Ask the Expert - Eugene Sadler Smith

Transcript of session

CMI: Hello all and welcome to today's live Q&A with Professor Eugene Sadler-Smith. We're due to go live in around 15 minutes so feel free to grab yourself a cup of tea and think up your question for Eugene.

Eugene: Hi. My name is Eugene Sadler-Smith. I'm Prof at the Surrey Business School, Uni. Surrey. I'm looking forward to questions, and I'm especially interested in Q&As around the topic of intuition in management. I'll be 'on air' from 11.00am.   

Richard: Hi Eugene, looking forward to the session today.   

CMI: You and me both Richard. We've got quite a few readers straining at the leash here so it should be a great session.

David Morgan: Good morning Eugene, i'm David Morgan an Evaluator with Heddlu Dyfed-Powys Police based at Carmarthen in SW Wales, looking forwrad to your session this morning

CMI: Hi David, welcome to the session.   

CMI: Ok, I make it 11am (or thereabouts) so lets get this show on the road   

Eugene: Ok. Ready for questions and comments!   

CMI: Firstly a big CMI welcome to Eugene Sadler-Smith, our expert for the day. Eugene recently launched his latest book The Intuitive Mind, which is shortlisted on the CMI Management Book of the Year. Judging by the poll we've got some keen readers for you today Eugene.   

CMI: Our first question today comes via our discussion forum   

CMI: What organisational behaviours make successful companies?   

Eugene: Thanks for the question Nora. OB is a vast area and its hard to isolate specifc behaviors as it depends on the context. But one area that fascinates me is the importance of soft skills in the workplace. It seems like many employers are seeking these in addition to, or even over and above the harder technical skills.   

CMI: It's interesting isn't it Eugene as many organisations remain focused on numbers and statistics rather than softer things. That leads nicely onto this question from Thomas

Thomas: Do you think organisations are fit for human beings at the moment?

Eugene: Again, it depends!! I think what we are seeing is something of a sea change in people's attitudes and values post 2008 and exacerbated by where we are now. I think people have a heightened awareness of moral and ethical issues and I think that this will be a vital area for businesses to address. Some organizations are clearly not 'venues of virtue'

Richard: With things like behavioral economics growing in popularity, do you think we're entering an enlightened age of managing human beings?

Eugene: I hope so. Psychology and neuroscience are generating fascinating insights bout how we function as human beings and I think the challenge in management is to take whats going on in the fundamental science, sort the wheat from the chaff and apply these insights to how we manage people. Neuroeconomics and neuromarketing are leading the way on this one.

CMI: It's certainly an interesting time. We have a question now from Nicole on intuition itself.   

Nicole: Is 'intuition' another name for experience? How can you develop your intuition?

Eugene: Great question. It depends which type of intuition (there are at least four types). But if we're referring to problem solving intuition then yes its a product of experience (some say 10 years or more). So developing intuitive expertise is about experience, but the right kind of experience in the right kind of learning environment. Herbert Simon (Nobel prize winner) described intuition as analysis frozen into habit - that true but remember there are at least three other types of intuition!

CMI: As the old saying goes, it takes a lot of practice to make something look effortless :)   

CMI: We have a humdinger here from Anne

Anne: In your experience would having more women in the boardroom lead to companies being more intuitive?

Eugene: A humdinger indeed. The research tells us that actually there's not mcuh difference between men and women in their general levels of intuition. However, going back to types, I think if we take a more nuanced view there are some behavioral scientists who think that women might be 'better' at social intuition.

CMI: Kevin has a follow up on that issue of communication for you Eugene

Kevin Doyle: Why are many organisations poor at communicating and also does this lack of communication lead to a lowering of performance / productivity?

Eugene: I think that lack of communication is potentially a huge problem in any situation inolving groups of people working together. I think that one of the key issues around communication relates to learning, and if comapnies are to become learning organizations then issues of communication are vital. And again going back to intuitions - communication is vital here - if a manager has an intuition its essential that s/he communicates that intuition to colleagues and doesnt keep it in the closet and there are particular ways in which intuitions need to be communicated.

Rob: What is the best way for managers to learn do you think?

Eugene: I think that there has to be a blend of foraml learning (but this is often insufficient) and informal learning (which can sometimes be inefficient - in the words of Alan Mumford). We need ways of harnessing the power of informal learning in the workplace - methods like action learning can tap into the power of learning in ways that formal learning can't. I think that there's no one best way and weve also known for a long time that managers have preferred learning / cognitive styles - so as far as an individual goes there is no one size fits all.

CMI: As you said previously though, there needs to be that culture of learning in the organisation to begin with for any approach to really thrive.

Eugene: Absolutely the context is all.   

CMI: A question now from Timothy on the link between how organisations see things and how employees do.

Timothy: From your research, is there any evidence that there is a difference between the organisational world espoused by 'organisations' themselves, and that experienced day by day by their employees?   

