Marumo Pyschologists

Common Sense and Judgement in Leadership

Common Sense Judgement Leadership

As our continent as well as some parts of the world are facing unprecedented levels of turmoil, violence and anarchy we oftentimes wonder whether any of those we call leaders are actually “watching” or whether they really “understand” what’s going on. Probably not. With the thought of our approaching elections here at home, I have found myself thinking more and more about the importance of common sense and judgement in leadership.

I was then tempted to revisit a paper that I presented at conference many years ago. Myself and Lynn Hunt, my business partner spent time pulling together some ideas from our experience and knowledge to contribute to the discussions on leadership. I somehow believe that these thoughts can still be shared albeit summarised.

In the democratic world we generally believe and trust that decisions made from day to day have our best interests at heart. We also trust that specifically in crisis situations, leaders will put their people first. It is often with some reluctance that we are forced to accept that some decisions made by our leaders are actually poor or bad. Unfortunately, happenings in the continent and the world seem to attest to that in many cases.

I personally found the old writings of Ezekiel Mphahlele and Chabani Manganyi intriguing when looking specifically at their thoughts regarding African leaders as we were preparing for our freedom here in South Africa. In “Looking through the Keyhole”, (Manganyi 1981), Zeke speaks about how our creativity is likely to be stunted by “our lack of myth; and that our myth should be tomorrow.” This statement had to with creativity and the arts, but it strikes me that it could easily apply to our leaders who seem to lack the myth of tomorrow as they struggle to “foreshadow the future”.

I think the former President Mandela said this so fittingly when he said, “The past is such a resource on which we can draw in order to make decisions for the future. The purpose of history is …. to understand it and to learn from it as we contemplate our future”. (Jenny Cruwys-Williams (1997)

Dr Mukando Mulemfo (2001) on Thabo Mbeki and the African Renaissance asserts that “African leaders lack a sense of belonging and hence many of the old structures left by the colonialists were either misused or destroyed” (p34.) He argues that it this is not so much that they are incapable of leading themselves; rather that there is a sense of disillusionment and alienation. There is therefore no sense of ownership. At an emotional level this would only mean that they are detached, hence the looting and exploitation of resources and people of their own country.

The extent to which we can use our judgement effectively depends also on our ability to suspend our past experience and knowledge; to trust our intuition and make mistakes as we deal with the unknown.

1. What is judgement?

According to Elliott Jacques, “There is no satisfactory, commonly employed and accepted language for it. We speak about judgement, intuition, nous, know-how, common sense, hunch…we cannot put into words what it is that we are taking into account in doing what we are doing, and in that sense, we do not know that what we are doing will get us where we want to go, will achieve the result we want to achieve. We judge that it will, we think it will, but we are not sure, and only time will tell.”

Other definitions include:

o “Discernment” or “good sense”: the ability to form sound opinions and make sensible decisions or reliable guesses

o “Opinion”: an opinion formed or given after consideration

o “Estimate based on observation”: an estimate of something such as speed or distance, made with the help of the eye or some other sense

It is interesting that all of these definitions indicate that there is a requirement to deal with the unknown in judgement – to make a decision when we don’t have all the facts or when we are not sure of the outcome, or we are not even aware of what we are taking into account – yet somehow, we believe that we are right.

The word Judgement is somewhat loaded and evokes feelings of being evaluated/ judged against some standard of good or bad; right or wrong and of course innocent or guilty. On the other hand, there is something about the concept of “common sense” that appeals to me. Everybody who grew up in our household must have heard this word many more times than we care to remember because whenever my mother thought that you could have applied yourself in a task and you did not; she would simply ask, “Why don’t you use your common-sense?” We learned to realise that there is more to this notion of “common-sense.”

It somehow makes sense that “common-sense” is used interchangeably with the word “judgement”. It makes us more comfortable with the power of “unconscious thinking” especially in leadership.

