for adult leadership learning. The case-in-point leadership development method is capable of moving adult leadership learners to make more systemic interpretations of leadership challenges and collectively interrogate cultural assumptions and identity.

Keywords

sensemaking leadership-as-practice development case-in-point leadership development adult civic learning

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alvehus

Crevani

(2022). Micro-ethnography: Towards an approach for attending to the multimodality of leadership. Journal of Change Management, 22(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2022.2081245

Austin

J. L.

(1965). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.

Barrett

F. J.

(2015). Social constructionist challenge to representational knowledge: Implications for understanding organization change. In Bushe

Marshak

(Eds.), Dialogic organization development: The theory and practice of transformational change (pp. 59–77). Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Bourdieu

(1977). Outline of a theory of practice (R. Nice, trans). Cambridge University Press.

Brown

A. D.

(2000). Making sense of inquiry sensemaking. Journal of Management Studies, 37(1), 45–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00172

Cunliffe

(2002). Reflexive dialogical practice in management learning. Management Learning, 33(1), 35–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507602331002

Denyer

Turnbull James

K. J.

(2016). Doing leadership-as-practice development. In Raelin

J. A.

(Ed.), Leadership-as-Practice: Theory and application (pp. 262–283). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315684123-13

Fairhurst

(2005). Reframing the art of framing: Problems and prospects for leadership. Leadership, 1(2), 165–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715005051857

Fairhurst

G. T.

Sarr

R. A.

(1996). The Art of Framing: Managing the Language of Leadership. Jossey-Bass.

10.

Gephart

(1991). Succession sensemaking and organizational change: A story of deviant college president. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 4(3), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1108/eum0000000001196

11.

Gergen

K. J.

Hersted

(2016). Developing leadership as dialogic practice. In Raelin

J. A.

(Ed.), Leadership-as-practice: Theory and practice (pp. 178–197). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315684123-9

12.

Giddens

(1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Polity Press.

13.

Gioia

P. A.

Chittipeddi

(1991). Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change Initiation. Strategic Management Journal, 12(6), 433–448. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250120604

14.

Goffman

(1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. Northeastern University Press.

15.

Green

Fabris McBride

J. K.

(2015). Teachning leadership. The KLC Press.

16.

Green

Z. G.

Molenkamp

R. J.

(2005). The BART system of group and organizational analysis boundary, authority, Role, and Task.

17.

Heifetz

(1998). Leadership without easy answers. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

18.

Kniffin

L. E.

Priest

Clayton

P. H.

(2017). Case-in-point pedagogy: Building capacity for experiential learning and democracy. Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education, 7, 15–28.

19.

Kolb

D. A.

(1984). Experiential learning: Experiences as the source of learning and development. Prentice Hall.

20.

Kudesia

(2017). Organizational sensemaking. In Oxford encyclopedia of psychology oxford (pp. 1–47). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.78

21.

Kuk

H.-S.

Holst

J. D.

(2018). A dissection of experiential learning theory: Alternative approaches to reflection. Adult Learning, 29(4), 150–157. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159518779138

22.

Larsson

Knudsen

(2022). Conditions for reflexive practices in leadership learning: The regulating role of a socio-moral order of peer interactions. Management Learning, 53(2), 291–309. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507621998859

23.

Maitlis

Christianson

(2014). Sensemaking in organizations: Taking stockand moving forward. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 57–125. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520.2014.873177

24.

Mohammadi

Grosskopf

Killingsworth

(2020). Workforce development through online experiential learning for STEM education. Adult Learning, 31(1), 27–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159519854547

25.

Ospina

S. M.

Foldy

E. G.

Hadidy

W. E.

Dodge

Hofmann-Pinilla

(2012). Social change leadership. In Uhl-Bien

Ospina

S. M.

(Eds.), Advancing relational leadership theory: A dialogue among perspectives (pp. 255–302). Information Age Publishing.

26.

Parks

S. D.

(2005). Leadership can be taught: A bold approach for a complex world. Harvard Business School Publishing.

27.

Pye

(2005). Leadership and organizing: Sensemaking in action. Leadership, 1(1), 31–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715005049349

28.

Raelin

J. A.

(2001). Public reflection as the basis for learning. Management Learning, 32(1), 11–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507601321002

29.

Raelin

J. A.

(2007). Toward an epistemology of practice? Academy of Management Learning and Education, 6(4), 591–615. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2007.27694950

30.

Raelin

J. A.

(2019). Deriving an affinity for collective leadership: Below the surface of action Learning. Action Learning: Research and Practice, 16(2), 123–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2019.1604317

31.

Raelin

J. A.

Robinson

(2022). Update on leadership-as-practice “practice theory”: Featuring Joe Raelin interviewed by Jenny Robinson. Leadership, 18(3), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/17427150221100594

32.

Reynolds

(1998). Reflection and critical reflection in management learning. Management Learning, 29(2), 183–200. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507698292004

33.

Roessger

K. M.

(2020). Assessment strategies for reflective learning in the workplace: A pragmatic approach. Adult Learning, 31(4), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159520941947

34.

Samuel

Durning

S. J.

(2022). Enhancing leadership training through an experiential approach: An online model for the 21st century. Adult Learning, 33(4), 191–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/10451595211012473

35.

Simpson

(2009). Pragmatism, Mead, and the practice turn. Organization Studies, 30(12), 1329–1347.

36.

Sork

T. J.

(2019). Adult education in an Era of “wicked problems”. Adult Learning, 30(4), 143–146. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159519872457

37.

Strati

(2007). Sensible knowledge and practice-based learning. Management Learning, 38(1), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507607073023.

38.

Weick

K. E.

(1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Sage Publications.