Put swarm intelligence to work
A simple method for harnessing swarm intelligence.
· Janne Ruohisto
Are you drifting with the current?
A crowd concentrates stupidity, as the old Finnish saying goes. And often enough, it does. When we go along with the crowd, our own thinking narrows and we end up doing things the way everyone else does them. This is groupthink: we adjust our opinions to match the thinking of the rest of the group. It is a reasonable approach if the aim is to avoid conflict and work together efficiently, but it leads a little too easily to a situation where we simply echo the prevailing opinion, or the authority in the room. That is a serious problem, particularly when the task is to find new and innovative solutions to difficult problems.
Swarm intelligence is diversity
Behind a group's narrow outlook and poor decisions there is often a lack of diversity. Its members are cut from the same cloth. Administrative groups in particular are often formed on the basis of position, title or social relationships, which means the group does not end up with the range of experience it would need to examine problems and ideas from different angles.
In the swarm work model developed by Intunex and applied in Skillhive, working groups — swarms — form around shared objects of work, according to skills and interest. That brings the necessary expertise into the swarm, but it also brings diversity, so the swarm does not suffer from groupthink to the same degree as a traditional group.
An easy method for harnessing swarm intelligence
You can bring more swarm intelligence into your own work without any particular technology or tool.
The Ahjo project at Malski, a business and culture centre in Lahti, Finland, developed a simple method for applying swarm intelligence to ideation and problem-solving in a group.
The owner of the problem or idea first presents their thinking to the rest of the group. The group asks clarifying questions, and then begins to discuss the matter among themselves and to generate suggestions for developing the idea or solving the problem. At this stage the owner of the problem or idea only listens. Finally, the owner describes what they heard and what they took away from the discussion.
Lahdesta Malskista löytyy hieno parviälyttämisen prosessi #ahjo #malski #parviälyA post shared by Skillhive (@skillhive)