Despite the uncertainty around what judgement is, there seems to be overwhelming agreement that good judgement is a requirement of leadership:

“A leader’s most important role in any organization is making good judgments—well informed wise decisions that produce the desired outcomes.” (Tichy & Bennis)

“Decision making lies at the heart of our personal and professional lives. Every day we make decisions. Some are small, domestic, and innocuous. Others are more important, affecting people’s lives, livelihoods, and well-being. Inevitably, we make mistakes along the way. The daunting reality is that enormously important decisions made by intelligent, responsible people with the best information and intentions are sometimes hopelessly flawed.” (Campbel, Whitehead and Finkelstein)

“Making decisions is the most important job of any executive. It’s also the toughest and riskiest. Bad decisions can damage a business and a career, sometimes irreparably.” (Garvin & Roberto)

Arising out of this, there are primarily two issues that evoke debate and discussion. I would like an opportunity to further explore them with you.

The first is: “Can we identify those competencies that constitute good judgement”?

The second is: “Can we develop judgement?”

2. Can we identify those competencies that constitute good judgment?

Various studies have revealed that the key fundamentals to good judgement are good cognitive (thinking) abilities, emotional capability and intuitive intelligence. Associated with these amongst others are:

o Confidence to make decisions and readiness to commit and learn from mistakes

o Strong character and courage

o Willingness to learn, to be teachable and to be creators of knowledge

o Critical self-awareness

Individuals with these characteristics embody ideas, values and means to generate and harness emotional energy for organisations to grow.

According to Dr Maretha Prinsloo “judgement involves dealing with fuzziness, allocating weights to issues and prioritising them, and making decisions. Judgement in some situations largely reflects previous learning and exposure.” 

In new and unfamiliar environments, judgement capability has a lot to do with metacognitive awareness (self awareness), intuitive awareness, self-trust / confidence, a tolerance for fuzziness and ambiguity. The capacity to prioritise vague issues openness to consider alternatives discretion on when to close open situations where some of the information is missing and general flexibility. I would like to briefly elaborate on the four competencies below that are critical for good judgement.

2.1. Self-Awareness and Emotional Capability

The first requirement given above is self-awareness. This is not as present in leaders as we might suppose or expect. To a large extent critical self awareness is a function of one’s emotional capability or maturity – i.e., the extent to which one is in touch with one’s own feelings and emotions and those of others. Self trust and confidence are partly a function of this ability to be in touch with and understand emotions around us.

Most of us can identify with the disquieting sensation of being in a conflict-ridden situation where stakes are perceived as costly or high. Due to the potential emotional volatility associated with such situations there is often a reluctance (albeit subconsciously) to use ourselves in our entirety. This is when the primitive instinct of self-preservation kicks in, as an attempt to protect “the inner self”. This inclination to decry one’s true self, to avoid the risk of exposing vulnerabilities, does unfortunately compromise the depth of dialogue between parties. When defenses are heightened, attitudes are hardened, and people feel misunderstood, then inevitably positions become more polarised.

The paradox often exists in that whilst an individual may not want to delve into feelings of discomfort, there may also be some genuine numbness of emotions, which the individual may not be consciously aware of.

Leaders make decisions largely through unconscious processes that neuroscientists call pattern recognition and emotional tagging. These processes usually make for quick, effective decisions, but they can be distorted by self interest, emotional attachments, or misleading memories. Leaders need to find systematic ways to recognize the sources of bias and then design safeguards that introduce more analysis, greater debate, or stronger governance.

Regrettably, judgement is often impaired by a limited sense of self knowledge, understanding of others and misreading of strategies.

2.2. Thinking capability and the ability to deal with fuzziness, ambiguity or uncertainty

Another requirement for judgement is the ability to deal with fuzziness, ambiguity or uncertainty. It is important in the work environment to understand how comfortable or uncomfortable people are in making decisions in uncertain or ambiguous situations. This is the world where there is little structure (is more fluid, fewer rules, more chaotic and abstract information) and increased complexity.

To a large extent the better an individual’s overall thinking capability, the better he or she will be able to deal with increased complexity, uncertainty and the long -term consequences of decisions.

It is important for us to understand that making judgement calls is the essential function of a leader; and this is repeatedly put to test in crisis situations – and most often times of crisis are also times when the leader cannot simply rely on past experience. This is the time to have critical self-awareness and to rely on thinking capability, emotional maturity and intuition.

