I would bet that if you needed to turn to something or someone for tips on success, the last place you would go to would be a bee hive. People have studied bee hives and have found that even though individual bees may not be intelligent, as a swarm they are extremely smart. We can use these five guidelines that bees use to help achieve a high collective IQ in our company.
1. Remind the group's members of their shared interests and foster mutual respect, so they work together productively. The scout bees know instinctively that their interests are aligned toward choosing the optimal home site, so they work together as a team. There are no clashing curmudgeons in a bee swarm. This is very important in the workplace. If all of the employees know the main goal, they will work together to try to reach it. Having a group is almost always better than an individual.
2. Explore diverse solutions to the problem, to maximize the group's likelihood of uncovering an excellent option. The scout bees search far and wide to discover a broad assortment of possible living quarters. When you are faced with a problem at work, don't always go with the answer that comes to you first. Evaluate alternatives so you will make the best decision possible.
3. Aggregate the group's knowledge through a frank debate. Use the power of a fair and open competition to distinguish good options from bad ones. The scout bees rely on a turbulent debate among groups supporting different options to identify a winner. Whichever group first attracts sufficient supporters wins the debate. This will also help generate ideas from every angle. Nobody thinks in the same ways or patterns, so it is always a good idea to get as many views or ideas on a subject as possible.
4. Minimize the leader's influence on the group's thinking. By functioning as an impartial moderator rather than a proselytizing boss, a leader enables his group to use its combined knowledge and brainpower. The scout bees have no dominating leader and so can take a broad and deep look at their options.
5. Balance interdependence (information sharing) and independence (absence of peer pressure) among the group's members. Only if ideas are shared publicly but evaluated privately will the group be good at exploring its options and making good choices. Scout bees share freely the news of their finds, but each one makes her own, independent decision of whether or not to support a site.
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/nov2010/ca20101112_078649.htm
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