communication

Unleashing Intuition through situational self-leadership

The Adventurer’s Guide to Unleashing Intuition

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Introduction:

In an era defined by rapid change and complex challenges, the ability to blend rational analysis with intuitive insight is more crucial than ever. Yet, many of us find ourselves trapped in the confines of our rational minds, not really trusting the creative and intuitive resources that lie just beneath the surface. However, the same models which enable us to develop and empower new people to safely take on greater responsibilities can also be used to enable our intuitive subconscious to take a more effective role in finding powerful solutions.

Navigating Complexity with a Balanced Mind

All around us, in business, in government, in social media, we’re constantly navigating an increasingly complex world. A world that has moved beyond our individual logical ability to make sense of it. A world where the consequences of relying on argument and opinion can be seen in increasing division, conflict and polarized debate. Where the temptation is to retreat into echo chambers which feed and reinforce a black and white rationale that belongs to a simpler world.

And this can be true of our own professional and personal lives, as much as it can the politics which govern our country. But the truth is, our greatest insights often emerge from the subconscious mind—those ‘Eureka’ moments that seem to come from nowhere. But how do we consistently tap into this well of creativity?

The Situational Leadership Model: A Guide for Personal Growth

The Situational Leadership model, developed by Hersey and Blanchard, which adapts leadership style based on the maturity and competence of the team, can surprisingly guide us in harmonizing our rational and intuitive selves. By viewing our conscious mind as the ‘leader’ and our subconscious mind as the ‘team member,’ we can embark on a transformative journey toward holistic decision-making.
In this way, we can adapt the model as follows.

The Four Phases of Inner Leadership

  1. Direct (Tell): Start by acknowledging the dominance of your rational mind. It’s your go-to for decision-making, but also the gatekeeper that often blocks the intuitive insights from your subconscious.
  2. Persuade (Sell): Begin to open up to your subconscious. Let it know that while the rational mind holds the reins, there’s room for the intuitive thoughts to surface. It’s about saying, “Show me what you’ve got,” and being open to the creativity that arises.
  3. Support (Coach): As your intuitive side starts showing its potential, learn to nurture it. Understand its strengths and how it complements your rational thought processes. This stage is about building a partnership between the two sides of your mind.
  4. Delegate (Empower): Finally, reach a stage where your rational and intuitive minds coexist in harmony, seamlessly switching roles to leverage each other’s strengths. This is the pinnacle of self-leadership, where you fully harness your inner genius.

Applying Situational Leadership Internally

  1. Acknowledge Your Growth Potential: Understand that engaging more with your creativity and intuition is a journey that starts with self-awareness and openness to internal dialogue.
  2. Embrace Challenges as Opportunities: Use everyday challenges as a training ground for your subconscious. Recognize that it’s like a muscle that needs to be exercised and strengthened over time.
  3. Constructive Collaboration: As your confidence in your intuitive side grows, actively seek ways for both halves of your mind to collaborate on real-world problems.
  4. Continuous Reflection and Development: Regularly review and refine how your rational and intuitive minds work together. Celebrate the successes and learn from the challenges.

Resources

The adventures in our adventure library are all about taking you to places that your rational mind would typically discount. The provide 50 week by week exercises to develop greater confidence in your intuitive capabilities.

Conclusion

In a professional landscape that values innovation and agility, mastering the art of situational self-leadership can be a game-changer. By fostering a dynamic partnership between our rational and intuitive minds, we unlock new dimensions of problem-solving and creativity. Let’s lead ourselves with the same wisdom and adaptability we strive to lead others, and embark on this journey of self-discovery to unlock the full potential of our inner genius.

More from Culturistics:

Daily re-restructuring for agility? How adaptive structures maximise agile engagement.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast – but what sort of strategy are you feeding it?
Facilitating mental wellbeing – The power of adventure in keeping our minds fit & healthy.
Patterns of collaborative excellence – Rediscovering the lost wisdom of design.
Prescient emotional knowledge management – do you have what it takes?
Image of person struggling to make themselves understood - metaphor for Accelerating change with neology

Accelerating Change with Neology – The Awesome Power of Biznaptics

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Our world, and our work, is ever-increasingly about change. And the expectation for our future, like it or not, is either that we competitively adapt to that change and take advantage of its potential. Or we fall behind, and eventually fall victim to its consequences.
But change is not just about what happens around us, it is about what happens within us. And a really big part of that is about developing our cognitive abilities. Developing our thinking processes and our mental models to better equip us to better engage with with the opportunities of change.

