Where to put your energies? Evidence on Gender as Collective Intelligence key factor
I have been working or part of many institutions or collective processes. I would say every 2 years I have experienced a new institutional settings at least during the past 15 years. There are institutions who care about the people working on them, who has a soul that connects with yours, and make you feel loved, supported and appreciated. And there are institutions in which the moments of frustration are very frequent, as well as the occasions to feel to be discriminated, or that there is lack of understanding of your values. I would say some of this has to do with the connection with you (and what you represent (being young, women, regarding your origins, etc), but also with the stage of the collective process and the “personality” of the community as a whole. I arrived to the conclusion that gender policy is of great relevance in explaining this, not only regarding women situation, but in setting up the overall community caring framework/personality. However, the importance of gender policy is not pointed out frequently, while the level of resources, or presence of key individuals is to me overrated.
Recently Science and PLOS published a couple of studies (links below) that in certain degree point to similar directions. Groups which are more participative, dialogue oriented and with more women (linked to great empathy capacity) result in higher collective intelligence. Plus, this no matter if the groups engages online or offline.
So, when choosing where to put your energies considering the atmosphere of collective caring and participation, and the gender approach might be good criteria – for everyone not only for women -. Others and you might feel more appreciated and the whole process might be more intelligent and effective.
What others think about these results?
Mayo
Studies:
Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups. By Anita Williams Woolley, Christopher F. Chabris, Alex Pentland, Nada Hashmi, Thomas W. Malone. Science 29 October 2010 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6004/686
Reading the Mind in the Eyes or Reading between the Lines? Theory of Mind Predicts Collective Intelligence Equally Well Online and Face-To-Face. By David Engel, Anita Williams Woolley, Lisa X. Jing, Christopher F. Chabris, Thomas W. Malone. PLOS One Dec 2014 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0115212