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Research at Harvard Business School has demonstrated that
higher up you go in an organization,
more important it is to combine right-brain intuition with left-brain rationality.
In actuality, both hemispheres AND
other brains are necessary to make good decisions. Emotions give us information. Rational thinking can help us make a strategy and carry it out.
Effective people, for instance, use all their skills in all phases of problem-solving. Intuition – call it gut feeling if you prefer – can direct your initial thinking processes, and also provide clues along
way. Gathering quantified data is also necessary and must be systematically organized and analyzed. Gut feeling can again guide your final decision, as data always runs out at some point.
Gut feeling is particularly effective in dealing with people. It’s not uncommon to receive resumes from several people who are similar in skills, education and training, or to be interviewing several who are similar. The final decision will rest on
interviewer’s skilled intuition as to which one would make
best fit with
organization. It’s not always possible to quantify how such a decision is made, though it may rest on years of experience.
You can see how it’s crucial to know and understand your emotions in problem-solving. You may want a certain candidate, for instance, because you like them a lot, but they may not be
best qualified for
job, or
best one to choose. Or you may dislike a candidate for personal reasons, and need to over-ride that, because they would be
best candidate. At another time, it may be prudent to select
candidate you like
best – particularly if they’re going to be working closely with you. There are all sorts of variable to take into consideration, and it takes a whole brain to do that.
Anxiety is also an emotion that can interfere. If you’re experiencing anxiety, it’s cramping down on your ability to think and reason, and you will make poor decisions, or none at all, which can be worse.
Emotional Intelligence is whole-brained thinking. It means understanding your emotions, managing them, and using them, and being able to do this about others. It means understanding how to think and integrate emotion with analysis for problem-solving, strategizing and implementation.
Such skills as resilience, creativity, flexibility, intuition, and intentionality can greatly increase your effectiveness in relationships and on
job. Developing your Emotional Intelligence pays great dividends in all areas of your life, and lets you make use of your whole brain.

©Susan Dunn, MA Psychology, Emotional Intelligence Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc . Coaching and Internet courses for your personal and professional development. Transitions, career, relationships, resilience. EQ programs for businesses. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine.