IntelliSport

Summary

Intuition is about recognizing cues or patterns that show you what to do. "Experienced decision makers see a different world than novices do," explains psychologist Gary Klein in a recent Fast Company article. Many experts believe decision-making is about determining the pros and cons of different alternatives, and choosing the best option. However, Klein believes that real experts don’t compare options side-by-side. Real experts make a tentative decision, evaluate it by rapidly running a mental simulation, and either commit or choose a new course of action. "If everything works out okay, the experts stick with their first choice. But if they discover unintended consequences that could get them into trouble, they discard that solution and look for another one. They might run through several choices, but they never compare one option with another.”

Winning Intuition

Jan 18th, 2010

Click here to read the full Fast Company article about Gary Klein's methods.

By IntelliSport

Implementation

• Engage in repetition of various in-competition scenarios so that you and your athletes can learn to recognize situations and intuitively know how to react.
• In the midst of a decision, don’t weigh options against each other. Pick one option that “feels” right, then run a mental simulation of that choice’s consequences. If you decide that option won’t work, look for another option and run another simulation, until you find an option you like.
• The more experience you have, the faster you will be able to come up with alternative ideas, and the faster and more accurately you can run mental simulations to find which idea works the best.