In this extract from her new TED Book, Beyond Measure, Heffernan argues that you may hire brilliant minds but without social capital, your team will not be as productive. In a study of collective intelligence, a team of MIT researchers found that groups that were great at problem solving had three key qualities:
Everyone in the group had equal time to talk: conversations weren’t regulated, it happened naturally.Social sensitivity: group members understood each other’s non-verbal cues.Diversity: groups with diverse group of people are more empathetic.
As a company leader, you can help make your employees work best as a group. According to Heffernan, it starts with empathy. Sometimes empathy can come from an argument between people or from team-building exercises. The important thing is to help group members see each other’s perspectives. Leaders should also create and encourage opportunities for employees to build trust. For example, create policies that give employees the opportunity to get to know each other. It doesn’t mean that everyone should be best friends, it just means that the communication is honest and helpful. Image Credit: Flickr/DVIVSHUB
