Trusting Your Intuition – A Powerful PM Tool
Project managers have a powerful tool at the ready, but many hesitate to use it. It’s intuition.
Intuition may be hard to justify as a trigger for taking action on a project. In most organizations, non-standard actions on a project require support from the sponsor. The problem is that proposing an action based on intuition goes against how most sponsors prefer to work. Most sponsors want to analyze facts, especially when considering something that strays from standard corporate processes. So, approaching management with a hunch and asking for support might seem like a doomed endeavor.
?As it turns out, surveys demonstrate that people underestimate the value that managers place on intuition. My former company conducted a poll where we asked sponsors and middle managers to imagine they were hiring a new project manager. They were asked to decide between two candidates who were equal in every way, but one. The difference? One candidate was an expert in process management, while the other had superior intuition. 93% of the 260+ managers who responded to the survey said they would select the intuitive candidate.
?Due to the results of that survey, I strongly recommend that project managers share their intuitive thoughts with sponsors when they have a concern about their project. The key to doing so is to be honest that you are using your intuition. Some sponsors, who may have that same intuition, may approve the proposed response. If a sponsor doesn’t agree, I recommend that you propose actions you can take to validate your intuition, and once validated, engage in the action your intuition suggests. For me, this approach has been very effective. It’s also helped my teams avoid the apprehension that comes from supporting intuitive approaches.
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Join me and my fabulous colleague and friend Christina Charenkova for a fun and tip-filled Office Hours session called Technical Requirements Tips and Pitfalls. Here is a link to sign up for the session that will be held on February 10th Australian Eastern Standard time: https://www.dhirubhai.net/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:7020933456301871104/
?This article is based on my LinkedIn Learning course entitled “Leading with Intelligent Disobedience.” https://www.dhirubhai.net/learning/leading-with-intelligent-disobedience/what-is-intelligent-disobedience?resume=false&u=0
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?Additional thoughts can be found in my project management and outsourcing classes on LinkedIn Learning, including:
·??????Project Management: Technical Projects which can be found at: https://www.dhirubhai.net/learning/project-management-technical-projects-2021/what-is-a-technical-project?autoAdvance=true&autoSkip=false&autoplay=true&resume=false&u=2125562
·??????Project Management Foundations: Risk which can be found at: https://www.dhirubhai.net/learning/project-management-foundations-risk-14910484/project-risk-a-battle-of-resiliency?autoplay=true&u=0
·??????Outsourcing Fundamentals, the first of six courses on outsourcing, can be found at: https://www.dhirubhai.net/learning/outsourcing-fundamentals/key-components-of-outsourcing?autoAdvance=true&autoSkip=false&autoplay=true&resume=false&u=0
This series of courses focuses on defining services, performing service level management, and helping figure out what is required to support a business in an outsourcing or service provider scenario.
?This article is part of Bob’s Reflections newsletter series , which discusses project management, outsourcing and “intelligent disobedience”, a leadership approach. If you want more of this content, you can?subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.
Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library or check out https://intelligentdisobedience.com/
Transformational Customer Experience Partner / Change Agent Dynamic Operations and Account Management Leader
1 年Bob McGannon I have taken a few of your courses now. I like your educational approach and this article is how I am aiming to show up in life more. I am embracing my intuition and respecting others as well. It is a powerful tool in our tool box that is often not given enough emphasis. Thanks for the read.
Solution-driven expert with considerable experience developing solid solutions and resolving complicated technological issues.
1 年Intuition is an amazing thing. And I can't begin to mention what I've done on intuition alone. But here's a good question for you? How would you sell Intuition as a trait? I've tried many times without success. Might just be to find the right match in the end.
Wellbeing Mentor |Listener |Facilitating Peer Support Groups
1 年Great article Bob, we really do underestimate the power of our wonderful human intuition.
Military Officer | Keynote speaker | PhD in Philosophy
1 年Thanks for the reminder on the power of intuition. I recently published an article on executive decision-making among top military commanders, showing that they also rely on intuition when making critical decisions. The problem is that many managerial problems (as well as military problems) are not knowable but merely interpretable. The problem with the fetich for analytical approaches is one of the participant's words: "If you allow headquarters to do what it does (...) it will tend to come to answers that are textbook correct, but profoundly wrong." Perhaps the sponsors at your former company have had similar experiences with the limits of the analytical approaches and preferred candidates who dared to tap into their intuitive insights. The article (open access): What Military Commanders do and how they do it: Executive Decision-Making in the Context of Standardised Planning Processes and Doctrine // https://sjms.nu/articles/10.31374/sjms.146/
Documentation and L&D Consultant.
1 年Is intuition drawing on knowledge and deep understanding that is so deeply embedded it's become 'muscle memory'? Or is it something genuinely different? (And does the distinction matter?)