Collective Intelligence is a kind of wisdom formed by individual collaboration, joint efforts and competition, and presented in the consensus decision-making of the group. The concept spans the context of sociobiology, political science, and large-scale peer review and crowdsourcing applications. Collective intelligence is not only the focus of scientists' research, but also involves all aspects of business operations and team organization.
Collective intelligence emphasizes the results of social interaction and cooperation, and its achievements often exceed the capabilities of a single individual, enabling teams to make decisions more quickly and accurately.
The key to collective intelligence is that individuals can learn from each other and gain knowledge from feedback. Collective intelligence can be thought of as an emergent property that people exhibit in the way they process information. This wisdom focuses on mutual understanding and improvement, rather than just the overall strength of a single community.
Members of collective intelligence are usually based on mutual respect and trust, and such a culture can promote higher creative thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
The formation of collective intelligence is based on social capital and formal voting systems, social media and other means. The team's innovation ability no longer depends solely on the leader's insight, but on the joint participation of all members. This maximizes the potential of the team, achieving better results than any single individual could.
As early as 1785, the Marquis de Condorcet's "jury theorem" proposed that if each member of a voting group is more likely to make the right decision than a random choice, then as the number of group members increases, the probability of making a correct decision will increase. The probability of making the correct decision with the number of votes will also increase. Since then, many thinkers have explored collective intelligence and applied it to society, business, and cyber culture.
In today's society, with the development of information and communication technology, collective intelligence has become increasingly important. Pierre Lévy's video defines collective intelligence as: "a pervasive distributed intelligence that is constantly enhanced, coordinated in real time, and capable of effectively mobilizing skills." In this context, companies and organizations must learn how to Harness the collective wisdom of the crowd to gain an edge over the competition.
Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams proposed four principles for capturing collective intelligence: openness, parallel structures, sharing, and global action.
Research shows that factors that promote collective intelligence include social sensitivity among team members and more equal opportunities to speak up. "In a team, situations where a few people dominate tend to reduce the collective intelligence."
Therefore, providing each member with the opportunity to express their opinions and suggestions will actually improve the overall intelligence.
Through the use of collective wisdom, teams can not only solve problems, but also innovate and improve knowledge through continuous interaction. For modern society, how to promote and utilize this group thinking will be the key to improving collective effectiveness. Are you ready for the challenge of bringing out the best in your team?