The role of vocabulary in thinking

Our vocabulary plays a really big part in enabling our brains to grasp, handle, communicate and apply the new concepts enabled by that change. This as explained in a really helpful TED talk: ‘How language shapes the way we think‘  by Lera Boroditsky,
That is where biznaptics come in.
You may not have heard of biznaptics. It is a made up word that I have created, purely for this article. It represents the practice of actively generating, or appropriating, sets of new words (also known as neology). But specifically to support the mental engagement with change, and thereby accelerate its impact within a business.
And, all of a sudden, we have a new concept. And we have a new label. A container which can expand or adapt as it needs to in order to embrace our understanding of the concept as it develops. The advantage of this is explained by the list printed at the end the article.

Adopting words as containers of ideas

Dr Boroditsky’s talk connected with something I became aware of very recently. I have been working with a particular client for some months now. I have been introducing new Agile design concepts to them, and helping them weave these into their everyday practice. Last week I discovered that they had labelled this work, its meetings, and its projects ‘culturistics’. And this provides them with a container which evolves to reflect their increased understanding and awareness of this new way of working. As a word, for them, it represents a change in attitude, in practice, in ambition – along particular lines. And it helps them in all the ways described by the list below.
For me, it is simply the name of my company, inspired by Daniel Kahneman’s work. It is the idea of ‘cultural heuristics‘ in better engaging with ever increasing rates of change. In other words, a totally different container. But that doesn’t matter. For this particular client, the word becomes whatever is currently most productive for them in engaging with these new concepts.
To be fair, many changes you encounter already have their own new (or appropriated) vocabulary. Take Agile for example, with its scrums, sprints and ceremonies. But other changes may not have such a vocabulary, or may have insufficient new vocabulary for your people’s needs. In these cases it is helpful to created a limited set of new vocabulary to act as labels and containers for the evolving understanding that will be taking place. In many cases these might be hybrid words, or word combinations, particularly when associated with meaningful and specifically named locations or events. For example the Chatham House Rule.

New words and the risk of jargon

Unfortunately, in doing this, we will inevitably open ourselves up accusations of creating or supporting ‘jargon’. And those accusations will be fair. But they will largely come from those outside the group actively engaging with change. They will come from those for whom the words have no meaning, and who frankly may not need them.
So we need to be considerate that our communication is appropriate and meaningful to our audience. We need to reserve our neologisms for those who embrace their meaning, and those who we wish to bring into that group. After all jargon is only ‘jargon’ when it is used inappropriately. But the fact that it is as prevalent as it is, is a sure sign of its competitive power to those for whom it is appropriate.
If we use ‘biznaptics’* intelligently, we will significantly empower people’s minds to engage with change. We will be providing them with the cardinal points by which to navigate and chart their new adventure. And we will be strategically extending their cognitive and conceptual processing through:

Benefits of new vocabulary

  • Expanding Concepts: Introducing new vocabulary allows individuals to articulate and comprehend concepts. Concepts that might have been previously vague or difficult to express. It provides a framework for thinking about abstract or complex ideas, leading to more nuanced understanding and analysis.
  • Cognitive Flexibility: Learning and using new vocabulary can enhance cognitive flexibility. Thereby enabling individuals to switch between different ways of thinking and problem-solving. This adaptability can be especially beneficial in diverse and dynamic business environments.
  • Perception and Attention: Specific vocabulary can influence what individuals pay attention to and how they categorize and interpret information. For example, having specialized business terms can direct attention to critical aspects of a project or market analysis.
  • Decision-Making: New vocabulary may lead to changes in decision-making processes. By having access to precise terms to describe risks, opportunities, and potential outcomes, individuals can make more informed and strategic choices.
  • Creativity and Innovation: Language is a tool for creativity, and introducing new vocabulary can spark fresh ideas. This enables more innovative approaches to problem-solving. It allows individuals to think outside their usual linguistic boundaries and consider novel solutions.

