In a world where complexity keeps increasing, no one succeeds alone.
In this series, we share perspectives on how collective intelligence helps leaders and teams think better together, make wiser decisions, and grow in shared purpose.
A coach who understood energy
By Mattias Josephson
In Norrköping, where I live, people love to tell stories about Janne Andersson — the football coach who became something of a local hero.
When he took over IFK Norrköping in 2010, the team had just returned to Sweden’s top division — shaky, uncertain, and struggling. Five years later, he led them all the way to the national championship title. For a football town like Norrköping, that was monumental.
According to one story, Janne spent much of his first year not on the field but in the locker room and around the players — observing, listening, and learning. When asked why, he said it was to understand who brought energy to the team. That became his compass for building a winning squad — not just technical skill, but energy.
That understanding of collective dynamics has made him one of Sweden’s most respected coaches.
Soft or hard? A false distinction
I was once surprised when someone commented that “soft topics are also important” in reference to collective intelligence — as if it were a matter of niceness or teambuilding games.
But collective intelligence isn’t about “soft talk.” It’s about whether an organisation functions intelligently or dysfunctionally — whether it draws on its talent and competence or loses them through poor collaboration.
Just like a football team, a company needs well-functioning collective mechanisms to perform. If by “soft” we mean “less important,” then we’ve missed the point entirely.
Collective intelligence has both soft and hard dimensions.
Loyalty, competence, and well-being belong to the soft side.
Focus, effectiveness, and the ability to win belong to the hard side.
They are inseparable — and together, they shape a team’s intelligence.
The energy radar
How, then, do we measure collective intelligence?
Organisational psychology is complex, but perhaps we can think like a radar rather than a camera. Instead of taking a snapshot of individuals, we sense the energy patterns of the group — how trust, creativity, and focus flow through it.
That’s exactly what Janne Andersson did in his first season. By tuning into the team’s energy, he could see where the collective intelligence was strong — and where it needed care.
When building teams or appointing leaders, that same energy radar may be our most powerful tool. Because collective intelligence doesn’t appear automatically when people gather — it grows from mutual trust, belonging, and shared purpose.
Negative energy can never be compensated by competence. It breeds mistrust, competition, and stagnation. And sometimes, the most useful radar we can direct is the one we aim at ourselves.
The task within the task
One of the most insightful voices I’ve encountered on this topic is the Franciscan monk Richard Rohr.
You might wonder what a monk could teach us about business — but a person who makes self-reflection a lifelong practice tends to see deeply into human behaviour.
Rohr speaks about “the task within the task.”
Every assignment, he says, has two parts:
an outer task — what we do,
and an inner task — how we do it.
The outer task might be: review next year’s goals, conduct performance reviews, or compare supplier offers.
The inner task, meanwhile, concerns attitude and energy:
Are you creative or mechanical?
Proactive or reactive?
Do you spread trust or suspicion?
Do you inspire or drain energy?
As Rohr puts it:
“What are you really doing when you do what you do?”
When seen this way, leadership becomes an energetic act. Two people can hold the same title and perform the same duties — but have radically different effects on the collective.
One radiates engagement and strengthens the team’s intelligence far beyond their role.
The other drains energy, leaving disconnection behind.
We react to each other’s energy even more than to our words or actions — though, of course, they are closely linked.
Authentic energy
One of the most deceptive negative energies is forced positivity.
Who can stand a manager who constantly speaks in cheerful clichés, wearing a fixed smile that hides emptiness underneath?
There’s far more positive energy in honest vulnerability:
“I need your help. We’re facing tougher challenges than I’m comfortable with. I wish I were better at a thousand things. But together, we have enormous competence. It will be hard work, but if we all contribute, we’ll make it through.”
That kind of honesty builds trust — and trust builds intelligence.
Self-reflection for leaders
If we want to develop as leaders, reflecting on our own attitudes and energy is one of the best places to start.
You might ask yourself:
- Do I give or take energy?
- Am I creative or habitual?
- Proactive or reactive?
- Do I act with integrity or hide behind a persona?
- Do I spread trust or suspicion?
- Do I inspire through inclusion or pressure through inadequacy?
- Do I give influence to people with positive or negative energy?
- Do I make room for dissenting voices in meetings?
- Do I often ask for help — and offer it?
- Am I a me-person or a we-person?
Collective intelligence grows when leaders dare to see energy for what it is — not something mystical, but measurable in how people feel, speak, and act together.
When we choose awareness over autopilot, authenticity over performance, and we over me, we amplify not only our results — but our shared humanity.