Winning recipe for teamwork: lots of women and empathy

There are preconceived notions that persist in people's minds. Among them is this one: putting the most competent people together as a team will inevitably lead to a great result. After all, the math seems obvious. Adding brilliant minds together should result in incredible collective intelligence. No?

Yet, since 2010, scientists have tended to deconstruct this idea. Indeed, the best teams would not necessarily be those containing the most specialists on a question, but those knowing how to team up the most (sic). Obviously, one cannot ask people with no knowledge of mathematics or genetics to solve a difficult equation or to play with DNA. However, in addition to specialties, it takes other qualities to organize a strong working group.

Women as a factor in team success

In fact, the MIT Pentland (2010) study had shown that groups with higher collective intelligence did not have members with exceptional I.Q. nor did they have people who were more extroverted or introverted than others. Even their motivation was not a determining factor. Researchers at the time noted that, in fact, these smarter teams had surprisingly few leaders. Everyone had a similar say around the table.

In addition, their members all performed better than the others on the " mind in the eyes " test. This assessment, available online, involves looking into eyes without the rest of the face and guessing what the person is thinking or feeling. In this way, more effective troops are able to recognize their partners' emotions and manage them.

Finally, the most operative teams would be those with more women. Indeed, having more members of the female gender would lead to greater cohesion, as women have, among other things, superior empathy skills. 4 years later, another study proved this same effect of women on a group and it went further.

Even online, emotions matter

In fact, in late 2014, a similar study was published, but this time it also looked at online collaboration (telecommuting). Do the same criteria (equal voice, higher emotional intelligence, majority of women) have a similar effect in an online situation? Well, it seems - to the researchers' surprise - that they do. All of these elements are equally relevant online and make a team more effective. In fact, without even seeing each other's faces, members - especially women - with high emotional intelligence helped solve the various activities presented by the researchers more effectively.

So, even online, a team is still a collection of individuals who have a need to share, be understood and understand others in order to get problems solved and work done. Of course, qualities and skills count, but it seems that in both studies, each time, the so-called emotional intelligence triumphs over the rational one.

A finding that is highly interesting for anyone who has to form teams whether in a school or professional setting. It is better to have members with empathy allowing everyone equal time to speak than one or two leaders who take command. And most importantly, it is important that women be in the majority in groups.

Illustration : gpointstudio, shutterstock

References :

Engel, David, Anita Williams Woolley, Lisa X. Jing, Christopher F. Chabris, and Thomas W. Malone. "Reading the Mind in the Eyes or Reading Between the Lines? Theory of Mind Predicts Collective Intelligence Equally Well Online and Face-To-Face." PLOS. Last updated December 16, 2014. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0115212.

Guillaud, Hubert. "Why Are Some Teams Smarter Than Others?" InternetActu.net. Last updated January 23, 2015. http://www.internetactu.net/2015/01/23/pourquoi-certaines-equipes-sont-elles-plus-intelligentes-que-les-autres/.

Thompson, Derek. "The Secret to Smart Groups: It's Women." The Atlantic. Last updated January 18, 2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/the-secret-to-smart-groups-isnt-smart-people/384625/.