Organisations—corporations, non-profits, and political parties—need to understand the perspectives of their stakeholders, including employees, customers, or citizens. Traditional survey methods rely on structured responses (e.g., Likert scales or multiple-choice questions), which often fail to capture the richness of human perspectives. Open-ended responses provide deeper insights but are costly and difficult to analyse at scale. The increasing complexity of the world demands better tools for integrating diverse narratives into decision-making.

However, doing this faces various challenges: 

1. Limited Tools – Most organisations rely on simplistic sentiment analysis or structured surveys, which miss the depth and nuance of respondents’ thoughts.

2. Complexity of Free Text Analysis – Unstructured qualitative data is challenging to aggregate, categorize, and interpret systematically.

3. Richer Sensemaking Approaches Are Not Widely Accessible – While researchers like Karl Weick and Dave Snowden have developed narrative-based sensemaking methods, practical and scalable tools remain limited.

4. Emerging AI Capabilities are not easy to use – While AI has made text analysis more feasible, many existing AI tools are either too generic or fail to incorporate developmental sensemaking frameworks.

5. Cognitive Complexity Matters – The way individuals make sense of the world influences their responses, making it essential to assess not just what is being said but how people construct meaning.

So how can organisations effectively collect and analyse rich responses from stakeholders to gain deeper, more actionable insights into their perspectives, while also accounting for the complexity of their thinking?

Studio member John Oliver brings over 20 years of experience in narrative sensemaking, working with organizations such as IKEA and collaborating with leading thinkers like Dave Snowden. His expertise spans developmental theory and practice, providing a deep foundation for interpreting how individuals and groups construct meaning.

In addition to his consulting background, he has recently been pioneering AI-driven narrative sensemaking tools to enable organisations to analyse free-text responses in a structured way. By identifying key themes, dimensions, and developmental levels of sensemaking within qualitative data, these tools enable richer, more nuanced insights that go beyond traditional survey methods. Visual and interactive representations of this data can further enhance decision-making in HR, customer engagement, and political strategy.