Decision-making: Should you listen to your instincts or trust the data

Making a choice is difficult. This amounts to weighing the pros and cons of each option, making a list of the advantages and disadvantages, the quality / price ratio and choosing the alternative that seems to us the most favorable.

 

In this process, two sometimes opposing forces come into play. On the other, a small inner voice, that of “visceral” instinct, which guides us in a more subjective way, but gives us a powerful feeling of certainty. “Hire this person”, “sign this contract”, “don’t take this job”, “he’s the right person”.

 

So what force to trust and how much instinct should be considered? We give you some clarifications!

Instinct: the power of experience and emotions
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Instinct has been the subject of numerous scientific studies. Psychologists, sociologists, economists, microbiologists… and all agree on one point: our instincts are not esoteric. Gary Klein, psychologist and author of “The Sources of Power”, has studied Russia Phone Number List the way individuals make decisions, particularly by observing firefighters in the heat of the moment. According to him, the power of intuition “ is how we translate our experience into judgment and action ”.

 

These decisions are quick, based on feelings, emotions, the memory of past experiences.

 

 As proof, he reports a study carried out on individuals with brain damage that disconnects the emotional and decision-making parts of the brain. If their capacity for reflection impacted, their quality of life is considerably altered: without their emotions, they are incapable of being in the world. They lose their job, struggle to maintain their social life and above all take much longer to make very simple decisions.

To what extent should instinct be taken into account?
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Numbers and hard data are important. Instinct, as we have just seen, is too. So how do you balance the two? There is obviously no magic formula, but these few tips can help you in your decision-making:

 

  • Cultivate a culture of experimentation:

 

Whether it’s you or your collaborators, some choices are completely against the grain of what it seems reasonable to do. But if your guts or those of one of your collaborators are screaming at you / him that it’s the best decision to make, why not try and learn from this experience, draw more “tangible” conclusions and move forward in “test mode”. & learn”?

 

  • Do not blindly trust the data:

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Numbers are important, especially today, when companies are transforming as big data develops. We had already published an article on Business Intelligence and its importance in making strategic decisions. However, the numbers tell Gulf Phone Number only part of the story, and they will never replace an empirical experience, a detection of subjective signals, a feeling and an emotional connection with a situation. It is for this reason that it is very important to listen in particular to the opinion of your collaborators who evolve as close as possible to the customers!

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