Part Two – Developing Collective Wisdom
The wise individual is a rare but wonderful thing. Hopefully, organisations are able to recognise them and they are in leadership positions as their brains reach optimum development around age 45 (see previous blog posting). However, in theory, a group of individuals should be able to demonstrate wisdom together whether or not each person has reached the state of wisdom.
If wisdom is the ability to optimize knowledge, experience and different thinking capability through insight, then a group has a far greater base to work from. Unfortunately, it also has a particular set of ‘blockages’.
The Questions
Why can’t we:
Optimize highly talented individuals when they are in a room together?
Stop time – wasting meetings where intelligent people behave in non collaborative ways?
Produce 2+2=6 in every group – not just teams?
Access instant results from a group without days of training?
The Answer
We can achieve all of these if we are able to prevent blockages to collective wisdom. Blocks can be averted by a disciplined framework within which potential is released. This framework is provided by simple tools and techniques that create a productive environment.
Clearly in the areas of Knowledge and experience and thinking skills, the group has an advantage over any individual. Even a focus on collective results can be achieved in a group through a chairperson or leader establishing and reinforcing the objective or vision. However, emotional intelligence is often hijacked by behaviours demonstrating ego and mistrust. State of mind is often undermined by time pressures and action orientation; strength of character by lack of focus on shared values and bottom lines.
A team building event is not the answer. Team development, although good in the long term, impacts too slowly in today’s world – and not all groups are teams. Any group of people needs to be able to access their combined potential instantly. This is only possible when a framework is used to control the blocks and allow the knowledge, experience and thinking to combine.
Dialogue is an example of such a framework technique. It works; and the more people use dialogue, the better their innate collective wisdom becomes. Techniques such as dialogue are a quick fix, but they also develop long term capability as well.
In conclusion, very few organizations are utilizing the combined abilities of their people. This can be easily solved – but only if some old habits around collective thinking are debunked and new thinking around a framework for collective Wisdom is applied. So here are my suggestions:
Start expecting meetings to get results – top accepting that they are a waste of time – they are places where people can harness collective wisdom – if they use the right framework.
Start expecting 2+2 = 6 – stop thinking that results can only be achieved through individuals. Personal development is important, but collective development is different and even more potent than the sum of the individuals – however intelligent and competent these are.
Start using tools an techniques in a framework for any group of people – stop confusing team building events and development with collective thinking. Wisdom is equally important in teams and disparate groups. Teams need to understand techniques to achieve collective Wisdom but to achieve collective wisdom, groups do not need to develop into teams.
Start equipping leaders and facilitators with tools and techniques that will transform meetings and get extraordinary results through collective wisdom.
Workplace Wisdom will help in providing tools and techniques to enable collective Wisdom. Some of these can be seen on our web site: http://www.workplacewisdom.co.nz/