Ruth about learning to learn from nature

My year is all about “learning to learn” and “learning to listen”: particularly difficult skills to learn. But so important for our work on transitions. For #Transitions are fraught with uncertainty about the right path, about the right knowledge, full of complexity that is often exacerbated by the certainty of all sorts of parties shouting contrary things. Learning to learn and learning to listen can actually help create breakthroughs and acceleration. Learning and listening work best when you can let go of your ego, when you dare not know, dare to dwell in uncertainty and reach out with curiosity to one another.
The “other” need not be human. So much can be learned from nature, certainly for the energy transition. Nature has so much to teach us about efficiency, about innovating, about dealing with uncertainty and about shared leadership, working together, listening and communicating.
Did you know that Orcas listen very carefully to other species such as dolphins and try to unravel their language? Then they adapt their own clicks, hums and whistles and develop a kind of intermediate language with which they can communicate with the dolphins. That lays the foundation for cooperation: for example, they can hunt together and take advantage of each other’s unique competencies.
And how inspiring are meerkats that each day have a different leader who leads the troop in the search for food, and everyone trusts and follows this leader, learns and the next day another takes over and builds on what they have learned!
And how interesting and inspiring is the way dolphins build knowledge. If the environment is familiar and stable, then knowledge is transferred from the mothers to the young, transmitting ancient valuable knowledge about that place. However, when the situation becomes unfamiliar or unstable, the youngsters take over, learning from each other, or by horizontal learning, creating new knowledge to deal with the new circumstances.
These examples give me tremendous inspiration for my work as a transition researcher and facilitator of complex collaborations. Nature is going to be a regular sparring partner for me! #ASKNATURE #Biomimicry

– Ruth Mourik
Thanks to: the Spinwaves Lab, and especially Lydia Fraaije and Saskia van den Muijsenberg