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We were all born with natural instinct. We cried when we were
hungry - not because we were taught to, but because it was our instinctive
response to our physical need. Emotion calls on instinct too. The “flight or
fight” response to fear is one most of us have experienced and, with the
adrenaline pounding through us, we know the reaction was not the result of a
calculated decision-making process.
Our natural instinct is used most in sports, drama, music and other non-academic
activities. It tends to be suppressed as we mature. Instinct, or intuition,
remains in us as adults, but is usually underdeveloped and under-recognized.
You’ve surely had the experience of meeting someone new in both personal and
professional situations - and having a “gut feeling” about them. Or of walking
into a room and sensing the “vibes” – good or bad. This is your instinct piping
up, giving you a chance to “trust your gut” and “listen to the vibes.”
Instinct is insight based not on reason, but on awareness. When we allow it back
into our consciousness, we can become more effective in many areas of life,
including our role as a leader. Allowing it back calls for a heightened sense of
openness to our self and others.
Openness to our self
To draw instinct into play is to increase our self-awareness. Suppression of
feelings is an impediment in this quest. Your first step must be to abandon any
reluctance in recognizing your feelings. Rather, embrace them, learn about them,
and experiment at living with and by them.
This first step can be difficult as many people are unfamiliar with this part of
themselves. Acknowledging and identifying your feelings is at least half of this
ongoing process.
Check yourself throughout the day, in any and all settings, by asking yourself,
“What am I feeling now? How am I reacting to this person? To this situation?”
Some answers will be positive: you may feel joyful, generous, or creative. These
are usually the easiest ones to admit. Others are not - you may feel angry,
worried, or depressed. While these are harder to acknowledge, they are equally
valuable in your effort to gain access to your instinctive self.
Openness to others
To effectively apply your instinct in your interactions with others, you should
be aware of their feelings, motivations, and sensibilities as well as your own.
To do this, you need to be a good listener, an invaluable and underemployed
skill fundamental to effective leadership.
Being able to listen well means paying close attention not just to words, but to
the nonverbal communication that accompanies them – it often speaks more loudly
than the words themselves.
Listening well help you to become more aware of others people’s feelings and how
they influence their actions. This is called empathy. In his insightful book, “A
Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age,” Daniel
H. Pink writes, “Empathy is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s
position and to intuit what that person is feeling. . . . It is something we do
pretty much spontaneously, an act of instinct rather than the product of
deliberation. . . . It is feeling with someone else, sensing what it would be
like to be that person.”
This happens when a parent is engaged with his/her child’s development and
growth. Watching your 8-year-old perform a play on the ball field is often an
empathetic experience. You “know” the feelings that accompany his earnest reach
for the ball as you watch the progress of the play.
Instinct in leadership
Using your instinct in your role as leader means developing a keen awareness of
your staff, colleagues, and clients as individuals, and recognizing that not
only is each person different, but they are different from you. It means
understanding what they go through on a day-to-day basis and yields insight into
their strengths and weaknesses. Using your instinct, you are able to walk into a
meeting and be aware of how others are feeling and reacting around you.
An effective leader blends strong leadership skills with this empathetic
awareness, guiding others to meet challenges and opportunities for their own
benefit and the benefit of the organization. When such a leader takes the time
and effort to know all employees personally on this level, the results in
employee morale, empowerment, performance, and retention are excellent.
Gary Klein, well known for research into decision-making, discusses intuition as
a learnable skill. In his book, “The Power of Intuition: How to Use Your Gut
Feelings to Make Better Decisions at Work,” he states that “90 percent of
critical decisions are based on our intuition.”
Your staff and colleagues define you as a leader by what they see you do. Your
actions are based on your decisions and your decisions can be influenced
favorably by your instinct. As a good leader, you can use instinct in making
decisions that align your personal and organizational values and lead to your
desired outcomes.
“He who knows others is wise.
He who knows himself is enlightened.” – Tao Te Ching
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