Eugene: Its not something that I research directly. But we cant make any assumptions about how anybody esle sees the world since we cant get inside their heads. I guess its about eliciting perceptions, surfacing these and sharing them - in other words trying to develop a shared mental model - and this is one of the key attributes of a learning organization. People like Peter Senge have written at length about how to do this.

CMI: Guess it all comes back to communication again and not making assumptions on how other people perceive things based on our own point of view.   

Eugene: Yes - where I came in on Nora's question - communication is one of the most vital of the softer skills

CMI: Nora has a follow up question on the different types of intuition   

Nora: Eugene, you have mentioned 4 types of intiution and ways in which intuitions should be communicated.... can you elaborate? thanks

Eugene: Sure. (1) the four type of intutiion (I think) are problem solving intuition (intuitive expertise), social intuition, moral intuition and creative intuition; (2) about communicating intuitions - the intuitive mind cant talk so it communicates to us in feelings and other images and we need ways to express these in words - one of the most powerful ways we have to communicate our intutiions is metaphor. So I think we need to become skilled at articulating intuitive feelings, e.g. through metaphor. Happy to expand on (1) or (2)!   

CMI: Yes, please do Eugene.   

Eugene: (1) or (2)?!!

CMI: Nora, do you have a preference?

Nora: 2 please

Eugene: Ok. Nice one. Creative intuition is the process that takes place before we have the eureka moment. I think its where sub-conscious conncetions are made between thingds we know or peceive and suddenyl they become linked, levels of neural acitvation corss a threshold level and we have the eureka (insightful) moment - and tehre appear to be ceratin brain areas that 'light up' when this happens. we can also create the conditions for these conncetions to be made by taking a time out and allowing incubation to take place....

Paul Joyner: How does the Intuitive Compass link with your own views?

Eugene: I'd like to know more about the Intuitive Compass as its not something I know about. But as far as moral intuition goes I think our intuition provides us with an internal guide or 'intuitive compass' to make moral judgements.

CMI: Bit more information here about the Compass http://matthewemay.com/2011/10/25/the-intuitive-compass/

Francis Cholle is a classically trained musician, clinical psychologist, international business consultant, and the author of a new book entitled The Intuitive Compass: Why the Best Decisions Balance Reason and Instinct.

CMI: Maybe that is a question for another day though, although it's clear the issue is one interesting many authors and academics.

CMI: Ok, we're approaching the end of our hour with Eugene so our final question is one that a few of our readers have asked today 

Richard: In the recession we're in, do you think people are more reluctant to share knowledge and what can be done to overcome that?

Eugene: Thanks: I like the idea of the balancing of reason (the analytical mind) and instinct (the intutiive mind). we shouldn’t get carried away that intuition is a panacea - it is both powerful and perilous

Eugene: I think we often assume that people will blithly share knowledge when in actual fact it can represent a source of competitive advatage for the individual employee. I think the challenge now and has been for many years how to retain the loyalty of knowledge workers and the assets that they carry around inside their heads. The current situation is going to make this espcially difficult and raises new and more significant challenegs for employers in this regard. But I think that we as individuals we should recognise that perhaps our most important asset is in many ways the least tangible - our mind(s) (intuitive and analytical!!!).

CMI: Do you have any tips on how to encourage knowledge sharing Eugene?

Eugene: In five minutes thats a tough one - theres a vast body of knowledge around this and a whole consulting industry. For me as soemone who believes in the importance of organizational learning I think its vital that organizations create the conditions for employees to surface and share their mental models. For correspondents interested in this area - the works of Senge, Argyris and Schon are absolutely foundational.

CMI: Superb, some to add to the reading list.

Paul Joyner CMgr: Thank you-It is helpful to get several perspectives on the subject I read Cholle's book this week and wondered how you each approached the issue.

CMI: Nora has been an avid contributor to todays session.

Nora Morrissey: I'm going to be over at Surrey Uni on the 15th for a lecture. If you are around I'd really appreciate the chance to explore your thoughts on intuition and strategy formulation.

Eugene: Thanks - I have tried to de-mystify intuition but perhaps also we should leave a little of an aura of mystery around intuition!

CMI: Happy to connect you two up via email.  

CMI: To everyone else, thanks for attending, I hope it was interesting to you.

CMI: To Eugene, a big thanks from myself on a fascinating session.

Eugene: One final recommended reading from me is Danny Kahneman's new book.....

CMI: I'm told that all copies of The Intuitive Mind are currently out of the CMI Library, but check it out when you have a chance.

CMI: Ah yes, out last month wasn't it? A great one for the reading list.

Eugene: for the xmas stocking!!!!! :-)

CMI: Indeed :-) On that note, this is the final Q&A of 2011, so I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.   

CMI: The first Q&A of 2012 will feature Professor Julian Birkinshaw.

CMI: It will run on the 18th January at 11am

Eugene: best wishes for 2012 to everyone and thanks!!!!

CMI: Add it to your diaries at this url http://www.managers.org.uk/forum/cmi-management-book-club-discussion-for...

CMI: Until then thank you again for a good session and a very merry remainder of the year.