Generative Collective Intelligence before Generative AI
Practice talking before automating
Lots of teams are pressed to leverage the hottest new technologies like Generative AI. Before they do so they should consider their own teams' generative collective intelligence. Can the team think together, dialogue together so their decisions are greater than the sum of their parts?
Most teams do not know how to think together. Most do not practice thinking and talking with one another. Most think because they can talk, they can have great conversations. The best way to do so is not over a wine tasting for team building. This kind of talking results in mostly small talk. The best way to do so is reading fiction together and unpacking it together. And guess what, it's more fun than a wine tasting. (Well, you can even combine the two if you like.)
Most team building experiences are not that. They are just perks. Fun things you wouldn't spend your own money on, like axe throwing (for me), or things I wouldn't normally do with team members (often simply dinner or drinks). Perks are great! I love the perks I enjoy at work. But perks don't develop teaminess.
By generative collective intelligence I mean generative dialogue as described by author William Isaacs in his book Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together. In his book he describes this type of dialogue as what “Invents unprecedented possibilities and new insights; produces collective flow”. Teams with the ability to dive into this depth of communication and consideration excel. To enter into this depth teams need practice. Safe practice. Think high school sports practices when you play each other on the team in a "scrimmage.”
Reading and taking about fiction is the equivalent of a scrimmage. The topics the team covers in the dialogue are not work related. A work of fiction can be chosen that no one is familiar with so everyone is in a safe common playing field. And like work narratives, problems, and decisions, works of fiction are complex and open to many interpretations that must be reconciled using he back and forth thinking out loud of dialogue.
Before going big on AI we can improve our collective intelligence. We do this by practicing generative dialogue. We practice dialogue by reading and talking about fiction together. It's easy. We just don't do it. Instead we look beyond to esoteric computational fanciness to save us from the easy and the fun. The art of thinking together.
Podcast (Coming soon)
Workshops (Coming soon)
Reach out to me just for fun! - tommy@extragrad.com