“The pace of change has never before been this fast…and never again will it be this slow.”
Prophetic words from Justin Trudeau in 2018. Not only has the pace of Change continually accelerated since, Change itself has also changed! It seems, however, the way we lead others and ourselves through that change has not changed – or not changed enough to keep pace.
Now more than ever is the time for an evolution in thinking of how we lead ourselves and others through today’s relentless rapid, concurrent, continuous, ambiguous change.
This next evolution is Change Leadership through Collective Intelligence.
Collective Intelligence (CI) is the body of knowledge that grows out of a group – when groups of people work together, they create intelligence that cannot exist on an individual level. As Aristotle said, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
CI emerges when people’s contributions are combined to become more than the sum of their parts; for purposes ranging from leading, learning and innovation to decision-making, ‘collective intelligence’ can be understood as the enhanced strength, capacity and ability that are created when people work together (a bit like a bee or ant colony), often with the help of technology, to mobilise a wider range of information, ideas, and insights.
Amazon refers to the Internet of Things (IOT) as “the collective network of connected devices and the technology that facilitates communication between devices and the cloud, as well as between the devices themselves”.
We see human ‘IOT’ as the future of Leading Change (and of Leadership itself). Our vision of human ‘IOT’ is the Internet of Thinking – the Collective Intelligence of a group of people’s brains, that when combined become greater than the sum of their parts.
Whether working hybrid or face-to-face, many leaders we work with across the Public, Private and Not-for-Profit Sectors – even those who ordinarily embrace and actively seek change, tell us they’re doing it tough, overwhelmed by today’s relentless rapid, concurrent, continuous, ambiguous change.
All but a very few tell us their leading change batteries are running low; they are tired. Exhausted, even. I wonder if most of those who say they are doing ok are just putting on a brave face…?
The knock-on effects on personal and team engagement and performance are increasingly hard to avoid.
Leading with Collective Intelligence (CI) is the next step forward. It is the key to harnessing the ability of groups to think and work together on identifying problems, developing solutions, making decisions and learning.
Our neuroscience-based Leading Change through Collective Intelligence programs not only give leaders and their people a neuroscience-based understanding of change with proven, practical, tools to get through these difficult times.
Our programs also empower leaders with practical, innovative, pioneering Collective Intelligence Leadership skills applicable to self-leadership and 360-degree leadership: leadership of teams, peers, stakeholders and upwards to bosses. The Future of Change Leadership is here.
Southern Cross Coaching & Development has successfully delivered this unique course to many agencies across all levels of the Public, Private and Not-for-Profit Sectors across Australia and the Asia Pacific Japan region. Each course is co-designed with the company’s specific situation in mind and can be run over one or multiple days.
Participants have spanned aspiring, new and junior managers through Directors to Chief Executive/Secretary level (i.e. NSW Government grade 7/8 upwards through Band 1/2 Executives to Chief Executives and Secretaries).
Comments from recent participants include:
- “Tools and techniques are brilliant and great scientific knowledge”
- “Super helpful and powerful tools for Change Management, and easy to apply to day-to-day tasks”
- “Provided ideas and concepts I have not heard of before”
- “So many applications, at work and at home”
If you are interested in finding out more about our Leading Change through Collective Intelligence programs, contact us.
