In 1906, for example, British scientist, Francis Galton, looked at a contest at the West of England fair where entrants were asked to guess the weight of an ox on display. He calculated that the collective wisdom of the more than 800 entrants guessed the weight at 1,197 pounds.  The real weight was 1,198 pounds.   His conclusion, ”The results seem more creditable to the trustworthiness of a democratic judgment than might have been expected.” ²

Business has taken what was a scientific concept and scientific conclusions and applied them to the workplace. In the ‘90s, for example, business developed virtual teams. These groups of cross-functional workers were expected to alter the paradigm of organizational structure and decision-making through virtual collaboration and in doing so, provide the competitive edge to their organizations. Team members gathered information, analyzed it, and drew conclusions. The benefits of virtual teams were many: work anytime, any where; tapping the knowledge of the best and brightest, travel expenses were reduced. Though interactive using the latest in groupware technology, virtual teams worked mostly in asynchronous mode. And that is perhaps its biggest weakness of virtual teams. Team members were challenged by the constraints of digital communication and the digital divide primarily because of the lack of interaction, collaboration and time zone differences.

But what if there was a way to take the best of the virtual team concepts and the best of the “wisdom” of the group theories -- to solve a problem, or to brainstorm a new process, or to develop a new product, or to craft and agree on company values -- within hours and in real time?

Consider the case study of the merged financial services company that needed to continue to grow its revenue while reduce those expenses that always creep up in the subsequent months after the merger. The company put the top 2,500 of its best and brightest employees - sales, admin, ops, tech, regional and corporate staff - in one room.  They were charged with finding ways to increase revenues with existing products without the benefit of having any funding for whatever they proposed.  In less than two hours, the group came up with 15 revenue generating ideas.  Teams were formed to turn those ideas into plans, define results, and then return to the field to put the plans into action.  Six months later, revenues were up 5%.

Also consider the case study of the insurance company that needed to create an esprit de corps among the remaining employees of its downsized organization. In one day the group decided its core operating values, created definitions, determined the strategic direction of the division, and built a unified and confident team to carry out the division’s plans. 

UNISON’s distinctiveness is its capability to collect and aggregate the wisdom of a diverse group in real time.  It was UNISON that facilitated the process of consolidating the data, votes and results on new sales ideas for the national financial services company, and yes, it took less than two hours.  It was UNISON that drove the process that helped build the esprit de corps, agreed-upon values and strategic direction of the insurance company and in less than a day. 

Corporations will be looking to take advantage of social networking and see the advantages of the economics of collaboration and incorporate them into the DNA of their cultures.  UNISON is the answer to developing the process and capturing and aggregating the wisdom of their corporate groups in a highly interactive and in a totally rewarding environment -- for the group and for the corporation.