Although an individual’s effort in learning is not to be displaced but putting more than one head together is more likely to yield better results. When more than one person comes together to intellectually share knowledge, it can be called collective intelligence. According to Wikipedia, collective intelligence is shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration, collective efforts, and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making. The term appears in sociobiology, political science and in context of mass peer review and crowdsourcing applications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_intelligence.

The National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) defines collective intelligence as the process by which a large group of individuals gather and share their knowledge, data and skills for the purpose of solving societal issues.

According to theorists Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams, collective intelligence is an outcome of group behavior they categorize as mass collaboration that is founded upon four distinct principles: Openness, Peering, Sharing, and Acting Globally.

1. Openness

This means that all participants has to do away with all selfish thoughts like “this is my idea”

2. Peering

Peering means all participants approaching every work individually without considering hierarchy.

3. Sharing

Sharing implies that intellectual property have to be shared with others in the group. It is essential as it allows exchange of ideas and critiques.

4. Acting Globally

This principle allow groups/organizations to reach out across their entire network of collaborators and to engage everyone. This concept overcomes barriers like department or borders in an effort to capture and utilize new ideas, new talents, and new markets.

Ways to boost collective intelligence
1. Every members’ opinion matters
2. Equal opportunity to all group members to contribute ideas
3. Encourage constructive criticism

Benefits of collective intelligence
1. It makes a team smatter
2. It improves creativity and create new markets
3. It improves coordination and productivity
5. It reduce costs

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_intelligence

https://www.clearpeople.com/blog/what-is-collective-intelligence-workplace#Definition

The National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts