The concept of a team being more than the sum of its parts or smarter than the sum of the intelligences of its members has fascinated leaders and philosophers since ancient times.
What is the latest research on Team Intelligence?
Collective Intelligence is the factor determining how well a group performs on a wide range of very different tasks. MIT Sloan Executive Education research found that this factor was only moderately correlated with the average individual intelligence of the people in the group. In other words, having a group of smart people doesn’t necessarily make a smart group.
But if having smart people isn’t enough to make a smart group, what is? MIT found three other factors significantly correlated with the group’s collective intelligence:
1. Social Perceptiveness or Reading the Mind in the Eyes:
The first was the average social perceptiveness, or social intelligence, of the group members. MIT measured this by giving people a test called “Reading the Mind in the Eyes.” When a group consists of people who are good at this, the group, on average, is more collectively intelligent
2. Equal Participation:
The second factor MIT found was the degree to which people participated equally in the group’s conversation. When one or two people dominated the group discussion, the group, on average, was less collectively intelligent than when everyone participated more equally.
3. Proportion of Women in the Group:
Finally, MIT found that the group’s collective intelligence was significantly correlated with the proportion of women in the group. More women were correlated with more intelligent groups. Interestingly, this result is primarily explained statistically by the result about social perceptiveness. It was already known before the MIT research that women, on average, score higher on this measure of social perceptiveness than men.
As a Master of Mathematics, I cannot leave you without a formula on Team Intelligence 😉
CTI = SP + EP + PW
- CTI= Collective Team Intelligence
- SP = Social Perceptiveness
- EP = Equal Participation
- PW = Proportion of Women
How can AI help and boost Team Intelligence even further?
The power lies in the partnership between people and AI. Collectively, they could be way smarter than individuals or machines (AI) could ever be in isolation!
4. Augmented Decision-Making:
Feeding AI insights into the decision-making process makes teams smarter. Machine learning algorithms can analyze vast datasets and provide valuable insights, helping teams identify patterns, trends, and potential risks. This enables teams to make data-driven decisions, minimizing guesswork and increasing the likelihood of success.
5. Streamlined Project Management:
Efficient project management is crucial for team success, and AI plays a pivotal role in streamlining these processes. AI-powered project management tools can automate scheduling, resource allocation, and task prioritization, reducing the risk of delays and improving overall project efficiency.
6. Personalized Learning and Development:
AI-driven tools can cater to the individual learning needs of team members, fostering continuous professional development. Personalized learning platforms can analyze each team member’s strengths and weaknesses, recommending targeted training programs to enhance skills. Moreover, AI can create adaptive learning experiences that evolve based on an individual’s progress, ensuring that the learning process is engaging and tailored to each team member. This not only boosts the overall competency of the team but also contributes to a culture of learning and improvement.
7. Real-Time Tips:
In particular for reading the emotions (“Eye Reading Test”), AI can analyze the tone of voice and mimics of the participants and give real-time feedback on the emotions team members are feeling. The interface could be an “animated face” displaying the prevailing emotions in the team and giving real-time feedback to the speaker—slow down, make a pause, etc.
So, the Team Collective Intelligence (TCI) Formula expands to:
CTI = (SP + EP + PW) + (DM + PM + PL + RT)
CTI =Collective Team Intelligence
People Factors
- SP = Social Perceptiveness
- EP = Equal Participation
- PW = Proportion of Women
AI Factors
- DM = Decision Making
- PM = Project Management
- PL= Personalized Learning
- RT= Real-time Tips
If we compare the Collective Team Intelligence with a Smart Car:
- Social Perceptiveness is… the Transmission
- Equal Participationis … the 4 Wheel Drive
- Proportion of Womenis… the Hybrid Model (electric/petrol/diesel)
- Augmented Decision Making is … the Navigation
- Streamlined Project Management is … the Automatic Gears
- Personalised Learnings and Real Time Tipsare … the Dashboard.
By enabling and fostering all these factors and ensuring people collaborate with AI-generated insights and real-time tips, we can boost the collective intelligence of our teams and enable extraordinary performance!
