From IQ to WeQ - Get out of the swarm stupidity trap
2017, January 04th
Does this sound familiar? The whole day is packed with pointless meetings and discussions, which lead to nowhere. And at the end of the day no time remains for the real tasks. How can we even think of swarm intelligence?
On my previous article “From IQ to WeQ – Part 2. The secret of swarm intelligence“ I received a precious comment, which referred to a phenomena, which is called “swarm stupid“ by Gunter Dueck1.
I really appreciate the interactivity of on-line articles, because this comment inspired me to write this article with a provocative thesis: “Every one of us - yes, you, your colleague and I – has the choice every single day, if we act swarm intelligent or swarm stupid!”
I know and understand this other side very well: With a wink I describe a few of my favorite bloopers of “swarm stupid“ collaboration and non-cooperation:
- Strung together meetings: Meetings seem endlessly spread over the whole day. There are 10 to 20 people in the room. Most of them are doing their emails, while the meeting is running in the front of the room. Colleague X leaves the room with the smart phone in his hands, because he received the super important call. You ask yourself the question: “What am I doing here?“
- Bureaucratic, annoying reporting cultures: A former colleague comments ironically: “We report the standstill of the projects, as we don’t work on our real project tasks because of incessant reporting.”
- Hierarchic decision making processes: Since weeks we are waiting for the final GO of the formerly very important project. It seems to be caught up in the decision’s waiting loop of the highly occupied management…
- Last but not least the “best practice sharing” of the last international team meeting, which should have emphasized our good team work, ended up in a profiling exercise of the colleague or the neighbor country. You think: “Good collaboration? No way!”
What goes wrong? It seems that we collectively come to more stupid solutions as every single one of us would on our own – not to even mention innovation.
I fully agree that those situations can be frustrating. AND at the same time we can learn as individuals, teams and organizations, how to implement the topic of cooperation more effectively. In the same way we can uplift ourselves as a team towards higher solution, we can also find ourselves disappointed in the middle of nowhere.
As a team developer and business coach I’m always interested in two core questions: “What doesn't work?” and even more “What works?”
According to my experience the following doesn’t work: moaning, complaining, blaming, learnt helplessness and pass the responsibility towards the organization. This may provide you with a short-term relief, but weakens the individual and the whole system in the long run.
My success strategies have strong leverage on the 3 different levels: individual, team and organization. What works according to my experience?
- Individual: Everyone radically takes his/her personal responsibility! This will be described in more detail below.
- Team: There are many approaches available. My consulting and management expertise shows that the following topics can be effectively and quickly implemented:
- High quality team developments, which enable and empower teams to work effectively as Reforming Teams2. Please also view From IQ to WeQ Part 2
- A good balance of the magic triangle with individual - I, team -we and organization -all.
- The courage of selection: Clarify before hence and be flexible with the composition: Who really needs to be part of the team or meeting? With which contribution?
- Good preparation and structure of projects, meetings and workshops with a clear agenda. For example: meaningful vision- & strategy workshops, competitive simulations or innovation workshops. It is important that you give enough space for creative input and at the same time plan enough time for the implementation part.
- Discipline within meetings: Even if the word “discipline” sounds unattractive at first, focusing on the essential raises joy and efficient results of collaboration.
- Organization: There are many effective approaches on the organizational level, which description would go beyond the scope of this article. From my perspective it is important for the lasting success, that the changes are implemented along the path of the alignment – from vision, across values, involving competences and to the daily business behaviors (Robert Dilts).3 Otherwise you end up with cosmetic measures, which don’t result a cultural change.
With this article I focus on every single one of us, because often people hide behind the excuse “I can’t change anything!“ and see themselves as a victim of the situation. Not you, of course ;-)
Coming back to my starting thesis: Every one of us has the choice daily! The shift takes place in our consciousness!
We have always influence on at least 3 factors:
- our networks (internally& externally),
- our attitude and behavior in our teams
- and our own knowledge and skills.
The question is: Do we use it in positive or negative and conscious or unconscious ways?
I would like to investigate No 2 in more depth:
How can I really change my attitude and behavior?
In my coaching sessions I love to work with the Mind-Shift Power Tools, which are also very useful for this situation:
- Commitment vs. trying;
- Responsibility vs. blame;
- Responding vs. reacting;
- Action vs. procrastination etc;
Responsibility – seriously?!
With “full responsibility” it is not meant to be blamed for a situation or to be the cause of it. What is meant is to take over the RESPONSEability in every single moment, how I deal with the situation, or like the word beautifully indicates which response I choose towards a certain situation or event.
Being very specific I would like to invite all of us to train the following behavioral shifts on a daily base:
-
From “moaning & complaining“ towards listening and constructive contribution
- Instead of “justifying yourself”, to appreciating the contribution of your colleague and paying compliments. I mean honest compliments, because the difference to flattery is clearly noticeable.
- Turn “withdrawing“ into taking the initiative of coming together.
The supreme discipline implies the following changes of mindset and behavior:
-
How about instead of “blaming” someone to give constructive feedback, to offer support and to learn from mistakes. This can also mean to clearly express preferences and needs.
For example: One of my consulting clients was facing the classical misunderstandings between the Marketing and Medical function. During a team workshop we gained transparency and an agreement regarding the different objectives of the two functions and the individual communication preferences of the involved persons.
- And one of my favorites: Have you ever experienced, when you get over being right and experience how a common, new and bigger solution can be developed? A true “win-win” situation – very inspiring.
- “Being essential!“ My invitation is to always ask yourself: “Is my contribution essential for the process or the result?” This can relate to your statement in a meeting or the conscious selection of an email distribution list.
If now the thought “Yes, I would like to, but the others are reluctant to join” comes to your mind, I invite you to act as a role model and demonstrate constructive behavior by example. This will be carried over step by step to your surroundings.
I’m enthusiastic about our human potential and its evolvement as individuals and teams: there is so much more possible beyond of what we currently live in our organizations.
Which effective approaches did you come across? How do you live cooperation and WeQ-qualities4 within your organization?
I’m curious and like to learn more about your innovative approaches.
With inspired regards,
Annette Freund
FREUND INSPIRED MOVE
Annette Freund is Founder and Managing Director of the consulting company FREUND INSPIRED MOVE in Switzerland. She is inspired by change processes: Strong Individuals! Reforming Teams! Transforming Organizations!
She provides her services in German and English speaking environments.
Inspired by:
1Gunter Dueck – Schwarmdumm – so blöd sind wir nur gemeinsam
2Friedrich Glasl – Trigon Entwicklungsberatung
3Robert Dilts – Neurologische Ebenen
4Peter Spiegel –WeQ more than IQ
Image: ©THIESSEN PHOTO