A gifted artist can instantly tell the difference between an average painting and a great painting. Someone gifted in playing the piano can instantly hear when a wrong note is played.
In sports, the best players just seem to know where the ball/puck is about to be next. As hockey legend Wayne Gretsky stated: “I go to where the puck will be.”
What is that often separates someone from being good at something versus being really great?
Intuition.
As a differentiating value, Intuition means instinctively knowing; ability to acquire knowledge without inference (the need for conscious reasoning).
What’s important to note about this value is that we ALL possess intuition. We just tend to be intuitive in our areas of strength.
Personally, I am not intuitive in the area of dancing. I’ve had little practice. And I couldn’t tell a good dancer from a bad one, no matter how much I might watch “Dancing with the Stars”.
But I can learn to dance. Recently I met someone (Dawn Stuart) who specializes in teaching married couples how to dance (called Marriage Dance). So, if acquiring the skills to dance is important to me, I have found a way.
The same is true for leaders.

The Leadership Test

Leadership guru, John Maxwell, suggests that leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias. Being intuitive in the area of leadership is often what separates great leaders from good ones.
Are you intuitive in the area of leadership?
Here’s the test: do you see leadership issues before others, or do others see leadership issues before you do?
If you are naturally gifted in leadership, then you likely already possess leadership intuition.
But if you find others see issues before you do, don’t beat yourself up. And don’t give up. Just recognize that for you, leadership is an acquired skill versus a natural skill.

Developing Leadership Intuition

If you are not naturally gifted with leadership talents (and many of us, including me, are not!), there are 3 ways to develop the skills of leadership intuition.
1)    Surround yourself with naturally gifted leaders. Let them be your eyes and ears. Leverage their leadership intuition. And don’t be threatened by them. People don’t just follow ‘born’ leaders. People follow others for many different reasons, including: shared passion, shared values, and shared goals.
2)    Learn to read people. Pick up a couple of books on building relationships. Become a people watcher. And practice by engaging with more people, more often.
3)    Train yourself to ask specific leadership questions. Maxwell offers the following:
        a.     Who is the best person to take this on?
        b.    What resources do we possess that can help us?
        c.     What will this take financially?
        d.     How can I encourage my team to achieve success?
If you are in a leadership role, or aspire to be a leader, then develop the value of leadership intuition.
Be the leader, and lead yourself.

What other questions can a leader ask to develop leadership intuition?

- See more at: http://fergusonvalues.com/2012/03/how-to-develop-leadership-intuition/#sthash.U2HuENfi.dpuf

Top Five Signs for Recognizing Intuitive Leaders

Top Five Signs for Recognizing Intuitive Leaders

Experience versus Luck

Author Douglas Adams writes that, "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." Having a wealth of experience to draw from is a key factor in being an intuitive leader.
"Green" employees may come up with or luck into good decisions every now and then, but those individuals whose have experienced both successes and failures yet have made the most of both are an asset to your organization.

Wisdom versus Smarts

"Dig up all the information you can, then go with your instincts. We all have a certain intuition, and the older we get, the more we trust it… I use my intellect to inform my instinct. Then I use my instinct to test all this data," Colin Powell, former U.S. Army General and Secretary of State, explains in his book My American Journey.

You should not necessarily associate having intuition with being smart, but instead rely on those who exhibit wisdom in decision making.

You should not necessarily associate having intuition with being smart, but instead rely on those who exhibit wisdom in decision making. Do you trust the gut-reaction of the genius in your organization, or the individual whose choices have typically been informed ones, in which research and careful consideration was made? Being wise, rather than purely intelligent, helps guide intuition.

Second Gear versus Second-Guessing

Those who effectively display intuition routinely reach decisions quickly based on their assessment of a given situation. Once their instinct points in a particular direction, they confidently and immediately shift into second gear in order to move things forward.

Those who do not trust their intuition will have a tendency to over-analyze data, second-guess choices, change direction - and cause delay, slowing down progress.

Those who do not trust their intuition will have a tendency to over-analyze data, second-guess choices, change direction - and cause delay, slowing down progress.

Connection versus Detachment

Being in tune with those around you enables you to adequately understand personality types, read body language, anticipate how others react in certain situations, and determine how to best leverage strengths and weaknesses. An employee who is well connected with co-workers will likely be intuitive in making personnel decisions and managing projects with multiple team members.
They will also know their own limits and realize when it is best to rely on the talents, abilities and even intuition of others. Those who have a tendency to isolate themselves will be out of touch with not only their intuition and their co-workers, but with your organizational goals as well.

Awareness versus Inattentiveness

"The responsibility of a leader is to define reality," Max DePree asserts in Leadership is an Art. Being cognizant your organization’s ever-changing details will pay big dividends in fine-tuning intuition. Many employees narrow their focus on the minutia of their job descriptions, causing them to disregard the world around them.
The intuitive individual successfully fulfills his or her role, yet also has the ability to step back and survey the entire landscape of your organization. He or she knows what financial assets, technology, personnel, and other resources are available and not only recognizes but expects changing industry trends. This type of intuitive employee will have a knack for making the right choices in future company decisions.

Intuition And Leadership

Intuition and leadership, is intuition important in leadership? What is intuition? And how does it affects leadership?

What is intuition? Intuition and leadership, these are subtle keys to effective leadership. Intuition is far different from instinct. Instinct is pattern of behavior which is a characteristic of a response to specific stimuli. Intuition is the ability to look inside or to contemplate.
One of the key traits of becoming an effective leader is that they know how to trust their intuition or instincts. They know how to listen to their inner voice. As Biily Gates said, “Often you have to rely on intuition”.

There are a lot of books, magazines and articles that tackles about how to be a good leader, how to be an effective leader, etc. But there are also times that we need to listen to our inner voice in deciding certain situations.
Books are written by experts on such field, but they can never tell you what to do in every situation that arises. If situation like this, like that and like those, books can’t tell you to do this, to do that. Of course, you can’t ask the book on what to do.
Time would come that you have to decide on your self and with this, you may listen to your intuition. Intuition and leadership are compact. Intuition is the foundation of imaginative awareness. It is the anticipation, vision and the ability to be wise in choosing which path to go.
Intuition and leadership; what are the signs of identifying intuitive leaders?
Wisdom
Do you trust your instincts in decision making? Effective leaders utilize wisdom than being smart. They rely on those who exhibit wisdom in decision making.
Awareness
Effective leaders should be realistic. He should have knowledge and conscious on the changes going on. He should know when to step forward and when to step back. He or she knows the needs of his team members, the financial assets, technology, and other funds available.
Connected
Intuitive leaders know how to be in tune. They are connected with their team members, with these he will be able to understand each personality types, read body language, knows each of his team members, anticipate how each act on certain situations and determine each strengths and weaknesses.
An intuitive leader who is connected with his team members will help him know the limitations and capabilities of each of his team member.

Speaking of reality, there are no perfect leaders, but leaders who follow their intuition when it comes to making decisions will have a better ending.

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