“Most musicians know about the unique state that is reached in the music sessions: you are not focused on yourself, you are focused on the collective action, on the others, on the music. Your self-consciousness is reduced and the perception of the synergy generated as a group is enhanced. There’s a pleasurable rewarding feeling about the idea of creating something together…” – Francisco Zamorano
I love this quote. It reminds me of the most recent concert I played with my orchestra, that warm, concentrated and exhilarating feeling – the stress, the uncertainty, the joy, the togetherness – the flow of collective performance. There is a magical moment when it all comes together, when the musicians are thinking and playing with one mind. When we are all in sync and playing the same whole yet a different part, and the tension is positive and palpable. This is pure joy for me as I sit behind my cello, not worrying if I will play out of tune or miscount a beat. But how do we create the conditions for this state of calm, especially in today’s fast-paced world?
Often, when I do word association exercises, high growth is associated most usually with financial success, stress, agility and finally chaos! For me, however, it is also an opportunity to lay the foundations for collaboration and inclusion to enable the team to ride any growth curve and to constantly reinvent themselves without losing their cohesion, and also to recruit, onboard and more importantly retain top talent. In a world where data, logic, and KPIs reign supreme, and the market is growing aggressively in smaller, more interconnected ecosystems, it’s tempting to relegate the ‘softer’ stuff (i.e. emotional regulation, empathy, humility, curiosity) to the background. Yet this is actually the ‘harder’ stuff and the skills that will lay the foundations for success and adaptiveness. The most innovative organisations understand that major breakthroughs often arise from the invisible, the unexpected, the curious and the unexplained. That reinvention and constantly questioning themselves, their business and their products is today’s normal if you want to stay relevant.
Think about the best decision you ever made – I’m sure it involved analysis, thought, seeking others’ opinions and rational reasoning, but I bet it involved more than just pure evaluation. Everyone has that moment of something undescribable when it ‘feels right’, when you are willing to take a chance and see what emerges. Tapping into instinct and creating conditions for deep engagement can supercharge individual performance, and increase collective performance by literally letting go, doing less and listening more with curiosity. Intuition (a gut feeling), collaboration (we’re more intelligent together) and flow (that “in the zone” state) all play a crucial role here.
Intuition – the hidden genius of innovation
In high-stakes, fast-moving environments, logic and data alone are not enough. What’s missing is the capacity to sense what is emerging beyond what is visible or measurable, and to make sense of what isn’t being said. Intuitive intelligence represents this ability to pick up weak signals, access embodied knowledge and lived experience, and make aligned decisions — especially in complexity. In the words of John Lennon, “Ah, intuition takes me there, intuition takes me everywhere…”.
Intuition is not magic or guesswork but a form of fast, embodied, relational intelligence. It manifests through unspoken dynamics, subtle resonances, and informal connections. Most importantly, it sheds light where logic falls short. Research shows that in high-stakes scenarios, following your feelings can lead to better decisions. In fact, when decisions grow more ambiguous at senior levels, and we need to step out of the normal frameworks, using intuition as an extra input becomes a real competitive advantage.
It feels like wisdom as opposed to intelligence. For me, wisdom feels playful, fluid and 100% present – like a truth you’ve known before or that just seems so obvious, you feel it. How much of the time, though, in our daily lives, and particularly as busy leaders, are we actually totally present? We spend a lot of time ‘doing’ – a rational, often binary (complicated at best) process, which frequently plays into the definition of ‘good leadership’, ergo getting things done. But there are other ways to be to get things done.
In complex, uncertain situations, leaders don’t always have the luxury of perfect data or time to deliberate, and the danger is that the automatic system takes over, often relying on heuristics — mental shortcuts that allow people to make decisions with minimal cognitive load. While this enables quick decision-making, it is also prone to errors and biases, as it can oversimplify complex situations, leading to sometimes biased decisions. Stepping back into what we know may be familiar and efficient, but it keeps us in the safety of ‘knowing’ and does not incite curiosity, learning, change or collaboration. So what about stepping into a different space and letting things unfold?
Going with the flow
This, some might say, overly familiar phase is used to indicate that we should let go and see what emerges, which is of course sound advice. The other definition of flow is a ”state of total immersion and motivation” in a challenging, fulfilling and purposeful task. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian American psychologist and the ‘father of flow’, tells us that people are most satisfied and most productive when they are completely absorbed in an activity, especially an activity which involves their creative abilities and stretches their skills to meet a difficult but achievable challenge.
