Contextual Intelligence: The State of Mind of Decision-Making
What is contextual intelligence?
Harvard Business School professor, Tarun Khanna, defines it as the “ability to understand the limits of our knowledge, and to adapt that knowledge to an environment different from the one in which it was developed”. Meanwhile, Matthew Kutz, author of the award-winning book “Contextual Intelligence”, defines it as “a leadership competency based on empirical research that integrates concepts of diagnosing context and exercising knowledge”.
Defining contextual intelligence
So, is contextual intelligence an ability/skill/competency? Based on these definitions, it can be – but there are other points of view too.
Dr. Charles Brown, for instance, believes that “Contextual intelligence is the practical application of knowledge and information to real-world situations”. In this sense, contextual intelligence can be said to be a person’s mindset, and how they think.
At Burgessy, we’ve taken a bird’s eye view when studying contextual intelligence. Our interests lie in how contextual intelligence is applied in real-life situations – for example, in businesses, educational institutions, and other areas. Taking this point of view, we strongly believe that contextual intelligence isn’t simply a skill, it’s a state of mind – an opinion that is in line with Dr. Brown’s take on this matter.
As an example, let’s take a look at how most people make the decision to leave their jobs. Study after study has shown that people generally don’t decide to leave their jobs, they decide to leave their bosses – a choice that’s made based on their state of mind, and not on their ability to get their job done.
Implementing contextual intelligence into business (using digital solutions)
At Burgessy, we have harnessed the power of contextual intelligence and implemented it into solutions that help business owners, managers and HR professionals to make better decisions – in shortlisting prospects, hiring employees, promoting stars, and retaining valuable employees.
Using contextual intelligence-based unstructured, open-ended surveys and analyses, our technology listens to individuals at a deep level, appreciates the context of their responses, understands their current state of mind, and develops a keen understanding of the individual’s level of contextual intelligence. In this sense, this is an understanding of the person’s flow of awareness, knowledge, and readiness to apply common sense in solving problems and making decisions.
These insights are garnered based on four fundamental human responses, namely:
- Flight: The likelihood of leaving at any time, or worse, quiet quitting
- Fight: The possibility of arguing, disagreeing, and upsetting harmony
- Freeze: The chances of suffering from “paralysis by analysis” and/or simply lacking decision-making/delegation skills
- Flow: The tendency to “go with the flow” – not rocking the boat, but also not creating breakthroughs or offering disruptive ideas
By gleaning all this knowledge from our contextual intelligence-based technology, Burgessy is able to offer employers accurate insights into their candidates’ level of readiness for the role they are being considered for.
Contextual intelligence: Applications in the education sector
In addition to various applications in the corporate space, Burgessy’s contextual intelligence-based solutions also have the potential to make massive inroads into the education space.
Using contextual intelligence, educators can gain insights into whether students have developed a genuine understanding on the subjects they have been learning – with insights on whether students are able to appropriately apply classroom (or lecture theatre) knowledge into real-world situations – or if students have only acquired an “exam-ready” level of knowledge, without the deeper understanding of how to apply it outside of school (applicable to students aged seven years and up).
Additionally, educators can also use our solutions to discover the “true dropout rate” of their classes – which includes students who have “quiet quit” (i.e., students who show up to class for attendance, but aren’t paying attention to what’s being taught).
Educators keen on learning more about contextual intelligence or working with our solutions (or with our team), please contact us.
Dive deeper with contextual intelligence
So, what is contextual intelligence, truly? We believe it’s a way of helping us to understand our genuine, authentic selves.
Remember that context is fluid – it changes as situations change, and as we change. In this way, contextual intelligence offers us a dynamic way to see ourselves objectively, measure how we’ve grown over time, and continue to make consistent, measurable improvements in the weeks, months and years ahead – a power we can leverage to improve our potential, help others reach theirs, and make much better decisions with.