The secret of accelerated organisational learning
Stumble It!We can learn the secret of rapid evolution from the most evolved non-human species on the planet – but it is not who you think it is!
Arie de Geus is credited by many as the inventor of the concept of "the learning organisation". In his book "The Living Company" [1] Arie describes an interview with Professor Alan Wilson, distinguished zoologist and botanist.
Inter-generational learning is the key
Professor Wilson has a theory that inside each species ticks a genetic clock. No matter which species the clock ticks at the same rate. Therefore you can work out the most evolved species by calculating who has the most ticks on their clocks.
Top of the advanced evolution league table are humans as expected. However the most evolved non-human species according to Wilson is birds - songbirds to be precise!
The theory suggests that species which are rapid evolvers have been able to supplement normal evolution, which proceeds only at the speed of each generation, with what he calls "inter-generational learning".
Professor Wilson suggests 3 distinguishing characteristics of species which are able to accelerate their evolution:
- Innovation - the ability to invent new behaviours
- Social Propagation - the existence of a process to transfer skills from individuals to the whole community through direct communications
- Mobility - the ability to move about as individuals or a flock
The Songbird Theory of Organisational Learning
Wilson illustrates the "songbird theory" with research on the UK bluetit community which shows how British bluetits as a species mastered the ability to peck open milk bottle tops whilst the British robin never mastered this as a species.
Robins were every bit as innovative and mobile as blue tits and individual birds could peck open milk-tops. However robins are territorial birds unlike the bluetits who move around in flocks of 8-10 birds. Operating in their flocks the bluetits were able to achieve social propagation and thus inter-generational learning and accelerated evolution.
Innovation is not sufficient for rapid evolution
Arie De Geus suggests that Innovation, in itself, in organisations and teams is not sufficient for organisational learning. We need Mobility - teams and people need to move about and exchange personnel. This suggests to me that bioteamming is an organisational phenomenon not just a teaming experience.
We also need Social Propagation and to achieve this De Geus suggests we should keep our team boundaries wide and inclusive and be careful not to tie down team and individual responsibilities so tightly that the exclude the possibility of adhoc networking
Tags: birds, social propagation
Digg | 
del.icio.us | 
Reddit | 
Yahoo! | 
Add to my favourites
Bioteams Books Reviews
The 5 personal change barriers instant test
How to identify someones main worry about a coming change. I found this technique in a book a long time ago – "The Secret Language of Success: Using Body Language to Get What You Want" by Dr. David Lewis (1989). I confess I never got round to testing it properly but it sounded intriguing so I pass it on - "buyer beware".
Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK
Related Virtual Teams Articles
Teleworking worth a 10% salary drop
Techtarget report on a June Dice Holdings survey of over 1,500 tech professionals, which found that 37% of them would accept a pay cut of up to 10% in exchange for the opportunity to work from home (telecommute).
Virtual Teams: New Research into challenges and opportunities
Using Far-Flung Virtual Teams for Managing Knowledge in Global Companies, reports on research into 54 far-flung teams in 31 different companies, including Intel, Textronic and Royal Dutch Shell
Virtual team agility: The power of Stigmergy
What do Ants, Termites, Graffiti Artists, Cavemen, Teenagers and Town Planners all have in common? They understand the power of Stigmergy to leave marks in their environment as important sign-posts to friends (or foes). Even more importantly they all know the difference between sign-posting and dialogue.
Leave a comment