The group flow analogy with the orchestra performing a concert can also be transposed to teams. In teams, each person’s idea builds on the ideas of their peers to produce a different picture. Group flow is more likely to occur when all participants play an equal role in the collective creation of the final product or project. Here, ‘tacit knowledge’ – or common language – is crucial to ensure clear communication between the different members of a team. They will start to resonate at the same frequency. Because it is unspoken, people don’t realise what it is that allows them to ‘know’ how to communicate with others. Group flow requires constant communication and presence but, like a performance, will be blocked if this human connection is not there. This kind of communication doesn’t happen in the conference or meeting room. It is much more likely to happen in spontaneous conversations in the hallway, or in social settings after work or at lunch. Again, a different space, with different conditions and a vastly different result.
In flow, individuals avoid paralysis from anxiety and stagnation from boredom. They find a zone where motivation and capability skyrocket. Studies link this state to higher creativity, engagement, and significant boosts in productivity. Importantly, great leaders create environments that foster flow with clear goals, a balance between team members’ skills and challenges, and freedom from constant interruptions. When a team is in sync, group flow can emerge. Research reveals that breakthroughs often spring from groups in flow, not lone geniuses – hence the importance of creating the conditions for collective intelligence to operate. For leaders, enabling this means building a shared purpose and a basis of empathy and trust so that people can pull together and enjoy the process as much as the outcome. Creating this muscle for powerful community to emerge and enhance performance and motivation.
Ultimately, the true advantage of intuition and flow is how they humanise performance and enhance collaboration. In a high-growth environment, data and logic are indispensable as already stated, but equally important is the agility of instinct and the focus that comes from people deeply engaged in their work. Intuition lets a leader sense subtle shifts (in the market, in the system or in team morale) to really see the weak signals and respond swiftly. Flow unlocks levels of creativity and motivation that no amount of rigid planning can force, and work starts to feel almost like play. Play is not something that should be banished from the workplace – quite the contrary, and we as leaders need to trust our gut to guide key choices and help our teams find flow to sustain momentum, creativity, curiosity and results.
Intuition + flow + collaboration = a major lever for innovation
Why should we activate intuition and flow in teams? How does this contribute to getting faster and more innovative results? These are questions I constantly get asked and my answer is always evolving as i learn , although the foundation never changes: this is the human part that creates over and above what digital enables. The human connection and the power of collective community.
In my systemic coaching, I often observe the resonance of the system (within a team and between collaborating teams) where emotions and unspoken dynamics emerge and co-regulate the team space so that results can be produced. Teams who acknowledge this, and consciously create the conditions for inclusive ways of working also intentionally allow space for intuition and therefore innovation. This enables teams to detect weak signals faster, before they escalate into major issues, and innovate more organically, blending knowledge, feelings, experience and imagination. This strengthens co-responsibility and trust, as all forms of intelligence are acknowledged and legitimised. In my recent podcast with Faris Arankis (listen here), he states that to be successful, teams must have a balance of three components: a great strategy (IQ), emotional intelligence to bring others along (EQ), and focus through prioritisation (FQ). Strategy and cognitive intelligence are very present, whereas all too often we do not listen to the emotional layer of our team, nor tap into intuition and collective wisdom. This in turn inhibits the possibilities to get into group flow.
Conversely, people need an environment where flow can flourish, needless distractions are eliminated, and they have the support and autonomy they need to fully engage in their work. Creating a safe environment where people can experience this may sound like ‘something you’ve heard before’, but it has never been as important as it is now, as we navigate the changing world of GenAI and the impact and opportunities this brings to the workplace. However powerful the technology, if we don’t feel that we can contribute our ideas, if we don’t understand our agency in the transformation, if we don’t dare offer up our ideas for innovation, then we cannot contribute and collaborate fully. Both business and people suffer from this environment of ‘doing’ and, what’s more, ‘doing as others do’. When ChatGPT and other tools can generate so many ideas per second, what is really going to make the difference? The human flow in the system and the intuition of humanity that remains unique to us humans for the moment.
