Strategic Sensemaking: Challenges Faced by a New Leader of an SME

New managers of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face an overwhelming array of information, messages, and competing stakeholder interests as they assume leadership of the SMEs. Characteristically, during the first 100 days in office, a new manager undertakes an intensive process of making sense of the environment. The aim of the study is to clarify the elements of sensemaking from the perspective of a newly-hired President of an SME (i.e., a for-profit private graduate school of business) in Asia. The new President was the focus of an in-depth interview to examine how he made sense of the assortment of information, ideas, and groups he encountered after taking on the leadership role. Preliminary results show that the new leader balanced a strong sense of self while methodically engaging multiple stakeholders, both inside and outside the organization. The findings provide new leaders a multi-perspective view of the sensemaking process and contribute to current understanding of the process during the initial turbulent period of making sense of the organization. An enhanced understanding of the process is important since the initial months of sensemaking by a new manager form the foundation for strategic decisions in the future.