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PMLogic’s December PM Mixer (Holiday Edition) celebrated the end of the year and everyone’s achievements in a bit of a twist on our traditional panels and networking.
Our experts on Group Intelligence included Ivan Golenkov, Founder of Neelix.io: Democratised Live Pulse Platform, who has a keen interest in organisational behaviour and governance as well as Siobhan McHale, Executive General Manager for People, Culture & Change at Dullux Group. Siobhan is also notably the author of ‘The Hive Mind at Work’ (2024) and ‘The Insider’s Guide to Culture Change’ (2020). This debate was moderated by Melinda Anne-Tindal, Transformation Consultant at Optus with a background in building creative, productive and highly engaged teams.
PMLogic invited Diana Ayoub from Sh8peshifters to scribe the event as a rich picture, illustrating the discussions on Group Intelligence and channelling the Christmas spirit of the event into an impactful visual story.
What is Group Intelligence?
“Bring about change faster and with less noise” - Siobhan McHale
Where many may be familiar with IQ and EQ, Group Intelligence is not highly recognised for its importance for high performance organisational behaviour. It is the ability to understand and intervene in complex ecosystems to help the group deliver and adapt.
These ecosystems are complex as the way of thinking is different amongst different departments of the organisation. An understanding of group intelligence is when these departments, acting as neurons can create a collective thought that is reconciled. Complexity also arises when it’s time to intervene in these systems so as to not bring out resistance but for change to emerge.
Siobhan’s experience has shown that IQ and EQ is necessary but ultimately not sufficient for the work done today in order for organisations to adapt and thrive. Change management needs to make a move from just the interpersonal lens to a systemic lens, focusing more about how that organisational ecosystem is functioning. The best change leaders are those that know it’s not just about delivering a project solution but how that system is functioning and rewiring that way of functioning for successful change.
Look Beyond The first step to bringing about systemic change is to look beyond the presenting problem as that is seldom the real problem that is being faced. And typically, the problem is multilayer. It is crucial to interrogate what is really going on to find the role and relatedness between parts of the operating model that makes up the problem
“Look beyond the obvious and find the passions to rewire them.” - Siobhan McHale
Siobhan categorises and elaborates on these passions as the drivers behind people’s actions within the system and its patterns in her latest book ‘The Hive Mind at Work’. For example, the order taker passion between the order giver and order taker can co-create a pattern where no one that is part of system wants to change the dynamic. Allowing systematic problems to develop such as a purely reactive pattern to arising problems in projects that cost organisations a lot of money, time, and reputation.
Even with an understanding on Group Intelligence, people need to be put into a position where they have to want to make the change. Not merely pushed by the leader as it is no longer group intelligence for people to be bribed into the change. This requires a psychological safety to be created within the system for not only speaking out but also for their concerns to be heard.
At PMLogic, we partner with organisations to optimise their ecosystems and drive sustainable change. Whether it’s through exploring innovative concepts like Group Intelligence or guiding your team through complex transformations, we’re here to support your success.
Let’s work together to rewire your systems for the future.
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