Go with your gut, to be encouraged or discouraged?
Your friend is pitching an idea for you to invest, and you explained you were not convinced about the revenue assumptions and he/she said "trust me", what would you consider in deciding whether to trust him or not?
In everyday decisions, we often rely on gut to choose who to trust, to date, whether to join Company A or B, to relocate abroad etc. The decision list is endless.
Similarly, we often hear Management use the phrase "You should trust your gut (instinct)" or "Go with your gut" as a way to encourage workplace innovation and/or faster decision making.
Many questions come to mind as to what extent can instinct really be applied in the workplace?
- How often do you get to use your gut at the workplace? Are you even allowed, does your company trust your gut?
- Are there certain departments that should be excluded from using gut - Treasury maybe (we should know, not think about how much is in the bank account😀), Legal department?
- Is the right to apply this 'gut' reserved only for senior management, or maybe only to the top performers across all levels?
- Are there Dos and Dont's of gut in making decisions?
- What happens when gut goes wrong? Do you even trust your own gut?
What are your thoughts?