Sharing what we know vigorously might is the only we can move our society forward – patent lawyers will only make the ‘commons’ impoverished while benefiting a small percentage of the population. People have to be able to benefit from what they produce and I believe the Creative Commons is a great solution to this dilemma.

I’ve ranted before about how bacteria are outsmarting us because they are more ‘collaborative’ with their information. I also realize our society is much more complex than that of a colony of Ecoli – however the question remains – how can we become more like Ecoli with it’s amazing adaptability and resilience?

You Have to Pick Your Team

‘Every day presents infinite reasons to believe that change can’t happen, infinite reasons to give up. But I always tell myself, “Sonya, you have to pick your team.” It seems to me that there are two teams in this world. And that you can find evidence to support the arguments of both. The trademark of one team is cynicism. They’ll tell you why what you’re doing doesn’t matter, why nothing is going to change, why no matter how hard you work, you’re going to fail. They seem to get satisfaction out of explaining how we’ll always have injustice. You can’t change human nature, they say. It’s foolish to try. From their experience, they might be right.

Then there’s another group of people who admit that they don’t know how things will turn out, buy have decided to work for change. I see Martin Luther King on that team, Alice Walker, Howard Zinn. I see my chaplain from college and my activist friends. They’re always telling stories of faith being rewarded, of ways things could be different, of how their own lives have changed. They’ll give you reasons why you shouldn’t give up, testimonials why we’ve yet to see our full potential as a species. They believe we’re partners in God’s creation, and that change is really possible.

There are times when both teams seem right. Both have evidence. We’ll never know who’s really going to prevail. So I just have to decide which team seems happier, which side I’d rather be on. And for me that means choosing the side of faith. Because on the side of cynicism. Even if they’re right, who wants to win that argument anyway. If I’m going to stick with somebody, I’d rather stick with people who have a sense of possibility and hope. I just know that’s the side I want to be on.’

This excerpt reminds me of what meaningful participation is all about. And when times are tough and the news is depressing I remind myself what team I’m on. I hope the above words give you as much solice as they gave me. Hope is a verb not a noun.

Peter Block

Peter’s quote brings us to an important question: When is ‘weak’ leadership a good thing? When we hear someone described as a ’strong leader’ what does it mean? Does is suggest that no harm is going to come to us on their watch? That’s a pretty good feeling, but it lets us off the hook in many ways. If something ‘bad’ happens it won’t be our fault. If there are legal difficulties, well we were only following orders (we’d never use that excuse – would we?). Then there is the excuse that we were too low in the chain of command, we didn’t know what was going on, or we had no say. In a few brief sentences I have shown how quickly ’strong leadership’ has become a convenient villain. Once started, the finger pointing has no end.

One of the interesting things about colonies of bees, ants and termites, is that there is little evidence of ’strong leaders’. Instead here you find a great deal of individual ownership and responsibility. In a way these unassuming little creatures have discovered some important things about running successful, adaptive and resilient communities. Deborah Gordan has written a book entitled ‘How an Insect Society is Organized‘ which explores this topic in greater depth.

For me the most fascinating aspect of ant colonies is the COLLABORATIVE INTELLIGENCE (CQ) they display. In other words their ability to harness the intelligence and energy of the entire group (or team?). If collaborative intelligence is the main distinguishing feature, can we develop more collaborative intelligence in human teams and organizations? Yes we can. A close examination of collaborative intelligence (CQ) has turned up some basic principles that every team and business can use to become more effective.

I have isolated seven factors that build the collaborative intelligence of teams and businesses. The first two are: ASSUMPTIONS and PERCEPTIONS. When we consider assumptions the most important question is: what assumptions are running through your team or organization? Because the assumptions we make about the business we’re in, our clients, our colleagues, determine how we form the second factor: perceptions.

In subsequent posts I’m going to explore the effect assumptions and perceptions play in how your team operates. More importantly I will show you how to adjust them in ways that will enable you and your team to become more effective together. After all that is the name of this blog ‘Getting Clever Together’. Meet you here tomorrow.