The Sensing® Method

“Intuition ‘senses’”
Eugene Sadler-Smith

Sensing® is the simple, fast and powerful knowledge innovation method for teaching how to apply intuition to organizations. Intuition training will impact crucial skills such as creative problem solving, decision making and self-reconnection. In this article you will discover the Sensing® technique: its rationale, advantages and applications.

Scholars have come to the conclusion that we have two minds in one brain: an ‘analytical mind’ and an ‘intuitive mind’ 1. From the practical standpoint, the actionable part of this discovery is that ‘sensing’ is the language of the intuitive mind.[2] Intuitions, in fact, come in the form of cognitive sensations. As leading intuition researcher Eugene Sadler-Smith puts it: “intuition ‘senses’. In order to understand what he means by this, all we have to do is realize that when we come up with an intuition, it won’t come in the form of reasoning but as a feeling. So, the Sensing method is based on the breakthrough discovery that:

“Sensing is the language of the intuitive mind.”

In reality, intuitions and feelings are two ends of the same thread. But while we cannot evoke intuitions on command, we can all ask ourselves what we sense with respect to a problem we want to solve. And by moving up the channel of feelings we can access the information of the intuitive mind. In a sense, we can consider feelings as the ATM machine for unconscious intuitions.

It is possible to artificially separate the act of Sensing into two parts: the act of sheer perception and the act of assigning a meaning to what emerges. Intuition scientist Viktor Dörfler and intuition practitioner Alina Bas, point out that “looking at the process of intuiting, the product of which is intuition, the process of intuiting is divided into sensing and sensemaking. (…) On the input side of ‘sensing’, there are sensory signals, which in the process of sensing are transformed into sensations. These sensations, tacit or explicit, are the inputs of the ‘sensemaking’ process, the output of which is meaning. Thus, the process of intuiting, described by ‘sensing + sensemaking’ produces ‘sensations with meaning’, that is intuition. (…) Sensemaking is the aspect of intuiting concerned with revealing the meaning of signals perceived through sensing. (…).” 3 . As Sadler-Smith puts it: “In the process of sense-making, intuition acquires new properties: it transitions from being tacit, ineffable, and nebulous to explicit, detectable and solid’.” 4 Steps 1 to 4 of the Sensing technique are purely about the reception of signals, while steps 5 to 6 are about the ‘sensemaking’ process.

Knowing what we don’t know we know
In the course of our life experiences our unconscious mind has stored millions of pieces of information. We possess a huge database of knowledge without even knowing it (‘implicit knowledge’). Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman tells an illuminating story that helps us better understand what we are talking about. 5

“A good friend, a physician, was once offered a business proposition: If he would leave his practice to become medical director of a fledgling condominium health resort and invest $100,000 of his own capital in the venture, his projected share of the business would amount to $4 million within three years. Or so the business plan promised. My friend liked the vision of a resort where people could improve their health as they vacationed; coupled with the lure of a possibly fantastic payoff, he couldn’t resist. He sold his medical practice, invested in the resort, and became its medical director. But during that start-up year he found that there was no medical program to direct yet—he ended up spending his days essentially as a salesman, trying to interest people in buying time-share condos at the resort. One day, as he was driving to work at his new job, he found himself—to his astonishment—pounding the dashboard of his car and yelling, “I can’t do this! I can’t do this!” Pulling over, my friend took a few moments to get a grip on his tumultuous feelings, calmed down, and drove on to work. A year later the resort was bankrupt—and so was he. He admits now that he had a gut feeling from the outset that there was something wrong with the proposition, that the projections in the business plan were too rosy, and that the scheme was really about real estate development, not preventive medicine. But at the time he had been craving a change. And the financial incentives looked so promising that he buried his misgivings—much to his later regret.”

At the intuitive level, the doctor knew how things stood. And not only in general terms, but he also had a clear idea of the criticalities. Firstly, Goleman reported that he sensed that “there was something wrong with the proposition”. Secondly, he sensed that “the pr ojections in the business plan were too rosy”. Thirdly, he sensed that “the scheme was really about real estate development, not preventive medicine”. The problem is that this information was in the form of gut feelings. And no one had taught him how to interpret sensations.

Intuitions emerge to consciousness in form of feelings. If feelings are the channel of intuition, by moving up the channel of feelings you can access the information of the intuitive mind.

If the doctor had known how to practice Sensing, he would have been able to access this information and use it to make better decisions.

  • First, he would have paid more attention to his sensations. He would have known that sensations are not imaginary but always carry information. He would also have known that this type of information can either be intuitive or emotional. As the Latin adage goes, tertium non datur, there is no third option.
  • He would have therefore been able to tell genuine intuitions from emotions and impulsive desires, discard the latter and decipher the meaning of the former. The Sensing technique would have allowed the doctor to obtain this information right from the outset, avoiding the smokescreen of overthinking.
  • Last but not least, if this wasn’t enough, he would have been alerted by the nagging sensation that something wasn’t quite adding up. Sensing shows that what on the surface can appear as a doubt, is actually a symptom that the analytical mind and the intuitive mind are in conflict. One of the better universally known rules of thumb6 is: “If in doubt, don’t”, or “If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no”.

Sensing teaches us how to interpret feelings to access the information of the intuitive mind. This is extremely valuable when we want to better figure out a situation and make decisions. However, decision making is only the start. Sensing’s ultimate aim is to apply intuition to increase creativity and innovation in organizations.

The three-step method for teaching how to use intuition

Sensing teaches people how to master intuition in three steps.

