In the case of a solution for healthcare, the group that approached the author of an article on the management-issues.com website did not get on board and the workshops never took place. A few years later, their proposal was voted down. Despite the good intention of wanting to move beyond endless debate, they also wanted only their preferred solution to be accepted and allow no space for alternatives.
However, in order to succeed, ensuring all voices and opinions are heard and respected is crucial. That enables higher-level solutions to be found by making good use of the mix of individual viewpoints. So what are the requirements for unlocking collective intelligence?
1. Diversity of opinion
If you have a group of people with different perspectives, you have a broad source of information available. This is useful. It may:
- help ideas to evolve
- make it easier for participants to express themselves frankly
- prevent the negative dynamics of groupthink
2. Independent thinking
You need to make sure everyone can express their own views without any pressure to conform to the opinions of others. If you want to progress constructively, each person needs to think and act as independently as possible. Without this you cannot really access collective intelligence.
3. Local knowledge
People who are close to the problem you are trying to solve are much more likely to be able to make a meaningful contribution.
4. Effective aggregation mechanism
Distributed knowledge is a good thing but to produce intelligent results you need to be able somehow to integrate the content of the various observations and opinions of participants.
Book: Surowiecki, James. The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economics, Society and Nations. 2005. 320 pages
-jk-