Simplexity: Sensemaking, organizing and storytelling for our time

TLDR

Simplexity is an umbrella term for sensemaking, organizing, and storytelling that addresses the dynamic complexity people face in contemporary contexts, emphasizing a balance between thought and action. The authors propose simplexity—a fusion of complex thought and simple action—to help people make sense of contemporary stories. Using simplexity clarifies sensemaking.

Abstract

Simplexity is advanced as an umbrella term reflecting sensemaking, organizing and storytelling for our time. People in and out of organizations increasingly find themselves facing novel circumstances that are suffused with dynamic complexity. To make sense through processes of organizing, and to find a plausible answer to the question ‘what is the story? ’, requires a fusion of sufficient complexity of thought with simplicity of action, which we call simplexity. This captures the notion that while sensemaking is a balance between thinking and acting, in a new world that owes less to yesterday’s stories and frames, keeping up with the times changes the balance point to clarifying through action. This allows us to see sense (making) more clearly.