“The future of business is swarm business,” according to Prof Peter Gloor, Research Scientist, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. “Leaders need to develop “creative swarms” with small teams of intrinsically motivated people who can work together in collective consciousness,” he says.

Prof Gloor is a keynote speaker at the marcus evans HR Summit 2019, taking place in Gold Coast, Australia, 18 - 20 March.

Why do you believe “the future of business is swarm business”? 

We are a super social species and cannot work in isolation. All progress has been achieved through collective intelligence. Any business that wants to succeed has to tap into the combined intelligence and creativity of its employees, shareholders, participants, owners, collaborators, customers and suppliers.

How can HR leaders create a swarm that works together in collective consciousness? 

The key point is culture. Certain values are absolutely necessary in a swarm, such as curiosity, humility, empathy and compassion. People need to be lifted from the top and be taken seriously. However, preaching these values will not work. The swarm leader has to demonstrate these values him/herself.

Many famous leaders are not known for being nice, but if you speak to those who work with them directly, a different story will emerge. They tend to be good listeners, and for me that is one of the key components.

What are the seven “honest signals of collaboration”? How do they lead to the values you mentioned earlier and what is the scorecard you suggest?

The collaboration scorecard basically measures the seven signals, allowing you to look at communication patterns through electronic means. It started with email, then it went to global networks, Twitter, Facebook and Google. You can also measure it face-to-face with social metric badges. Now we are using smart watches as they are easily available and there is software that works with them.  

You need strong, central leaders, rotating leadership, honest sentiment, balanced contribution, rapid response and shared context. These signals are organised along three dimensions. There is the structural dimension of the social network, the temporal dimension, how quickly people respond, and the content dimension, what people are saying. Central leadership is a structural property with strong leaders, but as temporal dimensions they have to take turns. That means they need to delegate and take a step back. Everyone in the team must contribute. The content dimension looks at the sentiment. It is nice to be nice, but it is better to be honest. You can measure that by looking at emotionality in language. We can also look at collaborative innovation networks and who is developing new material. The seventh signal is social capital, which basically means the more influential your friends are, the more influential you are yourself. Measuring these things – in a privacy respecting way - would give companies a better understanding of where they stand with the values that creative swarms have.

What motivates swarms? 

Crowds are motivated by money, power and glory, while swarms are intrinsically motivated by the problems they are trying to solve. HR directors must select employees carefully so there is alignment. I never pay people the first few months to make sure that they care about what they are doing. When you hire new people, have them carefully vetted by the team they will work with, and make sure they are aligned with the vision and the focus of the company. Do not just buy them with a high salary. Money is not the key motivator for keeping people.

How can HR really tap into the intelligence of the team?

It is about empowerment, happiness, giving everyone the opportunity to do what they really care about. In some organisations, employees are allowed to do whatever they are passionate about for one day a week. I have seen many new star performers and initiatives come from a crazy idea one employee had. Someone who did not give up. HR must choose people who are motivated to do what they feel passionate about.

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