Collective Intelligence: Rocking Traditional Leadership Models
by Rev. Mark E. Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader
Management researchers and social scientists have been gathering input long enough to confirm what many of us intuitively know (and chafe against at times): people make better decisions together than they do apart. A new phrase describes the experience of “putting our heads (hopefully hearts, too) together”: Collective Intelligence. I’ve seen it several places now. Sally Morgenthaler includes a section on Collective Intelligence in her cutting edge article in An Emergent Manifesto: “Leadership in a Flattened World: Grassroots Culture and the Demise of the CEO Model”. Daniel Goleman, I hope you are proud. Leadership and management gurus are extending your Emotional Intelligence model to the larger collective.
You’ve experienced Collective Intelligence. You have a great ministry idea for your congregation, bringing it to the mission committee meeting. You paint a glorious word picture of kingdom building ministry and wait for the affirmations to roll in. Another person reflects on your picture, and adds a paint stroke. Yet another person smudges the images, for a messier, yet more real missional approach. Another person then connects all three paintings into a major ministry that’s far superior to your original proposal. You are left thinking, “I thought it was good, yet this is far better.” That’s Collective Intelligence at work.
With only slight reflection, we recognize Collective Intelligence as a threat to our traditional pastoral leadership model. Search committees, thirty years ago, would ask a candidate what the candidate’s “program” for the church would be if called. The candidate would articulate a “program” and the search committee would consider taking it (along with the candidate) on. Now savvy pastoral candidates ask the search committee how clear the church is on its vision for ministry. When the church’s vision is described, then the candidate can decide if there is a ministry match. The traditional pastoral leadership model rests on a hierarchical and authoritarian model of leadership, excluding the phenomenon of Collective Intelligence.
I’m afraid the business world is ahead of the church here. The most successful companies know that self-managed teams are more productive. “We have known for nearly a half century that self-managed teams are far more productive than any other form of organizing. There is a clear correlation between participation and productivity. In fact, productivity gains in truly self-managed work environments are at a minimum 35% higher than in traditionally managed organizations.” (Margaret Wheatley, “Goodbye, Command and Control,” Leader to Leader, July 1997). Perhaps we are a “committee run church,” but are we really?
What’s this mean for clergy and congregations? I hope the next decade will reveal more clarity for us. In the meantime, I believe it means that even we church leaders can’t get away with worn out leadership models for much longer. Those who persist with the traditional model will find themselves surrounded by fewer adherents. On the other hand, exciting days are ahead. The church is rich in resources: people. Many congregations have theology that facilitates interaction, sharing, and collaboration. More clergy are becoming experts in group processes, helping the passion rise to the surface. More ministers are adopting a coaching model for congregational leadership, finding their loads are lighter and their ministries more expansive. Clergy are discovering Collective Intelligence is a friend to the mission of the church. May we be open to God’s Spirit, wherever we find God’s movement.