Emotions drive the decision making process

The decision making process is pivotal to business success. For years we believed that the best decisions were a result of rational, logical thought. Breakthroughs in neuroscience have proven that human beings are wired to feel first, think second.

To use the example cited in, “Your Brain at Work” an article published in the July/August 2013 Harvard Business Review, “Suppose you see a spider. We used to think you would identify the spider as scary and then feel fear.” Nope. That’s not how we are wired. The thought that the spider is a threat follows the feeling of fear. But, we were taught, and now firmly believe, the exact opposite.

The education system got it wrong. The business schools that taught us about business got it wrong. Everybody got it wrong.

*Feelings DRIVE Thoughts

*Thoughts DO NOT drive Feelings

We feel things first, often at the subconscious level, then, we become consciously aware. The feelings trigger thought. We make sense of the world through our feelings, which inform out thoughts. Our “Feelings inform thoughts, not the other way around.” “The brain’s affect network seems to know what’s going on before we consciously recognize it”.

The actual decision making process

This simple re-sequencing of the mechanics of behaviour has huge repercussions for the mechanics of business. No business runs independently of human beings. The relationship between business and human beings is an interdependent endeavour. And it is causal.

                       *Human Beings RUN Business

                       *Business DOES NOT run Human Beings

Business is all about human beings interacting with human beings, through process, to create value and sell it to customers.

                       *Mechanics of Behaviour DRIVE Mechanics of Business

                       *Mechanics of Business DO NOT DRIVE Mechanics of Behaviour

Causality

From a causal perspective, the mechanics of business rely on the foundation that is the mechanics of behaviour. The recent breakthroughs regarding the sequencing of feelings à thinking is a fundamental change to the conventional approach to the mechanics of behaviour, with dramatic implications for the mechanics of business.

Best practices?

The common “best practices” approach to strategy, planning, decision making, problem solving, communication and learning was to lead with a “think first and whatever you do, don’t let your feelings get in the way” mindset. Emotions in business just didn’t make any sense.

Actually, not so much

Wrong! This rational-logical-first approach worked when the economy was relatively stable. With the economy behaving in unpredictable ways, it has become impossible for scientists to avoid concluding that feelings take a back-seat. When people feel fear, they behave according to how they have been conditioned to behave relative to the experience of fear.

*Feelings inform Thought

*Human Beings run Business

*Mechanics of Behaviour is foundational to Mechanics of Business

 The power of expectations

Almost every single person in the developed world has come to expect that the world of business, and the world at large, is relatively stable and predictable. As a result of this expectation, we are triggered to disengage, avoid and procrastinate when the opposite occurs.  If we do not learn new sense-making skills, we will then enter into the next phase of disengagement, burnout, anxiety and depression.  The resulting impact on business productivity is massive.

The root of the problem

The problem is not the economy. Nor is the problem, business. The problem is that each and every one of us has an incorrect and irrelevant understanding of why we behave the way we do What is at issue here is that people do not understand the implications of what they are feeling. We have not yet been educated to understand the mechanics of sense-making behaviour. Nor have we been educated about the impact of emotions on our thoughts.

To get you started

Here are some suggestions for how you can start to wrap your head around the fact that emotions drive thought, not the other way around:

1. Embrace the fact that you are human and therefore, you feel. In some cases, you feel deeply. As a start, expect to feel fear. It’s a natural response to constant, unpredictable change. It’s no big deal. Fear is just information + energy. Move into it so you can use the information.
2. Expect to be overwhelmed by the energy connected with your feelings. In order to be able to assess the information in your feelings, you have to be able to deal with the energy part. Build regular physical activity into your life. Go for a walk. Work out at the gym. Ride a bike. Throw a ball. Do anything to discharge the extra build-up of anxious energy.
3. Take advantage of the wealth of information out there to help you broaden your thinking:

• On the behavioural mechanics side, start here: The Brain that Changes Itself talks about how we can literally change the way we think. “A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making“ is a fantastic resource for understanding how understanding context improves the decision making process. It’s also a great primer on complexity theory.
• On the business mechanics side start here: “Reinventing your Business Model” starts you down the road of taking a holistic perspective of your entire business. “Transforming Corner Office Strategy to Frontline Action” This introduces the concept of working the AND instead of the Either/Or.

Your thoughts?

How are you using your emotions to drive effective decision making processes?

Filed under Bandwidth, Decision making by Tim Glover

Author : Tim Glover

As co-founder of Light-Core, Tim brings his 30 years of experience to entrepreneurial and corporate clients in a variety of industries. As a CA, CMA, musician and corporate strategist, Tim Glover fine-tunes and simplifies the challenges of profit and growth. He specializes in identifying an organization’s core strengths and mapping them to the best opportunities in today’s marketplace. Through his work as CFO and general manager of 3 Fortune 500 companies, Tim learned to translate the fundamentals of business into bite-sized, practical chunks. His careers in advertising, music and art taught Tim how to apply innovation, adaptability and creativity to business, resulting in a powerful fusion that drives sustained, above-average financial results.