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Expanding Your Dataset
So here’s the thing about intuition. Intuition is a source of data. A lot of the time we think of data only in terms of numerical or quantitative data, and that’s absolutely true. But as a qualitative researcher, I’m well aware that while quantitative data shows us patterns at the 30,000 foot level view, we also need sometimes to dive down into the worms-eye view. And this is where qualitative research methods become super important, where we use deep observation and interviews and contextual inquiry. And we also need to be attuned to the sense-making that we as individuals are doing.
In my book The Creativity Leap, I interviewed over 50 people who come from a range of sectors, and to a person, and to a successful leader, they referenced the role of intuition in helping them to problem-solve and strategically make decisions.
One example of that is a gentleman named Biplab Sarkar. He’s a PhD in electrical engineering. He’s a CEO of a software tech firm called Vectorworks. And I was a little nervous when it came time in my conversation with him to ask him for examples of the ways that he uses his intuition for strategic decision-making. And I was completely wrong in my assumption that he would laugh me out of the room. Instead, this on the surface super rational gentleman had all sorts of examples and ways that he’s used his intuition and shares that openly with his team in order to make decisions to go forward.
So in the face of the numerical quantitative data, we have to listen to that nudge that tells us to pause, that tells us to go back, that tells us to revisit an idea that initially seemed pretty far out and an outlier. And it’s typically in those situations, when we give ourselves the permission to pause and to reconsider and to pay attention to those brain feelings, that pattern recognition, that in a very integrative way we are paving the best pathway forward.
Paying Attention to Your Body
So I know a lot of you are thinking right now, “Following my intuition is risky business!” But is always following the hardcore numbers a sure, steadfast way forward? There’ve been research studies of Wall Street traders, who, the ones that are much more successful are the ones who pay attention to – and this is a very technical term – their “spiny senses”. The times when their hair stands on end. They tend to have the best track record and make the best decisions in a high risk, high pressured environment. So please remember that your feelings, your emotions, that sense-making that comes from intuition is also data.
Another group of researchers also demonstrating that our bodies could actually be more rational than our brains, that the cognitive process starts with the sense-making that our bodies are doing. The dilation of our pupils, the sweaty palms, the faster beating heart rate, all that feeds into the cognitive rational decision-making we’re doing. So my net, net headline to you is to pay attention. Pay attention to the intuitive parts of yourself as well as to the cognitive, rational parts of yourself.
Training Your Intuition
So what I know to be true about intuition is that it’s not always right. I also know that intuition is like a sonar, like a muscle. And the more we use it, the clearer and more distilled it gets and the stronger it gets. The more I ignore it, the flabbier and the dimmer it gets. So I’ve learned over time to, again, pause and pay attention and integrate it as a source of data along with all of the other bits of data that I have to my availability.
In this way, we actually get better at discernment, and we actually engage in what I call embodied leadership – paying attention to how we are feeling because we are actually human organisms in these organizations and we cannot ignore that. It actually will help us in the future of work to be much more present and distinctive leaders when we, instead of ignoring the humanness of ourselves, that we actually embrace it and we ask for more of that from the people on our teams.