You solve problems and resolve challenging or complex situations through your own internal process. You take in lots of data and information; you tend to observe situations and circumstances around you and then sort through them quickly to create solutions that are sensible and easy to implement.

You are often viewed as an expert because of your unique ability to find solutions quickly. You also have a gift for articulating solutions and summarizing them clearly in understandable language. You see that many people are stuck, and that if they could make sense out of their situation they could develop simple solutions and move forward. In essence, by easily making sense of things, you help others move forward.

The challenges that come with the HOW of Make Sense is that many people, just by having problems that you could easily resolve, are not interested in a solution. They simply want empathy or to feel heard. They are actually not looking for someone to solve their problem and so if you’re not careful you may damage the relationship unnecessarily even though your true desire was simply to help. 

The easy answer to this challenge is not to be so quick to jump in with your solution. Find a way to bring possible solutions out slowly and find out ahead of time if they are really seeking an answer. If not then just listen and if they are seeking an answer then ask them if they would like your help in solving it. Either way you will always be a great problem-solver and can take pleasure and pride in having this unique skill. 

Since your HOW is Make Sense, you are great at solving problems and thinking fast on your feet. You are often way ahead of the rest of the group in terms of figuring out a problem or creating a solution. This can be great in the right relationship, or extremely challenging in the wrong relationship. 

Make Sense people do well as friends and family members because you are great at helping people with the challenges they will face as they navigate through life’s ups and downs. You are a wonderful resource for others, and they are amazed at how much you know and how quickly you can figure out what to do. You are also great at making your solutions feel like “their ideas”, as well as making it fun for them to learn!

You can be a wonderful HOW to have on the team if quick results and fast decisions are needed and wanted! It is so nice for team members to have someone they can go to when they have challenging and complex problems; you can take in all the information and quickly synthesize it down to whatever it is that is keeping them stuck. You then help them understand it so they can see with clarity and develop a plan to move forward.

You take complex things and make them understandable – often using your outstanding verbal abilities. The challenge for you comes from the fact that you can solve problems so fast and so well. You can often become the bottleneck at work; since you are so good at solving problems, they all end up coming to you. Time and energy become your limiting factors because you can’t solve every problem if the organization is going to actually grow. You need to be able to delegate, as well as pick and choose which problems to get involved with. This way you can keep the team involved and keep your sanity! Make sure you don’t become the “fix it” person, and strive to stay a part of the team.