Working in a challenging health care system, we must spend time reflecting on what has occurred and what we did that influenced the desirable outcomes. We need to slow down our thinking (Kahneman, 2013) and engage in Double loop learning if we are to learn from both our failures and successes. Those with expertise in appreciative inquiry can be very helpful in this regard (Srivastava, Cooperrider and Associates, 1990; Bergquist, 2003; Cooperrider and Whitney, 2005).
We wish to extend and expand our exploration of the fifth eye even further. A successful engagement of the fifth eye and an accompanying engagement of organization learning requires that we gain a fuller understanding (and appreciation) of an organizational dynamic called “collective intelligence.” We must be smart not just as lone health care practitioners but also as members of a team—guided by those who are coach-like in their leadership and appreciative in their encouragement of and support for shared ideas and insights.
Collective Intelligence
Important collective dynamics are associated with the shared framing and reinforcement of distorted insights and false learning that pervade many health care organizations – especially those faced with the anxiety-provoking challenges of VUCA-Plus. Single loop learning or resistance to all learning is prevalent when we are anxious, overwhelmed or simply exhausted. By contrast, there are collective dynamics that operate when an organizational culture of learning has been established. These dynamics are to be found in a learning organization even when VUCA-Plus anxiety is prevalent. All of this can be brought together in an analysis of what has come to be identified as Collective Intelligence (CI). For us, the critical question concerns the interplay between CI and the creation of a learning organization.
In recent years, the concept of collective intelligence has gained considerable traction. While much of the attention is directed toward the way collective intelligence is enhanced through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and specific digital applications, there is some attention being devoted to the psychological aspects of collective intelligence (Arima, 2021). There are even several research projects demonstrating that performance by a well-functioning team on a specific problem-solving task is often superior to the average performance of team members or even the most “intelligent” member of the team.
We know that for collective intelligence to be successfully engaged, the team members must be able to communicate effectively with one another. Information silos clearly hinder collective intelligence, while emotional intelligence enhances CI and team performance. Furthermore, a team must discover or create a sense of purpose. Team members must accept one another and there must be a shared perception that the team is a distinct entity. Team members are sharing commitment, pride, clarity about roles and responsibilities, and a history of successful resilience (Hughes and Terrell, 2007).
Collective skills related to these ingredients include forming team identity, finding appropriate motivation, emotional awareness, interpersonal communication, tolerance of differing views, resolution of conflicts, and creation of a positive mood. Elsewhere, one of us [WB] has offered an appreciative perspective regarding these collective skills, suggesting that an Empowerment Pyramid must be created and maintained. Empowerment requires that a team move from effective communication to skillful conflict management, and then on to creative problem solving and appropriate decision making (Bergquist, 2003). Empowerment is an antidote to close-minded serenity. It is not an accident that our use of the term “empowerment” complements that offered earlier in this essay by David Emerald.
