By Christian Greiser, Jan-Philipp Martini, Liane Stephan, and Chris Tamdjidi
Does mindfulness foster an organisation’s collective intelligence? A recent study conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Awaris found a significant connection: 31 teams (totalling 196 people) that participated in a ten-week mindfulness programme showed an average increase of 13% in collective intelligence, as measured by tests developed by the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.
The concept of collective intelligence—the capability of a group of people to solve complex problems—is not new. But the increasing interconnectedness of knowledge work and the growing variety of problems have raised the profile of collective intelligence as a competitive differentiator. So, companies need to understand the concept more systematically and scientifically.
One key to unlocking the potential of collective intelligence is mindfulness—a state of being present in the moment and leaving behind one’s tendency to judge. Leading companies have introduced programmes to unleash the power of mindfulness among their employees. But most of these companies have not focused explicitly on opportunities to use mindfulness to foster collective intelligence.
Solving Today’s Complex Problems Requires Collective Intelligence
Companies today must manage rapid innovation cycles and the deep interconnectedness of knowledge work. To address such challenges, many companies are investing in setting up cross-functional, agile teams. But to transition to truly dynamic ways of working, a company must fundamentally transform how cross-functional teams interact and collaborate. This requires bringing forth an emergent property of their system: the collective intelligence of their teams. We define collective intelligence as a group’s ability to perform the wide variety of