Lessons from high-growth teams
Whenever I speak to the high-growth teams I’ve worked with, the leaders have clear lessons learnt about navigating the chaos of high-growth environments. In startup war rooms, innovation labs, and digital hubs, intuition, collaboration and flow often make the difference between floundering and successfully scaling. The way the leaders create the conditions for this to happen, navigate uncertainty, support their teams, and the clarity of the matter at hand are key to enabling what is essentially a human-centred transformation.
There are many practical ways to tap into this underused resource of intuition. Firstly, create safe spaces for deceleration: instead of acceleration, slow down to listen to yourself and to what is emerging in your team and across your organisational ecosystem. Secondly, use visual and embodied methods: people learn in so many different ways and there is no one ‘right’ way to learn. Formalising things visually is incredibly powerful and can bring clarity on both spoken and unspoken elements. Mapping and visualising teams and how they are interacting is a great starting point for this. Standing grounded in these positions and sensing into a more embodied posture will uncover pearls of wisdom too – both individually and collectively. If that sounds complicated, I can assure you it’s not! The complicated part is trusting the process, the space and the resonance enough to open your mind, eyes, ears and senses to the system. Thirdly, lead by example: be explicit and share stories of when you followed a hunch or experienced a flow state on a project, and how it helped. Likewise, be transparent when you make a decision because ‘it just feels right’. This shows your team that intuition isn’t taboo and teaches them how to blend instinct with evidence, allowing them to feel into what flow may be like.
From insight to action: leading collaboration through clarity
The importance of clarity cannot be understated: it bridges the gap between intuitive insight and effective execution, ensuring that everyone stays aligned even amid rapid change. But how can we go about it? Setting clear goals and a purpose so that everyone knows what they are aiming for makes it easier to focus. I also discuss with Faris focus as the ‘missing piece’ of the puzzle: once goals and roles are clear, step back and let people work. If someone is deep in concentration solving a problem, or focusing on a topic, shield them from interruptions and respect their need for space. Over time, this leads to more creative and productive outcomes, as people spend more time “in the zone”. And learn to recognise the necessity to respect these boundaries to enhance both individual and collective performance.
The pattern too is clear: intuition and flow spark collaboration and agility. When leaders trust intuitive insights and support their teams in finding flow, they unlock a level of collective performance that far exceeds what any top-down approach could achieve. This is why creating the conditions intentionally for this to happen is strategic for collective performance, and ultimately competitive advantage – particularly in high-growth environments. Things move so quickly, there is so much change and people get lost in the no man’s land between the familiar and the unknown, exciting and boring, permission and execution. This is a tiring place to tread water, so building a bridge from the beginning is key.
People will dare to share ideas and tackle challenges together if they feel tuned in to the mission and to each other and have explicitly created trust and boundaries that are respected and acknowledged upfront. This means that when growth accelerates, and high-growth teams find themselves under pressure and often “on the edge of chaos”, intuition serves as a compass, flow provides the propulsion and clarity allows the collaboration to move forward. Make it routine to consider both hard facts and your intuitive read of a situation. After reviewing the analytics, pause and ask, “What is my gut telling me?”, and encourage your team to do the same. I always like to consider Colin Powell’s rule of thumb: gather about 60% of the available information, then trust your experience and intuition for the rest. There are two questions that I use often to move forward: “Is it good enough for now?” and “Is it safe enough to try?“. If the answer is yes, go for it! Particularly in high-growth environments, waiting for 100% certainty can mean missing the moment.
Intuition won’t help, however, if people are afraid to speak up. Group flow won’t happen if people are afraid to step out of what they have been asked to do and are constantly under-using their skills. Create a culture where hunches and unconventional ideas are welcomed, not discouraged. Let your team know that even if an offbeat idea isn’t adopted, it’s still valued. Often one person’s half-formed insight can spark another’s analysis, and they end up co-creating a different solution. Make it safe to share crazy ideas and nagging doubts – they just might contain the seed of innovation desperately needed for a particular project or product.
In summary, weaving intuition and flow into your leadership approach creates a powerful multiplier for both collaboration and innovation. People find more meaning and joy in their work because they’re trusted to bring their whole selves – head, gut and heart – to the table. The result is a workplace where clarity and trust drive collective performance, and creativity flourishes. Intuition, flow and effective collaboration might seem abstract, but their impact is very real – from breakthrough products to often life-saving decisions. Nurture them, and cultivate a team culture that allows you to face the growth curves head on – together.
Thank you for reading.
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