Yesterday, I listened to an inspiring speech by Joan Lurie, founder of Orgonomix. She talks about collaboration and the risk of the "we must break down silos" attitude. She really got me when she spoke about the importance of mapping reality to observe how we make sense of it.
A Sense-Making Map is a unique inner map every human uses to read and navigate reality. We all have one, probably more than one in any context.
In any situation, we look around, check what our senses register against the Sense-Making Map in our head, and then decide our best course of action.
The Sense-Making Map grows with us. It contains many pieces from the maps of our ancestors, our culture, our family, etc. Then, growing up, we add bits and pieces, review some parts, and amend others depending on our life experiences. Successes reinforce some paths; failures make us review and correct others; traumas may delete or block entire parts.
When we gather with others to do something together, we all join with our Sense-Making Map open before us.
Often, because we can't see other people's maps, we believe they are looking at the same map. So, we may talk about a mountain assuming that we are talking about the same thing in the same place, while for someone, that mountain has a different shape and is in the opposite direction.
That's where friction and tensions arise, and the group may break apart.
So, before starting a journey together, we should always align our Sense-Making Maps.
Asking questions like, what do we mean with growth?