Intuition, or rationality?

Intuition plays a greater or lesser role in all our decisions. It may take the form of experience, a vision or a feeling, but it is pervasive. It can help us a lot, but it can also cause a lot of harm.

Is there a strict boundary between the right instinct and the so-called cognitive bias, unconscious thinking that leads us to erroneous judgments? In any case, believing in your instincts in every situation is not the right thing to do, either at work or at home.

Illustration

When can you trust your intuition?

Generally you can trust your feelings if they are based on experience gained by immediate feedback in the same, or nearly the same, situations. However, if you face a situation which you can't predict, intuition should be set aside.

You can't know exactly in advance how people will react to your new brand or whether you really chose the right employees.

For example, while accountants or pilots can trust their intuition and make decisions quickly according to their feelings, marketers, psychologists and recruiters can't afford it. They need to engage data and rational thinking.

Find the right ratio

Just as we can't always believe in intuition, we can't absolutely rely on rationality either. We can't always get complete and accurate information to make the right decision.

That's why we can't conclude exactly how specific situations will develop further if we decide to do something or not. It's important to know that decisions based on both intuition (feelings) and rationality (data) have their limitations. You should try to find the right combination of both.

What do you think is the right combination?

-kk-

Article source Management Today - website of a UK management magazine
Read more articles from Management Today