Mediated Sensemaking

We use a multi-case analysis of nine Most Trusted Advisors (MTAs) in six family firms to introduce the concept of mediated sensemaking—that is, the social position, orientation, and actions used by mediators to facilitate adaptive sensemaking that unfolds when someone begins to doubt the sense already made. Our data captures the mediation process through which MTAs help Family Business Entrepreneurs (FBEs) interrupt momentum in sensemaking by slowing down action and facilitating doubt. Interestingly, FBEs have no motive to slow down and doubt their own sensemaking, yet MTAs can induce them to do so. We unpack the social skills and tactics used by MTAs to accomplish this pacing. We synthesize our findings in a grounded theoretical process theory that captures how MTAs facilitate adaptive sensemaking by regulating the pacing and temporality of FBEs’ sensemaking.