Women are a lot intuitive and this we say without any sexist under/ overtones. Their gut feelings often are the reason behind some very significant changes/ adaptations/ improvements/ salvation/ interventions/ saving and more.
In this post, we will share how this intuitiveness can be used to become a strong leader.
What is a women’s intuition
Intuition is that feeling in your gut that instinctively tells you when something is right or wrong. Most times, it’s about when you are directly involved in something and have these flashes that tell you that you may be in the right or could be faltering. This feeling just comes on its own, without an explanation or reason by just being there. Many like to call it the ‘voice of conscience’ or the ‘voice of reason’.
To each their own.
How intuition helps women thrive as leaders
Here are some ways in which a woman’s intuition can help thrive as a leader:
1. Quick Decision-Making
In fast-paced business environments, decisions often need to be made without complete data. Intuition allows leaders to act confidently and decisively.
In doing so, there is no recklessness but a quick summarising of a few events/ interactions/ transactions in the past that speak to you. This retrospective view lets you make a decision in that moment and the best part is that most of them are good, sound decisions.
Some call it ‘going by instinct’.
2. Empathetic Leadership
Women’s intuitive understanding of emotions helps them build stronger relationships with employees, clients, and stakeholders.
Given their higher emotional IQ, they are more likely to gauge happy, sad, troubled, scared, insecure, stressed and a plethora of not so pronounced emotions. This helps them to address issues on time and with subtlety that in turn, gets them admiration, respect and loyalty.
3. Risk Assessment
Leaders with strong intuition can foresee potential challenges and opportunities, enabling them to navigate risks effectively.
Such people are in a better place to not just lead by example but also benefit from niche and innovative business ideas that others may still just be thinking about because while they are just thinking they have already done a lot of over-thinking
4. Innovation
Many breakthrough ideas are born from intuitive thinking, where leaders trust their instincts to pursue unconventional paths. A lot of ventures where women decided to build on their skills like starting coaching classes for a field of their interest, cloud kitchens, career counselling, image consultancy, fashion assistant, and so many more have been the outcome of minds that think intuitively of breaking into hitherto unexplored fields.
How women can nurture and trust their intuition
Developing and trusting intuition is a skill that women leaders can actively cultivate. Here’s how:
1. Practice Active Listening
Pay close attention to what people say—and what they don’t. Learn to read between the lines. Be a better listener to understand words said for effect and those said well-meaningly.
A lot about associations and business prospects can be made out from how someone speaks or tries to stay in the loop of conversation. Bullies, judgemental, unscrupulous people can be easily made out from the way they speak.
2. Reflect on Past Decisions
Analyze outcomes to understand how intuition guided them. Consider your state of mind when you take some important decisions in your life. See if you acted on an impulse or was it something you’d invested enough thought in.
Weigh the outcome of your past decisions and try and gauge how good or not your intuition is at guiding you. Delving into the past is a good way to get a better perspective on what has been your forte while making significant decisions in your life; what is it that you base them on. This is also an auto-correct exercise which works beautifully for all.
3. Embrace Mindfulness
Techniques like meditation can help reduce distractions and heighten self-awareness. In this heightened state you are more likely to make sound decisions.
Sit down everyday with yourself, read a book, go for a walk, plug into your favorite music, travel solo – just about anything that helps you in listening to your intuition more closely. Get into practices like maintaining a journal. Dedicate time in a day when you reflect upon what the day has brought you and how you feel about it.
4. Start Small
Build confidence in your instincts with low-stakes decisions before applying them to larger challenges. Bigger decisions come with more complexities. It is best to be sure when listening to your gut feelings that every aspect of it has been given due consideration.
Also, when small decisions start giving favorable outcomes, it’s an exercise in strengthening your intuitive feelings about matters of concern. Everyone likes to be called a winner, in the end.
Overcoming challenges in trusting intuition
Despite its strengths, women’s intuition is often undervalued, particularly in male-dominated industries. Most times they are made subjects of sarcastic, snide comments about being emotional, foolhardy, trying to be a clairvoyant and so on and so forth.
Many women leaders face societal biases that push them to second-guess their instincts or conform to more traditional decision-making approaches.
The raised brows and voices often succeed in shaking up the confidence women intrinsically have in their quiet judgement. They are ridiculed for bringing in instincts into matters of business while the fact of the matter is that most businesses are a lot about trusting the same.
So women have started to smartly back up their intuition with data and logic. They invest enough time into researching and tying all the loose ends before they take a plunge into what their instincts guide them to.
Backed by study, it’s less liable to be held circumspect, and a lot more likely to succeed. This is yet another way to stop people from trashing a good idea you have because it was born out of your instinct.
A win-win.
Mindfulness practices, such as meditation or journaling, can also help sharpen intuition by quieting external noise and fostering self-awareness.
Sit down with your thoughts and write them down. See if they follow some patterns.
Journaling is an excellent way to manifest as well. It works on the principle of being grateful for what you have and believing what you see as coming to you is already there for you. Keeping such a mindset helps you invest as much effort as is required for turning intentions into realities.
Conclusion
From topics that are a lot spoken about to others such as this which is a lot felt but rarely spoken about, we will share more tips with you on how to read what your gut feelings are telling you.
Stay tuned for more and subscribe to our blog.
