Read the article we have written for WeAreTheCity here: 3 Factors of Collective Intelligence
Smarter together. It has a great ring to it, doesn’t it?
To be smarter together, to achieve more together.
Because everyone is best at something, and no one is best at everything.
Collective Intelligence is bringing intelligence together; bringing different ideas, experience and characters together – to create better ideas, solutions and results. It’s about intelligent collaboration and teamwork, where 1+1 can equal so much more that 2!
Talent wins games,
but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.
Michael Jordan
Collective intelligence is when intelligence meets intelligence and is multiplied.
And we can all play a role in making that happen – especially as a leader. In fact, as a leader, it’s part of our job. By creating collective intelligence we are making our organisations more intelligent.
An interesting study carried out by a group of scientists at MIT Center for Collective Intelligence, led by Professor Thomas W Malone, found that just putting smart people together doesn’t necessarily make the group smarter. Looking at a number of factors identified in earlier research, they found that the groups that had the highest collective intelligence had the following three factors; social perceptiveness, equal participation and a higher proportion of women. The higher proportion of women in the group was statistically mostly explained by the measure of social perceptiveness.
Simply put – the more people are able to perceive what’s going on around them (and how others are feeling) and have everyone contribute equally to conversations (not letting a few people dominate) are more collectively intelligent than other groups.
Interesting research. You can read more about it here.
Look around you in your team – are you encouraging social perceptiveness and equal participation? What else could you do to further develop/promote those skills and habits in your team? And what would that do to your results as a team? What happens when we are smarter together?
Now there’s another interesting dimension to Collective Intelligence – and that’s when we combine human and artificial intelligence – and that’s what next week’s Future Leaders Blog will be about. See you then!
About the authors
Mandy Flint & Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, multi-award-winning authors of “Leading Teams – 10 Challenges: 10 Solutions” and ”The Team Formula”.
Their latest book “The Leader’s Guide to Impact” published April 2019 by Financial Times International is an in-depth practical guide to creating the impact you want.
You can download a free chapter of the book at www.2020visionleader.com
Praise for “The Leader’s Guide to Impact” – “If there is one book you read on leadership, this is it. It’s jam-packed with practical tips, stories and frameworks to help you to be the best leader you can possibly be by taking control of your impact on those around you. Elisabet and Mandy hit the leadership nail on the head every time! I wish this book was around 20 years ago!” Vanessa Vallely, OBE, Managing Director, WeAreTheCity, author, “Heels of Steel”
