Walk into most team meetings today and you’ll still see the same pattern: smart people, plenty of talk, but nowhere near the quality of decisions the business now demands.
That isn’t because you hired the wrong individuals; it’s because, as Colin M. Fisher argues in The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups, we’ve been underestimating the group itself. His research shows that high-performing teams aren’t accidents of chemistry or charisma – they’re the product of a few deliberate choices about structure, norms and psychological safety that let collective intelligence emerge.
For leaders under pressure, this is good news: you don’t need superstars, you need better group conditions. Peer group coaching is one powerful way to practice this – stepping outside your own organisation to see how other leaders shape meetings, decisions and team dynamics, and then bringing those simple, evidence-based habits back home. Below are three small experiments you can run with your own team this month, inspired by Fisher’s work, to start unlocking your collective edge.
Run a “strong launch” for your next project
Most teams stumble not in month six, but in minute six – the very first meeting sets patterns that can last for the life of the project. Fisher’s work highlights how early norms around who speaks, how conflict is handled and what “good” looks like quickly harden into invisible rules.
This month, take one important initiative and deliberately relaunch it:
- Start by clearly naming why this work matters and what a successful outcome would look like in vivid, concrete terms.
- Explicitly invite different perspectives in the room and normalise disagreement as a resource, not a problem.
- End by agreeing three ground rules for how you’ll work together (for example: “we test assumptions out loud,” “we rotate who leads check-ins”).
You’re not just kicking off a project; you’re quietly rewiring the group’s operating system.
Make assumptions visible in one key decision
Groups often go wrong not because of bad intent, but because everyone is operating from unspoken assumptions about customers, risks or each other’s priorities. Fisher emphasises that effective leaders help teams “make the implicit explicit” so coordination and creativity can flourish.
Pick one significant decision your team needs to make this month. Before debating options, ask everyone to silently note:
- What they believe success looks like.
- What they see as the biggest risk.
- One assumption they’re making about another stakeholder or team.
Then share and discuss these in round-robin format, with you speaking last. You’ll surface misalignment early, reduce false consensus, and often uncover better options simply by putting the team’s mental models on the table.
Rotate “process leadership” in your regular meetings
The Collective Edge reframes leadership as a shared function: the healthiest groups don’t rely on a single heroic leader, they share responsibility for keeping the work and the relationships on track. One very practical way to build this muscle is to separate “content” from “process” in your meetings.
For the next four weekly meetings:
- Ask a different team member each time to act as “process lead.” Their job is to: set the agenda in advance with you, kick off by checking goal clarity (“what are we actually deciding today?”), track who has spoken, and close with a short summary of decisions and open questions.
- Your job, as formal leader, is to model restraint: contribute on content, but let the process lead manage flow, airtime and recap.
Over a month, you’ll see quieter voices increase, stronger ownership of decisions, and a clearer sense that “how we work together” belongs to the group, not just to you.
REFERENCE: Fisher, C. M. (2025). The Collective Edge.