Create more value through your team’s intelligence
None of us is as smart as all of us. The collective intelligence of a well-functioning team far exceeds what any individual can achieve alone — but unlocking it requires trust and intention.
Most leadership teams waste millions in untapped potential every year by confusing collective intelligence with groupthink, settling for polite consensus instead of harnessing the raw power of open, accountable debate.
None of us is as smart as all of us! You can hire the smartest people. You can use assessment companies to measure their IQ. You can decide to exclusively hire people with degrees from respected universities. But, if you are not able to unlock the collective intelligence of your teams, you’re working sub-optimal at best.
Key takeaways
- You unlock far more value by shifting from hiring only high-IQ individuals to actively harnessing the collective intelligence of your leadership team through open debate and shared decision-making.
- Leaders who openly acknowledge what they don’t know and proactively ask for input from their peers set a powerful example that fosters genuine collaboration and accelerates team learning.
- You kill silos and drive better results when you transform leadership meetings from individual performance reviews into collaborative sessions where strategy, business plans, and accountability are built and owned together.
The world is far too complicated these days to expect that one person knows everything. It’s even dangerous.
Where to begin if you want to implement a journey to start to use the collective intelligence of your key leaders better?
Start with the individual business leaders. I’ve worked with so many leaders over the years who (unconsciously) believe that they must know everything. Asking for help is considered a sign of weakness. While in fact, it’s the other way around! If you’re able to acknowledge what you don’t know, if you’re able to use input from others in areas where you know less, that’s a sign of real strength! Start to have this debate with your leaders. Be a role model when it comes to asking for help! Use an executive coach to improve your own effectiveness. When you’re hiring an executive coach for your business leaders you basically say: you need help. But if you’re not working with someone yourself, your action speaks louder than your words. Basically, you’re saying: you need help, and I don’t!
Implement processes that kill silos in your company. Make sure that your operational leadership team meetings are not perceived as exams, where one business leader is ‘grilled’ and the others think: ‘I’m glad it’s not me today, I’m keeping my head down’. Kill silos by building the business plan together. Decide upon the strategy and business goals together. Have one business leader orchestrate the execution, monitor progress together.
If you are the CEO, make sure that you take a team-based approach when you work with your team. Don’t fall into the trap to take an individual approach. I’ve seen leaders working with every manager more or less one on one. If you don’t feel comfortable with the team approach, learn it! This is a skill that can be taught, just like you can learn public speaking.
Markets and businesses are way too complex these days for an old school one on one approach where one person knows everything. None of us is as smart as all of us! Use it to your advantage to create more value.
The highest-performing teams aren’t defined by individual brilliance, but by leaders brave enough to admit what they don’t know and skilled enough to turn collective intelligence into decisive action.
Over to you.