Here's how you can incorporate intuition into strategic decision making for community organizers.

1 Trust Your Gut

When faced with a tough decision, your initial gut reaction can be a powerful ally. It's the sum of your experiences and unspoken knowledge that often leads to insights that pure logic might miss. For community organizers, this can mean recognizing the potential in a risky campaign or sensing when something isn't aligning with your community's values. Trusting your gut doesn't mean ignoring data, but rather using it as one part of a broader decision-making framework.

3 Encourage Dialogue

Incorporating intuition into decision making isn't a solitary process. Encourage dialogue among your team members to share their gut feelings about certain strategies or initiatives. This collective intuition can be incredibly valuable, as it combines diverse perspectives and experiences. When everyone shares their insights, you're more likely to arrive at a decision that feels right for the entire community.

4 Balance with Data

While intuition is important, it must be balanced with empirical data. Use data to inform your decisions and validate your instincts. For example, if you feel strongly about a particular issue but the data doesn't support its urgency, consider investigating further before committing resources. This balance ensures that your strategies are not only instinctively sound but also backed by concrete evidence.

5 Embrace Uncertainty

A significant aspect of incorporating intuition into strategic decision-making is being comfortable with uncertainty. Intuition often leads you into uncharted territory, which can be unsettling. However, embracing this uncertainty can allow for innovative and creative solutions to emerge. Recognize that not all decisions will have clear-cut answers and that sometimes, taking a leap based on your gut feeling can lead to the most impactful results.

6 Adapt and Learn

Finally, be prepared to adapt and learn from each experience where intuition played a role. Whether the outcome is positive or negative, there's always a lesson to be learned. These lessons will refine both your analytical and intuitive abilities, making you a more effective community organizer. Remember, intuition isn't infallible, but it is a critical component of the decision-making process that should evolve as you do.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?