Your IT Governance Coach

Intuitive Governance?

Governance helps leaders make better decisions by clarifying things like vision, priorities, risks, decision rights, decision structures and so on. I have witnessed many times improvements in productivity and savings in the millions of US dollars after improving an organization's governance. However, I do feel that there is a place for intuitive decision making in the business world. In fact, the clarity and alignment achieved through formal governance, actually sets the groundwork for "safer" intuitive decision making.

I read this morning a great article on this topic in the London Times online. The article is by Professor Eugene Sadler-Smith, author of the upcoming book "Inside Intuition." Enjoy!

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From The Times
August 13, 2007
When you just know. . .

We all have intuition – a gut feeling, a hunch or sometimes business instinct. It is a hallmark of how human beings think and behave. Though we are often exhorted to be cool and rational, to rely on hard data and logic, it is impossible to function without gut feelings when making decisions. Intuition presents itself to us in an instant, quite unbidden – a neurological alarm bell, if you like – and its effects can be life-changing.

If we can distinguish this intuitive feeling from fears, biases or wishful thinking it can be a potent, sometimes life-saving, force. A small child has a high temperature: nothing unusual about that. But a parent may have a gut feeling, take action – and discover meningitis, just in time.

It is also very relevant in the world of business. From research in the UK and the US, we know that 90 per cent of managers use intuition, in areas such as hiring and firing, new product development and business strategy; with two thirds saying that intuition led to better decisions.

There are many famous examples of commercial intuition. Sir Richard Branson claims in his autobiography that he makes up his mind about people and business proposals, and whether they excite him or not, within 30 seconds (not always effectively: witness Virgin Cola), and for entrepreneurs in the long run intuition seems to pay dividends.

Ray Kroc, the founder of the McDonald’s chain, has said that he followed his funny-bone instinct when deciding to borrow $2.7 million in 1960, against his lawyer’s advice, to buy out the fast-food franchise that he had started.

However, what my own research has proven, is that the unpremeditated, effortless spark of creativity does not arrive in an unprepared mind. It is the outcome of extensive learning and experience – a precondition for accurate intuition.

Technorati Tags: Decision Making, IT Governance

HP Pretexting Scandal and Decision Making

Most people have heard by now about the issues affecting HP and their investigation of their Board of Directors. The essence is that the HP leadership was suspicious that some board members were leaking confidential information to the press. To find out who was doing it, they hired a private security firm who used questionable techniques, such as pretexting, to obtain information. Criminal charges have been filed against the investigation firm and some HP members.

My purpose in writing about this is not to judge HP, but to reflect on what happened, as this could happen in many other companies. I learned one more piece of information about this yesterday. Apparently a person that worked at the security firm hired by HP voiced his concern about the ethical and legal nature of the techniques used. He apparently voiced his concerns to his boss and HP's Ethics Officer. This was one more opportunity for someone to stop what was going on, yet no one did. This made me think about decision making in companies and reminded me of a podcast interview I once heard of David Garvin, professor at Harvard Business Review. Professor Garvin co-authored "What you don't know about making decisions."

Technorati Tags: Decision Making