The Conceptual Basis of Contextual Intelligence

Connect dots of present, current, and future, converge hindsight, insight, and foresight into holistic perspective and contextual intelligence.

Many think the digital era upon us is about algorism, raw data from machines needs to be processed into information that is further refined into intelligence. There are as many different ways to characterize intelligence as there are different types and forms of information implying on our senses.

Contextual intelligence is crucial in making effective decisions, especially at the strategic level. Because you need to have a big picture thinking to understand the interconnectivity of the parts and the whole, learn from the past, capture insight, envision the future, and leverage multiple variables via analysis and synthesis. The conceptual basis of contextual intelligence involves the convergence of the following three abilities.

An intuitive grasp of relevant past events: Information is one of the most invaluable assets of contemporary digital organizations. The information gained from past experiences or events that can improve future performance is very welcomed. From a strategy management perspective, the hindsight from the rear mirror is the tool to make sure businesses understand where they are, any immediate gaps, or dangers that make the forward view unrealistic. From a performance management perspective, you should have a solid grasp on what has been tried before and analyze why those initiatives didn't succeed, take advantage through re-introducing the past in a new way and build the bridge to effectively connect "lesson-learned" from the past to the future performance and potential.

If we no longer reference the past, then we are likely to repeat the mistakes of the past. So, continue to examine the lessons learned from the project, and consider whether what we learned has been refined into contextual intelligence for improving decision maturity. It is our connectedness to the world around us that makes whatever intelligence we have truly useful to ourselves and to others, learning from the past, and developing towards a new future.

An acute awareness of present contextual variables: The digital revolution manifested, context intelligence is about understanding the interrelationships and correlations that offer access to new perspectives and new insights, and interpreting them in a cohesive way. It’s a construct that involves the ability to recognize and diagnose the plethora of contextual variables inherent in the present circumstances, then intentionally and intuitively adjust behaviors in order to exert influence in that context. The context in and with the human experience provides data with meaning, which leads to information and ultimately supports enhanced insight.

The variation in decisions to be made vary tremendously across the developmental spectrum. Decision-makers have an acute awareness of present contextual variables, try to identify the parts of a system and how those parts are connected, look at things from different angles, evaluate the dynamic circumstances, decide and act, and identify potential unintended consequences of decisions and actions.

Awareness of the preferred future, interact so that the practitioner can exert influence and make appropriate decisions: Connect dots of present, current, and future, converge hindsight, insight, and foresight into holistic perspective and contextual intelligence. Future outcomes or how events open is not in our hands. Information based predictive analytics tries to figure out what will happen, the future trend, and how to act on it by making effective decisions. As a decision support tool, predictive analysis helps the business leaders gain the foresight, suggest the right, best, or optimal actions to take in various circumstances.

Digital organization is complex. It becomes complex if things do interact, particularly in the case of nonlinear interactions, you can't separate things properly or you cannot predict the actual effect of interactions straightforwardly. The speed of change is increasing, the goal of business forecasting is about predicting. The business context reflects both complexity and chaos, each of these contexts requires intelligence into effective decision making. It is the step-wise scenario of information –hindsight/insight/foresight – decision making. Keep in mind though, timing is always critical for decision making effectiveness. No decision in the world outlives the time, place, and person constituents on the basis of which it was made.

Intelligence is the capacity to understand and apply wisdom to the knowledge you are exposed to. The digital ecosystem is complex and volatile, either for making good decisions or complex problem solving, understanding context is often the first and one of the most important steps in making a more lasting solution. Thus, contextual intelligence improves decision effectiveness and develop problem-solving competency.

Posted in: Business Intelligence,Decision Making