The project

Companies are increasingly faced with dynamism, uncertainty and pressure to change. Technological developments, skills shortages, economic shifts and unexpected crises repeatedly present companies and their employees with new challenges.

In order to cope with change, people and organisations must first make sense of events, recognise connections and assign meaning to them. This process is known as ‘sensemaking’ and can help to provide direction and the ability to act, even in more uncertain situations.

Resilience can be strategically built up and fostered; it describes the ability to remain capable of acting even under difficult and changing conditions, to cope with challenges, or even to emerge stronger from crises. Resilience is achieved through the interplay of opposing forces, such as stability and flexibility: what provides people and organisations with a sense of stability and should be preserved, and where is change and further development needed? Organisations that master this balance are resilient in the long term.

The project name SENSILIENZ is derived from the combination of ‘sensemaking’ and ‘resilience’. It stands for the interplay of understanding, orientation and the capacity to act when dealing with change.

SENSILIENZ is a collaborative applied research project in the fields of human resources development, vocational education and organisational pedagogy. Together with four medium-sized companies from Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony, the OVGU and the University of Potsdam are investigating how organisations, teams and employees can cope with change, uncertainty and crisis situations and strengthen their resilience.

SENSILIENZ examines resilience at three interlinked levels: the individual, the team and the organisation. The project investigates which resources are available at each level and how they influence one another. The findings are intended to help support companies in remaining capable of acting even under changing and uncertain conditions, and to enable their further development.

SENSILIENZ adopts a participatory approach. The participating organisations contribute their own experiences, skills and expertise in dealing with change to the research process. The aim is to work together with practitioners to identify, raise awareness of and further develop these existing resources.