Avoiding being constrained by the limitations of language

  • Emotional Expression: Different languages and vocabularies often have unique emotional expressions. Adopting new emotional terms can enable individuals to articulate their feelings more accurately, leading to better emotional intelligence and communication.
  • Empathy and Understanding: Language can influence our ability to empathize with others. Learning new terms related to diversity and inclusion, for example, can promote understanding and empathy in a multicultural business environment.
  • Sense of Identity: Incorporating new elements of vocabulary from various cultures or communities can foster a sense of interconnectedness and openness to different perspectives, creating a more inclusive and cohesive organizational culture.
*I am not seriously proposing that the word ‘biznaptics’ is used for this approach or, indeed, anywhere outside of this article. I have merely been intending it as a vaguely facetious but hopefully practical illustration of the principle, for which I hope it has proven of conceptual benefit. Conversely, neology and neologisms are real words, in fact meta-words, which, now I have discovered them I will be using with enthusiastic abandon.

More from Culturistics:

Daily re-restructuring for agility? How adaptive structures maximise agile engagement.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast – but what sort of strategy are you feeding it?
Facilitating mental wellbeing – The power of adventure in keeping our minds fit & healthy.
Patterns of collaborative excellence – Rediscovering the lost wisdom of design.
Prescient emotional knowledge management – do you have what it takes?
Picture of one person helping another on a climb - metaphor for trust

The Tyranny of Trust

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Imagine yourself in the following situation …
Your company has recognised the importance of trust to effective teamwork. You have been part of numerous trust and teamwork exercises, where people have been vulnerable, and learned and grown together. It has been tough, but it has been fun, and much has improved as a result. And recently, the shared narrative has become: “We no longer need anonymity in any form of feedback, because anonymity undermines the trust and openness we now have!” What a wonderful place to be.
But you know it’s wrong.
Your boss said it, and nobody chose to challenge it. To do so seemed somehow disloyal. To break trust. And nobody seemed confident in mustering the arguments to effectively ‘oppose’ it. Or indeed, looking around the table, to count on their colleagues for support in this.
The fact is, we are all human, we all have issues and insecurities. And for some of us, those issues and insecurities can make the challenge of leadership uncomfortable – particularly within older (but still very prevalent) paradigms of leadership. And as a result, we can become defensive, and use force of reason and partial truths to cow the challenges we encounter – particularly if the challenger feels exposed and fears their honesty might be held against them.

Trust is a journey

But not all challenges are there to be beaten, and not all truths can be understood by logic alone. Let’s face it, we do not even have words for much of what we are thinking and feeling. Concepts like belonging, confidence, identity and love are key to our mental health, happiness and success but are difficult to articulate and argue (or even understand clearly). And yet these concepts are essential components of the trust we seek.
Trust is not a destination – it is far too complex for that. Trust is a journey. And nowhere along that journey is there a point where anonymity does not add value. At times, it may not be necessary, and you will be able to see this when the anonymous feedback directly mirrors the in-person feedback. But even here it acts as a bellwether: Either providing us with confidence that we are where we think we are; or highlighting where reality is drifting from the current narrative.

The paradox of anonymity and trust

Giving up all forms of anonymity is not a sign that you have achieved ‘trust’, it is rather a precursor to inevitably losing it. But losing it in a way where the ‘tyranny of trust’ pretty much blocks your ability to do anything about it.
So, if you find yourself in the hypothetical (but all too real*) situation described above, my hope is that this brief article equips you with the arguments to gently, but firmly, stand against it.
After all, if ‘trust’ is real, what is there to fear from anonymity?
*I seem to recall one actual line was: “No! We have worked hard to build trust, and we have it now, and any form of anonymous feedback would be a step backwards!” The thing is, often the people who say these things really believe them. For them it is a convenient truth – something that gives them comfort against their hidden internal dread of ‘being found out and exposed’. But the thing is, that dread is usually far worse and more damaging than the reality of what might ensue. Trust lies, not in the facts, but in having faith in your colleagues’ responses to you, after the facts. 
St Augustine put it well:  “The act of faith is to believe what we cannot see. The reward of faith is to see what we believe”. And this is as true of our relationships with each other as it is with the Almighty. Trust is built on faith.