Table 1. Leadership practices used to... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1.

Leadership practices used to trigger collective sensemaking and learning around inherent tensions in complex project environments

Inherent tension	leadership practices used to trigger collective sensemaking and learning
Planning – adaptability	Leaders create space for teams to collectively reinterpret project plans in light of unfolding developments. Deviations from plans are framed as occasions for joint interpretation and learning rather than as failures of compliance
Individual experience – collective understanding	Leaders facilitate exchanges across roles and professional backgrounds, enabling individual experiences and interpretations to be articulated, contrasted, and gradually integrated into shared understandings of the project situation
Structure – autonomy	Leaders maintain organizational structures while also enable and allowing room for situational judgment. Through dialogue about how rules and procedures are applied in practice, teams negotiate how structures can guide action without becoming too restrictive
Reflection – delivery pressure	Leaders introduce moments for reflection within ongoing project work, encouraging teams to pause and make sense of what is happening. Even under delivery pressure. In this way, reflection becomes part of the work itself rather than something separated from it
Internal coordination – external collaboration	Leaders actively connect internal project members with external actors, making it possible to bring in different perspectives and constraints. These are then jointly interpreted and incorporated into how the project is understood and developed

Inherent tension	leadership practices used to trigger collective sensemaking and learning
Planning – adaptability	Leaders create space for teams to collectively reinterpret project plans in light of unfolding developments. Deviations from plans are framed as occasions for joint interpretation and learning rather than as failures of compliance
Individual experience – collective understanding	Leaders facilitate exchanges across roles and professional backgrounds, enabling individual experiences and interpretations to be articulated, contrasted, and gradually integrated into shared understandings of the project situation
Structure – autonomy	Leaders maintain organizational structures while also enable and allowing room for situational judgment. Through dialogue about how rules and procedures are applied in practice, teams negotiate how structures can guide action without becoming too restrictive
Reflection – delivery pressure	Leaders introduce moments for reflection within ongoing project work, encouraging teams to pause and make sense of what is happening. Even under delivery pressure. In this way, reflection becomes part of the work itself rather than something separated from it
Internal coordination – external collaboration	Leaders actively connect internal project members with external actors, making it possible to bring in different perspectives and constraints. These are then jointly interpreted and incorporated into how the project is understood and developed