“LEADERS evaluate everything with a leadership bias.” – John Maxwell
Great leaders are ones who have intuition. You know, that sense within that you should head a certain direction, or the inkling that there are people on the team who are not with you. Intuition is seen on the sporting field when the sportsman knows to run left and anticipates the play. Great leaders can see not only where they and their people have gone, but also where they are heading. It’s as if they can smell change in the wind.
Dictionary.com defines intuition as, ‘Direct perception or truth, fact, etc, independent of any reasoning process’. Some people have intuition and some do not. How do you teach someone to have intuition? How do you teach someone to be intuitive, and look at a situation and understand the right direction or the right answer to the problem?
As leaders, we have the ability to remove ourselves from what is happening at any moment and the responsibility to evaluate where our team is headed. A leader’s intuition is, quite often, the one thing that defines a great leader. It could be argued that some are born with great leadership intuition and others develop it through failure and success. The challenge comes in processing the information into a mindset that, although can’t be defined on paper, will prove to be the guiding force in decision making. The principles of leadership remain fairly consistent, but the application of a leader’s skills change with every situation.
Leadership intuition is really that inner thought, or perception to make a particular change in staffing or in assigning server sections or even placing a food order. The successes and failures of the past help to sway you a particular direction that you know you should take.
How do you develop intuition? As you grow and develop within the restaurant business, or any business, you understand the environment better. You begin to perceive future trends because you have a good grasp of the business you are in. Intuition is merely a product of the knowledge gained during the trials and tribulations that we encounter every day. That “gut feel” that you have in a specific situation is simply a reaction to the events that you have previously experienced.
Improve your ability as a reader of what’s really going on by paying attention to the following…
Intuitive Leaders Are Readers of Their Situation – leaders pick up on details that might elude others. They sense people’s attitudes. They are able to detect the chemistry of a team. They know the situation before they have all the facts.
- Intuitive Leaders Are Readers of Trends – leaders discern where the business is headed, often times they sense it first and find data later to explain it. Their intuition tells them that something is happening, that conditions are changing. Leaders must always be a few steps ahead of their people or they’re not really leading.
- Intuitive Leaders Are Readers of Their Resources – leaders think in terms or resources and how to maximize them for the benefit of their organization. They are continually aware of what they have at their disposal.
- Intuitive Leaders Are Readers of People – Intuition helps leaders sense what’s happening among people and know their hopes, fears and concerns. Reading people is, perhaps, the most important intuitive skill leaders can possess.
H5H Action Step:
- Develop intuition by changing your way of thinking: Our intuitive capabilities can be strengthened by changing the way we think. Dr. Wayne Dyer said “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” When we begin to process our experiences not just as an event but as a lesson learned, we add to our intuitive skill set. It’s the database of memories that exists in our mind that creates that “gut feel.”
As you continue forward in this thing called life, I would encourage you to change the way you view your experiences. Every choice we make has a result and every result can provide an additional opportunity to gain knowledge. The choice you have to make is whether or not you will use this knowledge to help develop your intuitive skills. What is your gut telling you right now?
Lead The Way!
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