Better leadership decisions through intuition

1. Leader To Do: This week, observe how often you make decisions based on your mind or your gut.

2. Team To Do: Discuss in the team whether they would sometimes make different decisions based on their gut.

Most of us believe in rational decision making, gathering information, weighing pros and cons, formulating arguments. Feelings have no part. I too tend to be team rational.

😁 But what is gut feeling or intuition? There is no 💯 definition. It is rather a subconscious knowledge that speaks to us in certain situations as an inner voice. A lightning fast mix of mind & feeling. How often do you think "Something feels weird" or before a situation escalates "I don't like the situation" and how often are you right? There are many moments in life when we have to weigh complex factors to make a quick judgment. In such moments, sometimes the best decision is to listen to intuition. Then, in a split second, the unconscious mind accesses all the experiences we've had throughout our lives. What's happening neurologically?

🧠 The conscious part of our brain can make very good decisions. However, it doesn't always have enough capacity to process a lot of information at the same time. In contrast, the unconscious part of our brain has unlimited resources. Despite this speed and reliability, few people and companies rely on this sense. Our education and school system relies on reason and rationality. While this brings a lot of scientific progress, it also makes our potential of intuition yellow. When can intuition help in business? When it comes to making quick decisions where our mind does not have enough information or is overwhelmed. Also when it comes to being creative, because that has to do with feeling and is difficult to explain with the mind. The longer we work in a company or in the same team, the more we fall into old habits.

Therefore, many employees keep solving new problems in the old way, even if it would be time for new solutions. How can I train my intuition in the company?

This is especially possible if you as a leader support intuitive decisions. Do you give yourself and the team the freedom to make decisions and are you willing to learn from possible mistakes? So it's also a question of error culture. Otherwise, if you have enough time, it helps to back up your intuition with facts. You can also practice very small things in everyday life: How often do you think before leaving the house, take your umbrella with you, and then don't do it? How often have I been annoyed that I didn't listen to my intuition and now I regularly train myself to listen to my gut feeling. ☝️Also go ahead.

There are good neurological reasons for listening to your gut. In short, you sometimes make the fastest and best decisions when you bypass your conscious mind and trust your intuition. Because it is your direct neural access to your entire personal knowledge.

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