  1. In Step 1 people learn how to interpret feelings to generate intuitions by applying it to a personal problem.
  2. Problem solving. In Step 2 people learn to apply intuition to creative problem solving, first individually and then as part of a group to solve a problem in organizations.
  3. Strategy thinking. In Step 3 people learn to apply intuition to the disciplines of innovation, such as decision making, strategy, systems thinking, etc.

Once you learn how to practice Sensing, you’ll just ask yourself how you feel about something and… bam! – you’ll enter the intuitive mind.

Sensing starts off as a game that shows initially how to interpret feelings to tap into the information of the intuitive mind, and then teaches how to apply intuition to creativity and problem solving. The advantage of learning how to develop creativity by starting from intuition is twofold.

Simplification. Creativity is intuition. Once people learn to develop their creativity by starting from intuition they will understand its principles. And once people understand the principles of this discipline, it will become part of their mindset and they will be able to apply it intuitively. The end goal of Sensing is to spread creativity in organizations and simplification is the way to do it.

Deep thinking. Intuition allows us to investigate problems in depth. But it is not just about this. The two minds – the intuitive and the analytical – are not two separate systems, but work in synergy. Learning how make the two minds work together means learning how to use our intelligence to its full potential.

Sensing is simple, fast and powerful

Simple. Learning to work with feelings is simple: they are already part of our knowledge base. You don’t have to learn anything new, but just how to use what you already have.

Fast. Sensing is a kind of game – once you learn how to apply it, you’ll just ask yourself how you feel about something and… bam! – you’ll enter the intuitive mind. Once you learn how to use Sensing® it takes as little as five minutes.

Powerful. Sensing allows you to access information hidden inside the analytical mind. Learning how to solve problems by starting from their very essence can offer invaluable advantages in our everyday lives as well as in business.

Lastly, Sensing is fun. People greatly enjoy discovering that deep inside they possess a superpower that can show them how things really are, and that it is so easily accessible. When they are faced with a tricky problem, all they have to do is ask themselves “Let’s see what happens if I try to ‘sense’ about problem, instead of simply thinking about it”. Sensing is so simple, fast and effective, that once people learn how to do it, they won’t stop using it.

Conclusion

Sensing represents an innovation in the field of corporate knowledge, making the teaching of intuition in organizations finally possible. But still today many researchers believe that “intuition is not an activity to be willed by an individual but something that occurs spontaneously” 7. Consequently, traditional methods for developing intuition are based on the appearance of creating the conditions to allow it to happen 8, such as: ‘meditate’, ‘give your mind another task’; ‘set yourself an intention before you go to bed’; ‘observe what happens when you have an intuition; ‘let your imagination wonder’. The problem with ‘indirect’ methods is that intuition remains elusive, its nature escaping us. And ultimately this approach fails when teaching how to use intuition.

Sensing teaches you how to master intuition and apply it to improve innovation.

With Sensing, on the other hand, people enter into the true nature of intuition: feelings.  When people learn how to interpret feelings to generate intuitions at will, they ‘ll become familiar with the ‘language’ of feelings. This, in turn, will make them better at recognizing intuitions when the arise spontaneously. Sensing, therefore, is like a game that starts by developing the ability to switch on intuition at will, and then turns into the ability to master it.

The second novel element of Sensing is its application to creativity, problem solving and innovation. In literature, intuition is mostly associated with decision making. But intuition is at the basis of creativity and ‘prospection’, the ability to imagine the future, which are both fundamental for the disciplines of innovation, starting from problem solving and strategy. Introducing intuition into these disciplines means going back to their basic principles and making the teaching thereof simple and effective. The ultimate purpose of Sensing is in fact to help organizations develop innovation. And developing an intuitive mindset is the simplest and most direct way of doing it.

1. The first to use the expressions ‘intuitive mind’ and ‘analytical mind’ was Eugene Sadler-Smith (‘Inside Intuition’. Routledge 2010 and ‘The Intuitive Mind. Profiting from the Power of Your Sixth Sense’, Wiley, 2010). In turn, Sadler-Smith had been influenced by Seymour Epstein, who referred to System 1 intuitive processing as ‘intuitive-experiential’ (Epstein, S. (2011) The influence of valence and intensity of effect on intuitive processing. In Sinclair, M. (Ed.). Handbook of Intuition Research. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 37–51, p. 37) and to System 2 analytical processing as ‘analytical-rational’ (Evans, J. S. B. (2007). On the resolution of conflict in dual process theories of reasoning. Thinking and Reasoning, 13: 321–339.; Hodgkinson, G. P., & Sadler-Smith, E. 2018. The dynamics of intuition and analysis in managerial and organizational decision making. Academy of Management Perspectives, 32(4): 473–492).

2. V. Dörfler and A. Bas, “Intuition: scientific, non-scientific or unscientific”, in “Handbook of Intuition Research as Practice (Edited by M. Sinclair), Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022.

3. V. Dörfler, A. Bas. Intuition: scientific, non-scientific or unscientific?” in M. Sinclair (Edt.) “Handbook of Intuition Research as Practice.” Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022.

4. Sadler-Smith – Intuition in business

5. Goleman, Daniel. Working With Emotional Intelligence (pp.49-50). Random House Publishing Group.

6. ‘Rule of the thumb’ or heuristic’ is a rule that although has not been proven experimentally, has been shown to work over time and with experience.

7. E. Dane, M.G. Pratt. Exploring intuition in its role in managerial decision-making. Academy of Management Review, 32(1) 33-35 – 2006

8. E. Sadler Smith, E. Shefy. Developing intuitive awareness in management education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 6(2): 186-205 (2007)

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