Learnlets

Secondary

Clark Quinn’s Learnings about Learning

Compounding Intelligence

10 December 2012 by Clark 3 Comments

It is increasingly evident that as we unpack how we get the best results from thinking, we don’t do it alone.  Moreover, the elements that contribute emphasize diversity.  Two synergistic events highlight this.

First, my colleague Harold Jarche has an interesting post riffing off of Stephen Johnson’s new book, Future Perfect.  In looking at patterns that promote more effective decision making, an experiment is cited. In that study, a diverse group of lower intelligence produces better outputs than a group of relatively homogenous smart folks.  They quote Scott Page, saying “Diversity trumps ability”.  Hear hear.

This resonated particularly in light of an article I discovered last week that talked about Tom Malone’s work on looking at what he calls “collective intelligence“.  In it, Tom says “Our future as a species may depend on our ability to use our global collective intelligence to make choices that are not just smart, but also wise.”  I couldn’t agree more, and am very interested in the wisdom part.  Of interest in the article is a series of studies he did looking at what led to better outputs from groups, and they debunked a number of obvious factors including the above issue of intelligence. Two compelling features were the social perceptiveness of the group, e.g. how well they tuned in to what other members of the group thought, and how even the turn-taking was.  The more everyone had an equal chance to talk (instead of a one-sided conversation), and the more socially aware the group, the better the output.  Interestingly, which he correlated to the socially aware, was that the more women the better!

The point being that learning social skills, using good meeting processes, and emphasizing diversity, all actions similar to those needed for effective learning organizations, lead to better decision making. If you want good decisions, you need to break down hierarchies, open up the conversation channels, and listen.  We have good science about practices that lead to effective outcomes for organizations.  Are you practicing them?

Comments

  1. Aaron Eden says

    13 December 2012 at 3:18 PM

    Clark, great post. I’m currently developing a curriculum for a Communication and Media Literacy course for high school freshmen that seeks to, among other things, facilitate the development of the skills you list above. Further, your last paragraph above is a hum-dinger. Way to say it like it is. If only more educational institutions took that to heart. I think it was Linda Darling Hammond who said that the US is is the best at conducting research on learning and education and the worst at implementing it. The same could be said for organizational learning in many schools. Not sure how we are supposed to prepare our youth to excel in the world when the organizations most of them are involved in are not using that good science you mention above. How will they get the practice to develop the skills they need? Well, disruption seems to be nibbling at the edges. It will be very interesting to see what the next 5 years brings in those areas.

  2. John R. Turner says

    18 December 2012 at 12:14 PM

    Clark,

    I enjoyed your recent post. I have added a couple of additional items to add to your post.

    The more collective members have an equal turn to talk refers to the ‘psychological safety’ of the collective. Edmonson (2012), in her book teaming, provided the following benefits for teams (the collective) that provide a psychological safe environment;
    • Encourages speaking up.
    • Enables clarity of thought.
    • Supports productive conflict.
    • Mitigates failure.
    • Promotes innovation.
    • Removes obstacles to pursuing goals for achieving performance.
    • Increases accountability (p. 126).

    Additionally, while everyone has a chance to discuss their point of view it is important that new information is presented. Research has shown that shared knowledge (information shared by two or more members) is more likely to be discussed than unshared knowledge (new information shared by one member). Higher performance has been shown to result from groups who discuss unshared knowledge.

    Lastly, presenting different points of view from each member works well. However, each member’s point of view also needs to be considered equally. This is one critical area in which I feel the success of the collective holds true, equal discussion and equal consideration.

Trackbacks

  1. Friday’s Finds 183 | Harold Jarche says:
    14 December 2012 at 4:11 AM

    […] Compounding Intelligence: learning social skills leads to better decision making – by @quinnovator The point being that learning social skills, using good meeting processes, and emphasizing diversity, all actions similar to those needed for effective learning organizations, lead to better decision making. If you want good decisions, you need to break down hierarchies, open up the conversation channels, and listen.  We have good science about practices that lead to effective outcomes for organizations. […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Clark Quinn

The Company

Search

Feedblitz (email) signup

Never miss a post
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

Pages

  • About Learnlets and Quinnovation

The Serious eLearning Manifesto

Manifesto badge

Categories

  • design
  • games
  • meta-learning
  • mindmap
  • mobile
  • social
  • strategy
  • technology
  • Uncategorized
  • virtual worlds

Blogroll

  • Charles Jennings
  • Christy Tucker
  • Connie Malamed
  • Dave's Whiteboard
  • Donald Clark's Plan B
  • Donald Taylor
  • Harold Jarche
  • Julie Dirksen
  • Kevin Thorn
  • Mark Britz
  • Mirjam Neelen & Paul Kirschner
  • Stephen Downes' Half an Hour

License

Previous Posts

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006

Amazon Affiliate

Required to announce that, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Mostly book links. Full disclosure.