It's difficult to talk about intelligence without talking about the collective.

And for good reason, for Professor Émile Servan-Schreiber, the two are linked: " Today there is no intelligence that is not organized on the basis of a collective," says the expert. "  Whether it's your brain, which is a collective of 80 billion neurons that collaborate to produce something intelligent, or a GPT cat that brings together all the knowledge produced by individuals in such a way that it can be used by everyone. »

However, and because the nature of the collective is to fall into conformism quite quickly, mainly for the sake of acceptance by peers, it is necessary that it be as diverse as possible. In terms of age, professions... And obviously of gender. But what benefit can be derived from collective intelligence coupled with diversity?

Gender diversity as a factor of intelligence and a lever for performance   

The figures are clear. According to a scientific study conducted by MIT and Carnegie Mellon University on "group IQ" in 2010, the "smartest" groups are those with a majority of women in their ranks.

The researchers behind the study established very specific factors: groups with a higher percentage of women experience a better distribution of speaking time as well as a better quality of listening. "This last element is more than crucial, since there is no point in everyone being able to benefit from their speaking time if no one listens when others speak ," notes Emile Servan-Schreiber.

This social sensitivity goes even further since, statistically and probably by social construction, women would have a greater ability to discern non-verbal signals to deduce the emotion experienced by the person.

The size of the brains present is not everything. What matters above all is communication : " The smartest groups are those in which there is the best bandwidth between the available brains." In other words, collective intelligence will depend less on the intelligence quotient than on the emotional quotient of each person in the group.

By his ability to function with others, to let them talk and to listen to them. " However, the more feminized groups objectively have more control over these two aspects of communication, which are essential to collective intelligence," says the expert. This observation is particularly true in the rankings of listed companies. " The Observatory of the Feminization of Companies regularly tracks the best performance of CAC 40 companies, and the latter turn out to be the majority of the most gender-balanced companies each time. adds Émile Servan-Schreiber. And for good reason, this optimized communication results in better performance within organizations... Which are more innovative.

Diversity at the service of creativity and innovation 

" The more profiles vary, the more innovative the ideas will be," says Emile Servan-Schreiber. Because the cognitive diversity specific to the individuality and experience of each person allows for a plurality of approaches to the same situation, in particular because contrasting opinions push for challenge and reflection.

" Over the course of the discussions, the grey areas and biases will cancel each other out, while the parts of truth expressed by each will complement each other like a puzzle ," describes Émile Servan-Schreiber. Diversity then makes it possible to cover all the issues and risks to be considered, but also to form a broader reflection enriched by the visions of each other that complement, contradict or question the shared ideas.  

Alexandre Gallard, facilitator of collective intelligence workshops, attests to this: " If we only have the same profiles around the table, we will go around in circles and not ask ourselves the right questions because the participants risk having the same approach and agreeing too quickly. To open the way and innovate, we have to think differently together. »

In short, the more difficult the problem is to solve, the more it requires a plurality of perceptions to answer it. And the more innovative the solution will be, because it is driven by the fusion of divergent ideas.

Nevertheless, it is not natural to share different opinions, let alone agree on them. " Humans are social animals who want to be integrated, to feel part of the group, and to do this, nothing could be simpler than to agree with their neighbours," says Fanny Boulesteix, coach and co-founder of the Tafoga women's leadership programme. "And it is precisely the fact of not agreeing that will make it possible to challenge collective intelligence. And for Émile Servan-Schreiber, it is because this methodology is " an artificial intelligence" that it must be organized to be effective.

Diversity: a collective intelligence that must be organized 

Thus, the plurality of approaches may be an essential ingredient for producing intelligence, but this is not enough. Collective intelligence exists if and only if the conditions that give rise to it are respected. This requires the observance of certain rules: " those that will encourage us to express our diversity in the most independent way possible," says Émile Servan-Schreiber, "and those that will allow us to take all that has been said and consider everything that has been put on the table to make it a collective result."

But that's not all. While these rules nurture independence of mind and the ability to create objective arbitration, they must also bring inclusion to life . "Because diversity of opinions without individuals feeling free to share their opinion, or without being able to be listened to is useless ," says Fanny Boulesteix. So, to apply all these rules as best as possible while bringing diversity to life in an inclusive way, collective intelligence will also benefit from exercising itself in a framework of psychological safety, if possible guaranteed by a third party . Facilitator, coach...

The role of the third party in enforcing the rules of the game 

" When companies ask me, they want their employees to think so that they can identify the best possible solutions on the subjects that concern them directly," explains Alexandre Gallard, collective intelligence facilitator at Utopies. "My job is to create the framework for these people to succeed." 

A whole amount of preparation time is done beforehand to imagine the thinking mechanisms, tools and exercises that will allow participants to produce the deliverables we are looking to obtain in good understanding. But his role is also useful during the animation to avoid demeaning behavior. " I make sure that the floor is well distributed and that everyone listens to each other, especially to limit any risk of exclusion or intimidation," says the collective intelligence workshop facilitator.

For her part, Fanny Boulesteix uses coaching as a tool for developing assertiveness. " If a woman has a completely different point of view but is in the minority, she may tend not to dare to  share it, to censor herself. »