How nature and coin flipping help decision making
The ability to make good decisions is one of the most important skills in business. Innovation requires numerous decisions to be made: what price, what package, what flavor, what size, where in the store… the list can seem daunting.
So, what can you do to improve your decision-making skills?
There are many articles in top business publications about the subject but there are two aspects that I have found to be particularly relevant: intuition and probability. Its not a mistake that these are opposites: qual and quant, gut and data. Its important to balance decision-making with both ends of the spectrum. In fact, according to this article in the Harvard Business Review
“ studies show that pairing gut feelings with analytical thinking helps you make better, faster, and more accurate decisions and gives you more confidence in your choices than relying on intellect alone.”
Intuition is something that many large organizations are uncomfortable using in decision making but is used every day in small companies that don’t have access to a lot of data. Its so important not to ignore your “gut feeling” when making decisions – not just personal decisions but business decisions as well. Here are a few articles that provide more details on using intuition in decision making:
How to Harness Intuition and Make Better Decisions
How to Trust Your Intuition and Listen to Your Gut
How to Stop Overthinking and Start Trusting Your Gut
So how do you strengthen your intuition? Again, there are lots of recommendations you can find online but a few that are particularly easy to try are:
Escape your daily routine: a change of scenery or schedule can help your mind reset and free up new space for intuition to come through
Spend time in nature: disconnecting from the constant tie to technology can quiet our minds and help focus on what our “gut” is telling us
Engage in repetitive movement: run, dance, chop, paint – all these activities help calm logical brain and open your intuition
On the other side of the figurative coin is the idea of probability. The Harvard Business Review provides 3 Ways to Improve Your Decision Making and Rule #3 is to think probabilistically.
“ Research has shown that even relatively basic training in probability makes people better forecasters and helps them avoid certain cognitive biases”
If you are in need of a refresher in basic probability this is a good one that includes the coin toss example most of us studied in school.
So go spend some time in nature and study coin tosses – your decision-making and the quality of your innovation will benefit from both!