Want to Improve your Team’s Performance? Hire More Women!

In a study examining various factors that contribute to a group’s collective intelligence, psychologists surprisingly found little correlation between the individuals’ IQs and the group’s intelligence level.  Factors such as group satisfaction, cohesion, and motivation also proved to be irrelevant.  However, significant evidence suggests a relationship between a group’s collective intelligence and the number of women in the group. 

While the study is still in preliminary stages, Professor Anita Woolley of Carnegie Mellon University suspects the correlation may have to do with many women’s strong social sensitivity.  Social sensitivity allows for an inclusive, supportive environment that encourages all types of people to perform and think to the best of their abilities.  In contrast, environments in which a few intelligent people dominate the discussion stifle the thoughts and opinions of the other group members, severely limiting group intelligence.

This study offers an important lesson to managers and recruiters.  Take the results as you will, but it is clearly important to consider the group dynamic and complementary skill sets when hiring a team; soft skills such as social sensitive should not be overlooked. Simply hiring individuals with the greatest IQs may not be in your company’s best interest.