We each have a sense of ourselves. Western cultural bias has us see ourselves as separate, individual beings who are distinct from others. This is reinforced by our five senses, trained to see physical boundaries of our bodies. Our education system rewards individual learning, individual performance, and individual responsibility. Our organizations typically reinforce competition by rewarding individuals with bonuses, raises, and promotions. Individuals are acknowledged in sports, even when it takes a team. And yet, we are learning that we are “wired” for connection, collaboration, and social groups in some surprising ways.
Over the past twenty years, teamwork and collaboration have emerged as positive forces in the workplace. The merits of shared leadership, a multiplicity of minds, and the combination of strengths are turning out to be benefits to productivity, innovation, and achievement. There is the recognition that there is something important and necessary about the ‘we’, and it is not just that ‘we’= I+I+I+I+I, but that ‘we’ is greater than the sum of the ‘I’s’. Under the best of conditions, we become synergistic. Collective intelligence emerges and new knowledge and innovation are possible.
Questions:
· What are those ‘best’ conditions?
· What enables “we” to move beyond the sum of the individuals and catalyze the synergistic “we”?
· What are the characteristics of the synergistic ‘we’ and does it feel different to be an integral part of a ‘we’?
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