Three keys, a quote and an invitation
One
Many of you wonder how intuition and data can work together for management decision-making in today’s uncertain markets. This question’s come up a lot lately.
If this is a challenge you’ve been dealing with, know that you are not alone.
For ‘known knowns’, data and analysis work well, for ‘unknown unknowns’ we need to widen our approach.
There is a strong tendency in c-suite meetings and board rooms to throw anything off the table that isn’t supported with hard-core data.
What’s the missing piece that makes leaders and managers more effective in navigating complex and uncertain environments?
The answer my friend, is sensing and intuition.
Two
Intuition is not an alternative to analysis and data.
Intuition is an embodied intelligence. Training the intuition muscle requires a full-body sensory awareness, metacognition, and self-awareness.
We all have intuition, but it is up to us to tune into it and hone it.
In “Sensing: The Elephant in the Room of Management Learning”, the authors explore how analytically educated and trained managers may be reluctant to engage in sensory-based learning, and argue that sensing is indispensable for constructing knowledge, particularly in today’s complex and uncertain context.
The study identifies several reasons why managers resist sensory-based learning or sharing their sense-making in teams.
Do any of these sound familiar to you?
-Corporate culture and social norms that prioritize quantitative evidence but discourage sensory-based insights.
-High achievers fear making mistakes and experimenting outside of their analytical comfort zone.
-Lack of vocabulary – many lack words to describe sensory experiences, making it difficult to communicate insights.
-Sensory-based knowledge cannot always be explicitly explained and therefore leads to scepticism.
-Dismissive attitude towards intuitions or sensory-based knowledge. So even when leaders sense something is important, they may ignore it without hard data to support it.
Overcoming these barriers requires reframing of sensing as a legitimate and valuable component of leadership development.
Three
Sensory awareness and intuition can be cultivated through training, just like analytical skills. Start with these:
Mindfulness and reflection – becoming aware of bodily responses and intuitions. Journaling or documenting them, e.g. by creating side-notes where you keep meeting notes, is more effective than simply noticing them in moments that pass and we are prone to forget.
Active Listening & Observation – Paying attention to tone, posture, and subtle signals in conversations and surroundings, and documenting them in your journal or meeting notes. Train yourself to understand your environment, teams, and markets through your sense of others and your sense of vibes and trends.
Integrating Experiential Learning – Using arts, storytelling, and non-verbal activities in management education.
Encouraging Psychological Safety – Creating environments and work culture where sensing-based insights can be shared without fear of ridicule. As a leader or a manager, how you exemplify this will have ripple effects on your whole team. Remember, we gather information through analysis and data, no less than through more subtle and unconscious ways, which are sensing and intuition.
For more information, read the aforementioned paper and my book on intuition, InnSæi.
As the paper concludes, integrating sensing and intuition into decision-making, helps build the critical skills needed to make smarter decisions and lead effectively in today’s markets.
A quote
“Intuition is not just some pink and fluffy feeling. Intuition is the awareness of the subtle stuff which lies outside the focus of attention; the stuff that we’re aware of subliminally, unconsciously.
And if we spend too much time in the stance of our very focused conscious mind, we will not see why that should be important; it doesn’t seem to be present, it doesn’t seem to matter and one therefore cuts it out.”
Dr. Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist, neuroscientist and author, interviewed in InnSæi the film.
An invitation
Wisdom is asking the right questions. Clarity comes with presence and heightened awareness about how and to what we pay attention.
My invitation this week is for you to reflect on your relationship with sensing and intuition.
Ask yourself these three questions and write down the answers:
- Can you remember a time when you relied on sensory cues—bodily sensations, emotions, and environmental awareness—to navigate uncertainty?
- Can you recall a situation when rational analysis and data-driven methods overrode important insights?
- What’s the best example you can think of, where sensing and intuition worked well with analysis and data?
Thank you for reading, as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions. If you are enjoying reading this, are curious to find out more and think others might
be, please do share!
With love & respect,
