The answer may be in a comprehensive study published in the Harvard Business Review by Professors’ Anita Woolley and Thomas Malone titled “Defend Your Research: What Makes a Team Smarter? More Women.” They set up 192 teams that were given several different tasks such as brainstorming, decision-making, and visual puzzles, and then given intelligence scores based on their performances. The outcome was surprising in some aspects, and obvious in others.

Their preliminary finding: There is little correlation between a group’s collective intelligence and the IQs of its individual members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises. More women make for a stronger team!

Some of the questions that we have discussed are answered in Professors Woolley and Malone study:

“So what are the requirements for a strong team (other than more women!) if it is not individual intelligence?”

“Are brains all that it takes?”

The study also found that individuals with higher social sensitivity were the most productive. In general, one can assume women tend to be more sensitive in social and professional situations. Diversity in terms of gender and personality both play a role in creating the best team and this is important when building teams for individual jobs and projects. As Woolley explains, “ongoing research suggests that teams need a moderate level of cognitive diversity for effectiveness.” And according to the study, women’s qualities (as opposed to men’s) are better suited to being part of a work team. It was very clear that “smart groups had members who listened to each other, shared criticism constructively, had open minds, and were not autocratic.”

When we at DEVLINHAIR PRODUCTIONS are forming the best team for a job, we have always focused on bringing together people that communicate well, have open minds, and are able to take direction and respect effective leaders.

How do you make smart effective teams?  What’s your secret?

With whom do you want to spend the majority of your work day?  That’s a question we ask our clients at pitches, a question we ask ourselves at DEVLINHAIR when looking for quality freelancers and a question the freelancers ask themselves when more than one opportunity presents itself. We’ve been told many times, it’s the culture at DEVLINHAIR that brings freelancers and clients back again and again.  The reinforcement of how important company culture truly is came to light after DEVLINHAIR employees, as a company, read “Delivering Happiness,” by Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh. Although the book is chock full of many lessons any business can use to improve itself, the pages that were spent on the importance of a company’s culture, i.e. it’s brand, was very enlightening.  In fact, Hsieh says, “At Zappos, our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff-like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers-will happen naturally on its own.”

Much like Zappos, DEVLINHAIR has formally defined our culture and brand, through our core values:  1. Integrity, Honesty and Respect 2. Give 110% to Our Clients, Each Other And Ourselves, 3. Inspire Creative Thinking and 4. Be Irresistible.  These core values are not only shared by DEVLINHAIR staff employees but by our freelance staff aswell.  We are committed to hiring and firing individuals based on their ability to commit to these values as they define our company culture.

At DEVLINHAIR, our freelancers are our part of our foundation.  We not only work to hire the best of the best, but to have them coming back again and again, like our clients.  In fact, in many ways they are our clients as well. DEVLINHAIR believes our culture is most important and the reason why we are able to maintain our high level of talent from the freelance community.

DEVLINHAIR Productions was started by Dorothy Devlin and Barbara Hair and is a women-owned and WBE-certified business. For over 20 years we have created, managed and produced innovative solutions through relevant channels of communication for clients in the pharmaceutical, technology, consumer products and financial sectors and beyond. During this time, we have been honored to have received numerous awards for our work on behalf of our clients.

Our expertise, passion and experience enable us to make connections that truly connect audiences with brands.  From time to time, we will share our experiences and insights through this blog.

We look forward to connecting with you.