Introduction

In an ever-evolving organisational and economic context, the ability to harness collective intelligence and maximise team performance is a sought-after goal. While individual metacognition has long been recognised as a valuable skill for personal growth, the concept of collective metacognition takes it a step further. By extending the power of metacognition to the group level, organisations can unlock new dimensions of collaboration, decision-making, and learning. In this blog post, we explore the concept of collective metacognition, its implications for management, and its potential to drive organisational success.

Defining Metacognition

Metacognition, in simple terms, is one's ability to think about their own thinking. It involves being aware of our cognitive processes, monitoring our knowledge and strategies, and regulating our thinking to optimize learning and problem-solving. Because it empowers individuals to become active learners and critical thinkers, improving their personal effectiveness, it is a higher-level skill that allows one to break free from the stupidity trap. Thoughts here go to the Dunning-Kruger effect and all subsequent studies. But what happens when metacognition goes beyond the individual? Being an individual skill that regulates and impacts cognition, I was wondering if a comparable capability, or better said, "metacapability," could be observed at the organisational level. Something like "collective metacognition," which would be about harnessing the power of shared awareness, monitoring, and regulation of cognitive processes within a group or team. A journey where individuals collaborate, reflect, and optimize their collective cognitive performance, ultimately driving organisational success.

Questions for further thinking

• What would the implications of using this concept be, for example, for managers and teams? How could it be used to supercharge team performance?
• How could this concept be used to foster a culture of learning and knowledge sharing, upholding innovation, for example?
• Could this metacapability be involved in other areas of an organisation?
• Are there frameworks that could nurture an organisation's metacognition?