INTUITION AND IMPROVISATION


Millions of human beings from many different cultures, religions and traditions believe that intuition exists and has a place in life and hence in the business environment. Whether you are one of these people or not you can seek out the variety of new web sites that are blossoming on the topic of Power Hunches and the Intuitive Business. Just like any other tool, intuition can be used or discredited. That discrediting of intuition usually is accompanied by discrediting the existence of other strong human intangible experiences, like "feelings." This has not served people or business because it misses an important part of the whole. Businesses that want to operate from wholeness and not fragmentation will encourage the presence of the seen as well as the unseen, the visible and the invisible attributes that make a business work. Intuition is not the whole picture of humans , any more than rational thought is the whole picture. Good business, and excellent management make room for rational as well as intuitive thinking.

Some people have a very active intuition and others have either a slow- burner or an atrophied sense of it. Some deny its' presence, others ascribe it to the domain of the occult and hence evil. Still other try to have their intuitive nature removed through absolute use of logic and reason and others spend billions of dollars on enhancing it through mysticism and quasi-religious procedures. Perhaps all that is reasonable to discuss in terms of management practice is that there is more than meets the eye in emotional experiences, and hunches and intuition are useful parts of it.

Business scholars and research scientists are now looking at intuition with careful and serious consideration. New research is exploring how the systematic removal of the innate and instinctive human dynamic from the workplace is counterproductive. Most regular people know there is more to life than meets the eye. Business and science are slowly catching up. Since most people know (although some would hesitate to admit publicly ) that there is another part of the self that isn't tangible, business has forced all attention to the product that is consumable and tangible. This is not wrong when well balanced. This is business. Billions of research dollars are spent in determining and predicting what consumers want. Wanting is not a tangible . A lot of wanting is intuitive. Another billion dollars is spent in finding out why the research didn't match up with what people actually bought. Companies are financing major studies on how to measure human intangibles in order to control markets and consumer interest. Intuition is just one of the intangibles that is being researched. Did you have a hunch about that?

Left-brain-rational-thinking-bean-counting-old-world business-types raise their collective eyebrows on the topic of intuition. The topic gets assigned into a general wastebasket category labeled that "Fuzzy, HR, Flaky, Soft, Touchy-Feely" stuff. They forget that many of the biggest business deals in history were based on "hunches." Great power hunches have led to great deals and great discoveries which have employed countless millions of workers to develop, research and implement these 'fuzzy" notions of mad business geniuses who are now rich and retired on their private island and having beverages with little umbrellas. Take some time to go on the internet and research Power Hunches and Business Intuition. You may be surprised.

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Case Examples
  1. The Phone Rang. Lucie knew it was her daughter before she answered it. She answered it. Her intuition made her feel warm and connected. She shared this story with her manager who also had a daughter . They enjoyed the intuitive nature of their bond with their children. The manager tended to seek out this employee for ideas about how to manage other young female employees .

  2. The Phone Rang. Wendy knew it was her daughter before she answered it and had a tone of annoyance in her voice because she didn't want to be disturbed at work by her children. Wendy always ignored her intuitive connection to her children so that she could concentrate on her work and not on her feelings of guilt for leaving them with a daycare provider. Her intimate connection to her children's feelings, even when she wasn't with them, frightened her and increased her guilt. She decided it was not rational to have such feelings. She focused her energies into technology and logic and avoided all emotional connections at work. Her manager and other employees liked her work performance but didn't like to be near her.

  3. Saundra had a bad feeling about Karl. She felt uncomfortable when he was around. He offered her a special position. She listened to her intuition and passed on the offer. She was going to confide in her manager but her intuition told her not to do that. Instead, she shared her concerns with her sister who lived in the same city. Later Karl was eliminated from the team for ethical violations including sexual harassment . The manager defended him until it turned out she had been involved in an affair with Karl.

  4. Hillary didn't like how she felt in the presence of her manager Dylan but felt guilty because he was so nice to her. Dylan gave her special help and even offered to see her on the weekends to help her raise her job skills. She felt uneasy and odd that a manager would take such extra time but ignored her intuition in lieu of special favors. She tried to think it through and couldn't find a good reason to ignore his offers. Dylan made Hillary his assistant and became sexually aggressive with her. Hillary came to believe he was in love with her and she decided she was going to go up the corporate ladder with this manager as he grew professionally. Her inner voice of intuition continued telling her to take it slow and easy, but Dylan's affectionate solicitations were powerful, and everything he said made perfect sense. When Dylan was terminated and accused of fraudulent activities she couldn't explain why her name was on several of his project documents that included ethical and legal violations. She tried to share his rational explanations but they did not make sense now and she could not explain them. Hillary was terminated

Learning Byte

Intuition exists. You can use it as part of the picture or ignore it.

DO THIS: Think of a time in your life where you experienced an intuitive moment

DON'T : Overestimate or Underestimate the value of intuition in the workplace

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Emotional Terrors in the Workplace. Protecting Your Business' Bottom Line. Emotional Continuity Management in the Workplace
Emotional Terrors in the Workplace: Protecting Your Business Bottom Line - Emotional Continuity Management in the Workplace
ISBN: B0019KYUXS
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 228

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