Introduction: The Secrets of Collective Intelligence

I.1. Importance of the subject: why does the question of Collective Intelligence warrant a book?

It takes several elements to answer this question.

First of all, let us start at the beginning: who is this book intended for? Generally, for any person who needs a group to reach their objectives; so, mainly people working in a business, whether it is private or public. That is the framework of our contributions. Peripherally, this book may also benefit people in charge of the development of a sports team. Lastly, it would also be possible to apply our comments to private affairs, like marriages and families.

That said, why are we discussing Collective Intelligence and the mechanisms that can bring it about?

Several of our readers, who include salaried workers, entrepreneurs, employees, executives and managers, have diplomas that provide their employers or partners some assurance of their knowledge of business and the ins and outs of producing results in a team. This is to be expected; however, when it comes to Collective Intelligence, there is still tremendous room for improvement. Why?

We know that:

1. - The success of a business depends on the quality of its collective functioning.
2. - We cannot always choose the people we work with, and even if we can, there are always surprises: some people's behavior changes drastically due to stress, egocentric behavior, bad faith, etc.
3. - There are people who are easy to get along with, while with others it is practically "mission impossible"! That is the challenge, because it may be with these people that we need to "create wealth", despite our differences.

Faced with this unavoidable difficulty, a business requires its professionals to work together cooperatively and seek out solutions collaboratively, especially given the high economic stakes. You might think that this requirement is rarely satisfied, and that we would instead find many situations of Collective Unintelligence as we move forward in a supposedly practical universe in an ongoing quest for optimization.

In fact, as soon as the success of functioning "together" depends on reaching objectives - on the capacity to remain married to the success of a transverse international project - it becomes necessary to study the causes of success or failure in Collective Intelligence, because failure is only acceptable insofar as we get the most in terms of learning.

So, this subject is crucial and is located at the heart of a major concern: to connect individuals according to their skills with the goal of creating something that neither of them could have created alone. In other words, what is the best way to take advantage of the skills or personality of an "Other", who is inherently and very fortunately diverse, in order to complete a collaborative project? The question of producing Collective Intelligence is at the core of the entrepreneurial task, particularly in the globalized context in which we are now all developing, whether we are aware of it or not.

Unfortunately, as you well know, there are several reasons why we are clearly starting from the bottom in this respect.

Again, let us start at the beginning: when did the subject of Collective Intelligence and its rules come into your childhood, adolescence or adulthood? Do not think too hard, your memory is not mistaken: almost never! We have had the opportunity to mix with very diverse groups of people: students, young entrepreneurs, senior executives, etc. At the risk of not making any friends, it is clear that there is little awareness about the factors that produce group success - much lower than in group sports, for example. Is this normal?

Another reason for the lack of development in Collective Intelligence is the reluctance to question the status quo. Oh, of course, some readers will say, "I'm not worried about that, myself, because as a senior executive, I've completed many training sessions, which taught me a lot about people". Of course you have, and we do not doubt the quality of this training for a second. But do you really apply this? Yes? Really? Alright, if that is the case, we would like to speak with your team and get their feedback!

Similarly, we know that an effective team is a group that expresses itself, and does not hesitate to bring up any and all information that seems relevant, even when this information seems to contradict the general policy of a company. We can cite several great industrial failures that are due to insufficient information gathered from people who are otherwise competent and engaged. Why? These people did not want to take the risk of damaging the ego of management, whose directions and/or decisions would be challenged by handing over this information. On this point in particular, we will demonstrate that certain types of Ego are especially detrimental to the development of Collective Intelligence. For example, an executive, a patron of the company who complains about not getting enough feedback, should start by questioning himself about his own influence, and then make inquiries to obtain feedback from his partners. Unfortunately, our education entirely ignores or seems to ignore this issue: what impact do I have on the group around me?

This alone should position the subject of Collective Intelligence at the center of all concerns. Even more so, the system of consumption, which has prioritized immediate satisfaction, has added to a growing "every man for himself" attitude, as well as the quasi-canonization of both spontaneity - which implies that everything that is not spontaneous lacks honesty - and victimization: "I had nothing to do with it and it was all someone else's fault". These are all bricks contributing to the building of Collective Unintelligence.

The effects of Collective Unintelligence are devastating for people working within these systems. It is not for nothing that several large companies, although most often in accordance with legal requirements, which have issued so many fascinating managerial training sessions to their executives, employ full-time staff to handle the psychosocial well-being of employees. That is the leading indicator: the level of psychosocial risk. In France, the risk is higher than ever. Consequently, how can we claim that a team functions intelligently in such a context of perceived psychosocial danger?

These issues are found at all levels of management, and accentuate the difficulties of working collectively - that is, working among a variety of individuals. In short, developing Collective Intelligence is essential in a context where we are constantly seeking to increase the margins of companies. On a related note, the cost of Collective Unintelligence is something every manager faces: the cost of absenteeism, unproductive meetings, information retention, minimum contributions, etc.

As you can see, Collective Intelligence needs to be given the attention it deserves because it can contribute many solutions and gains in productivity.

I.2. The logic of our approach

The subject of Collective Intelligence is huge and complex; rushing through it and not doing it justice is out of the question. What logic does our work center on?

More specifically, the three major parts stand out:

1. - The first section is dedicated to raising awareness and understanding human diversity; we propose a new, more objective perspective on the analysis of diversity. Thanks to this work, you will know much more about "human capital" - primary material for all companies - and its properties. Why begin with this subject? Because not understanding people and their natures, and thus what makes up their diversity, is the first obstacle to the development of Collective Intelligence. Indeed, this lack of understanding unfortunately leads to limiting the breadth of diversity in a Business by only recruiting individuals who easily fit into a pre-existing collective functioning and excluding many more atypical profiles. However, these individuals could prove to be very useful in the search for new solutions brought on by a global economic context that is increasingly complex (see below, "Collective Intelligence, adapting to a world in complete transformation" (section 1.1)). How can we avoid the natural tendency to reduce the field of Diversity? On the one hand, by understanding the characteristics that make up this diversity and by being able to situate yourself at the center of this diversity. On the other hand, by understanding why you do not get along well with certain personalities, as well as what is required to work alongside these "difficult personalities" who may be, depending on the context, indispensable to a group. Importantly, you should be able to evaluate how each personality type described can enrich the group with which you are interacting. Beyond helping you recruit with more accuracy depending on the context, this approach will allow you to be calmer, more objective, and less emotional and judgmental toward the Other.
2. - Having identified and understood the "agents of Diversity", in the second section we will help you transform this diversity into complementarity using Leadership. How? First of all, by bringing together the notions of Leadership and Collective Intelligence. With this in mind, we will begin by studying what Leadership is in order to demonstrate how the development of a global culture of...