2.3. Intuition

One of the most fascinating authors in recent years is Malcolm Gladwell. In his book, “Blink”, he speaks about the “adaptive unconscious”, which is our ability to use fast and frugal/ economical decision making in unusual situations. He sees this as new in the field of psychology. It tends to do an exceptional job of sizing up the world, warning people of danger, setting goals and initiating people action in a sophisticated manner. This he calls “thin slicing.” This is a system where our brain reaches conclusions without immediately telling us that it is doing so. We can relate to those uncomfortable feelings when something is not just right, whether it is sweaty palms, a churn in our stomach or what we refer to as “a gut feeling”.

He emphasizes the fact that as people we can instantly “decode the truth” of the situation. Yet this can be thrown off because our instinctive reactions often have to compete with other interests, emotions and sentiments.

In the main there seem to be two very different strategies that are used by our brain in making decisions or in making sense of the situation:

o The First Strategy: The conscious strategy which is logical, definitive, slow and tends to look for a lot of information.

o The Second Strategy: Operates mainly below the consciousness at least at first and, operates very more quickly, picks up the problems fast and sends message through various indirect channels e.g., sweat glands in the palms of the hands.

There seems to be an agreement that the biggest challenge in developing judgement is how to combine the best of conscious deliberation and instinctive judgment. (Gladwell, 2005).

I find this very apt for our discussion.

2.4. Integrity

Seeing that the term ‘integrity” often crops up when we talk about leadership or good judgment, I think it is important to accept that it is indeed one of the most important factors in making unbiased and sound decisions. The difficulty is that it is also intangible and difficult to measure. I found a very simple definition of integrity and have been trying to persuade my business partner to include this in our Leadership Training because it just so makes sense to me.

Stephen Carter (1997) suggests that Integrity requires three steps:

a. Discerning what is right and what is wrong

b. Acting on what you have discerned, even at a personal cost

c. Saying openly that you are acting on your understanding of right and wrong (p7).

He further adds that the first criterion captures the essence of moral reflectiveness, while the second “brings in the ideal of an integral person as steadfast, including the sense of keeping commitments. The third reminds us that a person of integrity is not ashamed of doing the right thing.” I can immediately sense the contradictions that our leaders face every day where their integrity is forever tested or challenged when making decisions.

3. Can Judgement be taught?

A very simple response is Yes, notwithstanding the complexity and difficulty thereof.

o It is possible to teach people better thinking skills, including metacognition – i.e., the skill of thinking about our own thinking.

o It is possible to teach people better emotional skills, and in particular teach them how to develop higher levels of self awareness.

o It is possible to teach people how to tap into their intuition and to learn to trust it.

o It is possible to teach people very specific skills relating to judgement and decision making

Finally:

“With good judgment, little else matters; without good judgment, nothing else matters.” Warren Bennis and Noel Tichy (1997)

References

1. Carter, S.L: Integrity , HarperPerenial, New York, 1997

2. Cooper, Robert And Sawaf, Ayman: Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Business, Orion Business Books 1997

3. Dr Stamp G : Decisions, decisions, Bunel Institute Organisational Studies, June 2005

4. Dr Mulenfo. M: Thabo Mbeki and the African Renaissance, Actua Press, Goodwood, Western Cape, 2001

5. Gladwell, M: Blink -The power of thinking without thinking, Penguin Books, London 2005

6. Prof. Manganyi. CN: Looking through the Keyhole. Raven Press, Braamfontein, Johannesburg 1981

7. Dr Prinsloo, M: The Cognitive Process Profile, Magellan Consulting, Johannesburg

8. Snowden D J and Boone M E (2007) ‘A Leaders’s Framework for Decision Making’, Harvard Business Review, November 2007

9. Williams, B: Scattered Reflections, Olmic

10. Making Judgment Calls, Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis, Harvard Business Review, 2007

11. Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions: Andrew Campbell, Jo Whitehead,and Sydney Finkelstein, Harvard Business review, 2009

12. What You Don’t Know About Making Decisions: David A. Garvin and Michael A. Roberto, HBR, 2003